iPhone 15 Pro Expected to Feature Wi-Fi 6E: Here's What That Means

[WarmWinterHat]

The signal not going as far is a good thing. It limits interference from nearby houses. If you want a truly great wireless internet system, run hard lines to your mesh points. You get the advantage of less penetration through walls and you get fast access to all the points in your house.

Nearest house to mine is almost 1/3 mile, but regardless, it's sucks when trying to your device outside, or in a detached garage/shop. Now you have to a cable and a repeater in another building to get any sort of speedy signal.

2.4ghz is fast enough for me, but it cuts out when the microwave is used, and there is some other device that occasionally kills the signal that I have yet to track down.

 

[SFjohn]

But will the iPhone 16 Pro feature Wi-Fi 7? 🤔

 

[EugW]

2.4ghz is fast enough for me, but it cuts out when the microwave is used, and there is some other device that occasionally kills the signal that I have yet to track down.

Do you not use combined 2.4 GHz + other? I used to have that problem with 2.4 GHz and my microwave oven, but once I switched to combined 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz, that is no longer a major issue. I do have a lot of overlapping access points though, for seamless coverage.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Do you not use combined 2.4 GHz + other? I used to have that problem with 2.4 GHz and my microwave oven, but once I switched to combined 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz, that is no longer a major issue. I do have a lot of overlapping access points though, for seamless coverage.

I have Eeros, so yes, but 5ghz doesn't reach outside my house.

 

[EugW]

I have Eeros, so yes, but 5ghz doesn't reach outside my house.

I ended up running outdoor Gigabit Ethernet cable (waterproof and UV resistant) to my shed (which has electricity). I stuck an access point in the shed, and it seems so endure the -20C winters just fine.

I also ran Ethernet to another structure in my yard further down (since I have quite a large yard), but that line is now dead because some animal chewed through the wiring. Maybe once I get a few hours of free time, I'll run another line there.

 

[jz0309]

so, when the time comes that I need to update my home router, that new one will likely support wifi 7 or even 8 ...
for me, 13PM, wifi speed is more than sufficient already ... but to each their own

 

[jrath1]

I know this is outside the topic but I'll give it a go. I have 1gb internet speed and I'm running TPLink Deco M9's with wireless access points. My max speed is around 500mbps. Could someone recommend a better mesh system?

 

[d5aqoëp]

Apple will be stubborn as f and not give 160mhz channel width on 5Ghz. Wifi 6e is not required and we can jump directly to Wifi7 with 320mhz channel width.

 

[Frankfurt]

Wifi6E is pretty much useless since you have to setup a seperate SSID with WPA3 for 6E.

Not true.

 

[Stromos]

Not true.

Please elaborate.

10 out of 63 devices support WPA3 in my house.

4 out of 10 support 6E.

What exactly are you doing on a phone that requires gigabit bandwidth?

I already have three SSIDs one for servers, one for IOT, one for guest.

So to use 6E I would have to put out two more SSIDs for 10 devices 4 of which would even see any benefit.

 

[btrach144]

My experience with my 6E iPad and my AXE16000 6E router is that the range of 6Ghz is too short to be meaningful unfortunately.

 

[btrach144]

Please elaborate.

10 out of 63 devices support WPA3 in my house.

4 out of 10 support 6E.

What exactly are you doing on a phone that requires gigabit bandwidth?

I already have three SSIDs one for servers, one for IOT, one for guest.

So to use 6E I would have to put out two more SSIDs for 10 devices 4 of which would even see any benefit.

My ASUS router allows me to set the WPA level per band. So WPA2 for 2.4, WPA2/WPA3 for 5GHz, and WPA3 for GHz is what I’ve selected. But they all use the same SSID.

So I agree with the other poster. I do not need a separate SSID. My iPad moves freely across all bands.

 

[TallManNY]

If you already have a nice router and good internet speeds, you should be getting something in the order of 500Mbps from WiFi 6. So most people will not notice an improvement on their phone going to WiFi 6E. But still nice to have. If I get this phone, then it will be my second 6E device as a I have a 2023 M2 Pro. I've got good WiFi 6 router, so not sure if I will ever have a router that is 6E complaint (there will probably be something new before I replace my router).

