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The VR headset already has niche appeal, the rumored cost will further shrink that market. Now you want to shrink it even further to people with 6E networks?

How would you even sell it?
I don’t think it will require a network. I think it will connect directly, like the AppleTV can and how airdrop works.
 
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what tends to happen is most devices hang on to the 2.4 GHz band... since 2.4 Ghz tends to have the strongest RSSI, but also the slowest speeds and most interfence with neighbors given the limited number of channels.
You need to get a better router. That is called band steering and your current router is not doing it properly. A good router will perform infinitely better. Higher end routers also allow you to customize this behaviour, allowing you to prioritize the 5 GHz bands more. Unfortunately, one can’t just get an expensive router and be done with it. Lots of expensive routers perform band steering poorly too. You will have to do lots of research and get one that has been extensively tested with this feature via reviews etc. The Netgear R7000p is one such router, but I wouldn’t recommend it now, as it is older and only supports wifi 5.
 
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Wifi 6E does more than have fast internet speeds. It’s essentially a wireless connection with close to Thunderbolt speeds.
That’s just categorically false. Not just in practice but even in theory. It’s not even as fast as USB 3, let alone thunderbolt.
 
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Meanwhile I still have an 8 year old WiFi 5 router 🤣

I finally upgraded my 10 year old router to a couple Eero 6 (not 6e and not Pro) mesh routers. It'll probably be another decade before I upgrade again!

There are few things less interesting than a router.
 
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That doesn't sound like the old Steve motto of "it just works."
Not at all. That way of needing to manipulate the controls to get Wifi 6e working is: a) overly complicated, and b) not a good user experience, and therefore c) not in line with what we think has been Apple's computing and design philosophy. Very clunky.
 
When’s the last time you tried, though? Your advice is definitely correct for 2006-era tech, and in my experience held true through at least 2016. But it’s 2022 now and (in my experience) client WiFi has gotten so much better at single-SSID networks and (in my experience) it works exactly like you’d hope for the vast majority of situations.
2020. The old adage, if it ain't broke...
 
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The issue is that this rarely happens. Virtually all routers I test will put clients on 2.4Ghz because it has the best RSSI. Almost always, having selected 5GHz would have yielded 4-5x speed gains.

Eeros and Google Nests are special mentions. EEros pros go for $300+ and make clients roam on 2.4Ghz for max speeds of 100mbps when 5GHz which completely negates the premium you pay for them for the higher speeds.
I have a 6e network. It primarily puts almost all of my items into the 5GHz network. Only a few of my items that are far from the main router end up on the 2.4GHz network. The 6GHz network never seems to get used, which I find odd, though I only have one device that uses 6GHz, so perhaps that's not so unusual. The one item I have is the Samsung Galaxy Fold 4.

Of my 50+ devices on my network, about 3 of them end up on the 2.4GHz network. The rest go on 5GHz.
 
Why does apple recommend using the same SSID for the different frequencies? I’ve found that it is best to have separate SSIDs for each band…
So that the software on the connecting device can auto switch to the best network more easily / seamlessly.

Using different SSIDs is only useful in order to isolate clients to a specific Band rather than allowing them to jump between 2.4, 5 and 6 ghz.

I would recommend keeping Wi-Fi 6e capable devices on their own SSID temporarily as more often than not they will jump over to the strongest band which will often not be 6 ghz. Also it’s a bit easier to test and validate your client is connected to 6ghz while it is still an emerging standard and gaining more presence in the market.
 
I've tried it and depending on the router, it creates chaos. You don't have fine-grained control over what frequency your device(s) will connect to, sometimes devices roam frequently, and there is latency involved in switching SSIDs so if you're on a zoom/teams call and your device roams, your audio will stutter. And also what tends to happen is most devices hang on to the 2.4 GHz band... since 2.4 Ghz tends to have the strongest RSSI, but also the slowest speeds and most interfence with neighbors given the limited number of channels.

So if your device is connected to the 2.4 GHz SSID, when you go to watch video in 4K on youtube or other services, the video buffers or renders in much lower quality than it otherwise should. And when the SSIDs for each band are the same, you don't know if the device is on the 2.4 GHz band, 5 Ghz band, and now, 6 Ghz band. So you may think there's a problem with your network provider, when the real issue is your device is connected to the router on the 2.4 Ghz band and is suffering from interference from neighbors, especially if you live in a building with 10 or more neighbors.

