Wi-Fi 6 Devices May Come for Holidays, Pai Tells Wi-Fi Alliance
The “consumer-facing pop” for Wi-Fi 6 device introductions will be “relatively short term,” perhaps even in time for the 2020 holiday season, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told the Wi-Fi Alliance’s virtual membership meeting Tuesday. “This is not a case in…
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which a year-one decision may yield results in a decade.” He cited the agency making 1,200 MHz of bandwidth available (see 2005260025). The new standard is rolling out, said Pai. It will be more than 2.5 times faster than current Wi-Fi and “will offer better performance for connected devices,” he said. Qualcomm launched such products last month (see 2005280046). Wi-Fi 6 is “such a big deal” partly because Wi-Fi “has become such a big deal,” said Pai. It carries more than half the internet’s overall traffic, he said. “Offloading mobile data traffic to Wi-Fi is vital to keeping our cellular networks from being overwhelmed.” COVID-19 "amplified how indispensable Wi-Fi has become,” said Pai.