 

[star-affinity]

6E is pointless on a phone and if you’ve got people furniture walls or you sneeze between your device and router, you won’t get a signal probably as 6E travels less far than Wi-Fi 5 5Ghz so lots of people will be complaining why have I got no Wi-Fi signal I imagine this year. If they’ve got a Wi-Fi 6E router of course. Also Wi-Fi 7 is coming out 2024 with clients I imagine in 2025. 6E will be the shortest lived Wi-Fi standard seen so far.

6 not 6E

Also isn't 6Hz even more fragile than 5GHz. Like you have to very close or it doesn't work at all.

Personally opted for a WiFi 6 setup at home instead of 6E, and will check again when WiFI 7 comes out.

The iPhone 13 supports Wi-Fi 6. I specifically meant 6E support being introduced with the iPhone 14.

And yes, 6 GHz is going to have slightly more attenuation through objects than 5 GHz. But it shouldn't be significant. Personally, given how congested both legacy bands are in my neighborhood, I'd much rather have access to the greenfield spectrum and be future-proofed for 6E on the AP side.

All this stuff moves at a snail's pace. I don't expect an iPhone that supports Wi-Fi 7 to arrive for at least another 3 years.

It’s pretty fresh out of the press, but there’s a Wi-Fi 7 capable router avaliable:

TP-Link Deco BE85 review

The TP-Link Deco BE85 ushers in a new era of Wi-Fi 7-powered mesh networking

www.tomsguide.com

Taking advantage of these upgrades requires Wi-Fi 7 client hardware, and at the moment only one exists: the OnePlus 11 phone I used for testing.

One would think Apple should manage to get Wi-Fi 7 support on their flagship phones coming out this autumn if OnePlus managed to get it in their phone released at the beginning of this year, no?

 

[EugW]

If you already have a nice router and good internet speeds, you should be getting something in the order of 500Mbps from WiFi 6. So most people will not notice an improvement on their phone going to WiFi 6E. But still nice to have. If I get this phone, then it will be my second 6E device as a I have a 2023 M2 Pro. I've got good WiFi 6 router, so not sure if I will ever have a router that is 6E complaint (there will probably be something new before I replace my router).

I get well over that with 10 year old WiFi 5 802.11ac AirPort Extremes.

 

[star-affinity]

It is not. It is WiFi 6.

P.S. This is "just" 802.11ac / WiFi 5 on my iPhone 12 Pro Max. The phone supports WiFi 6 but my AirPort Extreme does not.

Bottleneck is actually the internet access since it maxes out at 600/35 Mbps. (I'm on 500/30 internet service.)

View attachment 2235035

I understand there are other benefits to newer Wi-Fi standards than higher bandwidth capabilities. Lower latency being one of them. Lower power consumption for devices is another.

 

[TallManNY]

I get well over that with 10 year old WiFi 5 802.11ac AirPort Extremes.

Really?!?! I would think you would need a much more modern router to get well over 500Mbps. 10 years ago my internet hardwired into my Mac was like 10Mbps. I don't think any WiFi was that fast back then. Then again I didn't have a 2022 iPhone to test it with and my cable provider didn't provide internet that fast either.

EDIT: Just saw your image post above. Freaking amazing! Wouldn't have thought the old a/c standard could do that.

 

[whsbuss]

6E is pointless on a phone and if you’ve got people furniture walls or you sneeze between your device and router, you won’t get a signal probably as 6E travels less far than Wi-Fi 5 5Ghz so lots of people will be complaining why have I got no Wi-Fi signal I imagine this year. If they’ve got a Wi-Fi 6E router of course. Also Wi-Fi 7 is coming out 2024 with clients I imagine in 2025. 6E will be the shortest lived Wi-Fi standard seen so far.

Wi-Fi 7 utilizes the same 6ghz band just wider channels for faster data speeds. So the same range issues will prevail.

 

[whsbuss]

I have Eeros, so yes, but 5ghz doesn't reach outside my house.

