
We hear loads about how Wi-Fi 6E goes to alter the way in which we work and play. With the power to attain increased throughput and decrease latency attributable to extra frequency availability and fewer congestion, mixed with higher safety, Wi-Fi 6E has given us a brand new playbook of purposes and use circumstances.
As a Distinguished Engineer in Cisco’s CX CTO group, I spend a whole lot of time working inside giant public venues akin to sports activities stadiums and music pageant/live performance venues to attach followers and create distinctive wi-fi experiences. I’ve the pleasure of working with skilled sports activities leagues, Olympic Organizing Committee, U.S. Open, Stay Nation, Clair World and so many others to design, architect, and ship networks able to supporting the wants of tens of 1000’s of excited followers. As an avid sports activities and music fan myself, it makes work enjoyable!
Wi-Fi 6E connecting followers like by no means earlier than
With the arrival of Wi-Fi 6, we had been in a position to make an enormous distinction within the effectivity and total high quality that Wi-Fi enabled venues present to their visitors. With the entry of Wi-Fi 6E, we benefit from the identical applied sciences and protocols however add the brand new 6 GHz band. This brings in stronger encryption (obligatory WPA3), higher reliability, and most of all elevated effectivity which ends up in higher throughput. The E in Wi-Fi 6E is consultant of the 6GHz band which additional extends obtainable spectrum and channels, offering rather more area for units. With its skill to hold extra knowledge than each 2.4 and 5 GHz, the 6GHz band permits followers to flawlessly stream and share their favourite moments.
OFDMA and Uplink MU-MIMO
Wi-Fi 6/6E makes use of Orthogonal Frequency-Division A number of Entry (OFDMA) and introduces Uplink A number of-Enter, A number of-Output (UL MU-MIMO). These applied sciences present the power to ship simultaneous bidirectional communication between Wi-Fi 6/6E entry factors and purchasers. Whereas MU-MIMO has been round since Wi-Fi 5, the power to have purchasers make the most of this on the uplink is new to Wi-Fi 6/6E. This implies extra simultaneous customers getting a greater expertise as a result of the community can prioritize and schedule visitors and purposes.
That is notably essential to the big stadiums and live performance venues I spend a whole lot of time in. Uplink visitors sometimes far exceeds the downlink as a result of variety of related customers taking images and movies and having these immediately uploaded to the cloud. See under graphic from a latest occasion in a big stadium the place the uplink visitors greater than doubled the downlink visitors.
1200 MHz of wide-open spectrum
Wi-Fi 6E contains as much as 1200 MHz of further spectrum within the 6GHz band. The extra spectrum provides a ton more room for units with loads of channels. This helps us keep away from the extreme collisions and competition for airtime that has turn out to be regular in most of these venues. In case you’re not conscious, competition and collisions trigger gradual response occasions, introduce latency, disconnect units from the community, and in the end, drive lower than optimistic experiences. Now apply this to giant sports activities venues and music festivals and you may see how the extra spectrum permits followers to flawlessly stream and share their favourite moments with out interruption. It’s like including a ton of further lanes to a congested freeway!
One thing to remember, some nations, such because the U.S. and Canada are allocating your entire 1200 MHz whereas others, solely a portion. The under map is present from the date of this posting:

OpenRoaming and Wi-Fi 6E: seamless and quick
A lot of Cisco’s prospects, particularly these focusing on leisure, are leaping onto the OpenRoaming practice. OpenRoaming, a know-how developed by Cisco and standardized by the Wi-fi Broadband Alliance, permits seamless and safe connectivity to taking part networks. Occasions akin to Stay Nation’s BottleRock and the USGA’s U.S. Open, to call a number of, use OpenRoaming to robotically join 1000’s of attendees to the Wi-Fi community with out the usage of usernames or passwords. Add in Wi-Fi 6E and its skill to help quicker speeds and extra units, and you’ve got the recipe for distinctive visitor Wi-Fi experiences.
All in all, Wi-Fi 6E at giant venues is a recreation changer that allows extra units to attach with much less competition for area, elevated pace, higher reliability, and extra strong safety. It’s a match made in IT heaven.
Keep tuned for extra on Wi-Fi 6E!
Get much more info from our up to date
Wi-Fi 6E White Paper
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