Having a separate SSID for each frequency allows you to avoid this mess altogether. In fact, the 6 Ghz band was supposed to address the issue of interference from neighbors alltogether since only Wifi 6E and upcoming Wifi 7 devices can use the 6 GHz band (so it was supposed to be a 'clean' spectrum), and also 6 Ghz for 6E can operate on 160 MHz channels without any concerns about DFS/Radar. So it's odd to see this support article from Apple.
That happens with separate networks, too. Typically, to avoid these problems, you get a mesh network. With mesh networks, they seamlessly roam from 2.4GHz to 5GHz networks and so on. Now if you have your threshold set wrong and a device holds onto a far access point too tightly, then it won't roam properly. So fine-tuning of any system may be required.

It isn't really inherent for a single SSID to cause problems, though, if you have your network set up and configured properly. I'm not trying to change anyone's mind that a single SSID is better than separate SSID's. I've used both and have had more problems in my case with separate SSID's, especially with IoT devices that can't communicate. I especially had problems with my Sonos sound bar that was only fixed by unifying the network. Some devices that can only support 2.4Ghz, like the Sonos or our Gardyn (networked planter) or my Meross mood light, couldn't talk with my 5GHz devices when the SSID"s were different, so it was a royal pain to connect with my iPhone. Putting them on the same SSID fixed that issue. At one point, I had to return some of my HomeKit items that only worked on 2.4GHz in favor of ones that also supported 5GHz.

Basically it differs depending on the network. Some find it easier one way, some find it easier another way. For me, a unified network solved a ton of problems. If separate networks work for you better, that's great.
 
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Battery drain was unacceptably high.

Why would that be? Other phones have had WIFI6E since beginning of 2021. 6E channel frequency start where 6 ends. Clear channels and no interference means clients can finish transmitting faster then go back to low power sleep.
 
I've tried it and depending on the router, it creates chaos.

As others have said, this is dependent on your router and client, but modern devices should be capable of band steering properly.

The issue is that this rarely happens. Virtually all routers I test will put clients on 2.4Ghz because it has the best RSSI. Almost always, having selected 5GHz would have yielded 4-5x speed gains.

Eeros and Google Nests are special mentions. EEros pros go for $300+ and make clients roam on 2.4Ghz for max speeds of 100mbps when 5GHz which completely negates the premium you pay for them for the higher speeds.

What you need is an access point (AP) which supports 802.11r and 802.11v. Eero release notes mention added (or perhaps improved) support for these standards in their October 8, 2021 software update. Here's some info on Apple device support for the standards and what they do:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202628

the client controls which frequency to use, how is the router going to solve this?

With the appropriate standard (i.e. 802.11v and 802.11r) the AP can intelligently "suggest" when a client would be better off roaming onto another AP or frequency. It's up to the client to accept the suggestion, but most will.

wifi 6e and wifi 6 can achieve the same speeds. 4800 Mbps maximum if 4x4 antennas are used

Theoretical max performance isn't at all the same as real-world max performance. Plus, when high-bandwidth devices move from 5Ghz to 6Ghz, that frees up bandwidth for other devices to use on 5 Ghz. 6E will be a big step forward for WiFi over time as 6E devices proliferate.
 
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Not quite. You can have one SSID that spans all three frequencies where 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz use WPA3 Transition Mode and 6Ghz uses WPA3 with PMF.

Can you cite a source? As I am not aware of any way to enable WPA2 on a network with 6Ghz and they require that this restriction applies across the entire SSID. So you can't have WPA2 on 5Ghz and WPA3 on 6Ghz on a network with the same SSID.

There are security considerations when deploying Wi-Fi in the 6 GHz frequency band. The Wi-Fi Alliance requires WPA3 security certification for Wi-Fi 6E devices that will operate in the 6 GHz band. However, there is no backward compatibility support for WPA2 security. Furthermore, the Enhanced Open certification is also mandated to support for Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE) in 6 GHz.

 
I’m confused here: Apple recommends using a single network name across the router's 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz bands. However wifi 6E requires WPA3 only in order to operate the 6ghz and does not support mixed mode. Many devices older than a few years will not be able to connect to the network because They don’t necessarily support wpa3. The solution would be to broadcast separate SSID for a network that is on wpa2/3 mixed mode. Smart tvs for one is a good example that don’t usually support the wpa3.
 
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