I also have eero pro 6 which utilizes 2 5ghz bands. Both nodes are wired back hauled so I wonder if both bands are used for devices

 

[whsbuss]

Apple will be stubborn as f and not give 160mhz channel width on 5Ghz. Wifi 6e is not required and we can jump directly to Wifi7 with 320mhz channel width.

What makes you think Apple will support 320mhz?

 

[EugW]

I understand there are other benefits to newer Wi-Fi standards than higher bandwidth capabilities. Lower latency being one of them. Lower power consumption for devices is another.

Yes, there are other benefits, but they are incremental for most people in real world usage.

802.11g was a huge jump over 802.11b.
802.11n (WiFi 4) was a huge jump over 802.11g.
802.11ac (WiFi 5) was a huge jump over 802.11n (WiFi 4).
802.11ax (WiFi 6) is an incremental jump over 802.11ac (WiFi 5), and one that wouldn't really make much of a difference to me in the real world. My primary Mac is a desktop so it's wired Ethernet anyway, and I don't need massive speeds for my iPhone and iPad. I do have a Mac laptop, but I don't move huge amounts of data back and forth over WiFi on that either. Battery life on WiFi hasn't been a significant concern either.

Really?!?! I would think you would need a much more modern router to get well over 500Mbps. 10 years ago my internet hardwired into my Mac was like 10Mbps. I don't think any WiFi was that fast back then. Then again I didn't have a 2022 iPhone to test it with and my cable provider didn't provide internet that fast either.

EDIT: Just saw your image post above. Freaking amazing! Wouldn't have thought the old a/c standard could do that.

I usually only get those 300-600 Mbps speeds on 802.11ac if I'm in the same room as the access point, but I still can get decent 3-digit Mbps speeds one room over or one floor above unless there is a ton of stuff in the way, so I have strategically placed my WiFi 5 access points with this in mind. For example, I have one AirPort Extreme in my home office, and I have AirPort Extremes one floor directly below my daughter's bedroom and one floor directly below my son's bedroom.

For this test I was standing in my son's bedroom, with the 802.11ac / WiFi 5 AirPort Extreme one floor below.
(My internet maxes out at 600/35 which is why my upload speed is so much slower.)

 

[Wizec]

6E is pointless on a phone and if you’ve got people furniture walls or you sneeze between your device and router, you won’t get a signal probably as 6E travels less far than Wi-Fi 5 5Ghz so lots of people will be complaining why have I got no Wi-Fi signal I imagine this year. If they’ve got a Wi-Fi 6E router of course. Also Wi-Fi 7 is coming out 2024 with clients I imagine in 2025. 6E will be the shortest lived Wi-Fi standard seen so far.

“On average, a 6 GHz signal attenuates about 2 dB more than a 5 GHz signal in the first meter… The bottom line is that the effective range difference between 6 GHz and 5 GHz will not be a serious concern in most indoor Wi-Fi deployments.”

How Far Will Wi-Fi 6E Travel in 6 GHz?

Explore the answer to age-old questions concerning Wi-Fi 6E in 6 GHz frequency from an experts perspective. Find out why variables in connectivity matter.

www.extremenetworks.com

 

[d5aqoëp]

Wi-Fi 7 utilizes the same 6ghz band just wider channels for faster data speeds. So the same range issues will prevail.

Wifi 7 can combine 2.4Ghz 5 Ghz and 6 Ghz bandwidth. So range will not be a problem. Speed will drastically reduce as your device will be using 2.4 Ghz frequency the further you move away from your router. Wifi 7 also has beamforming and Mu-mimo improvements to give better range. If you set up your router to beam 3 different Wifi networks on 3 frequencies and you connect your 6e/7 devices only to 6Ghz network, then ofcourse you will have range issues.

 

[Jay Tee]

I haven't cared about WiFi speeds since 802.11ac (WiFi 5) was released.

Not since MESH, to be sure.

 

[InvertedGoldfish]

I don’t see the point outside of the few people who use them to transfer files in their internal network

Going past one’s house, the ISPs have been the bottle neck for as long as Wi-Fi has been around