What is the difference between Wifi-AX and Wifi-AD, the next generation of Wi-Fi
What's strange is that this time the two standards don't come from competing business interests, like Bluray vs. HD-DVD or Beta vs. VHS. These two Wifi standards come from the "Wifi Alliance" consortium, which allows everyone to enjoy interoperability between devices, compatibility with legacy technologies and many other benefits.
This consortium sets a standard within the IEEE in the 802.11 protocol, which is improved and expanded as technology improves. This standard is free and global, so it is a starting point for all manufacturers to ensure that their products are easily accepted in the market, can interact with compatible devices from other brands, etc.
The needs of wireless communications have meant that 802.11 is now evolving much faster than it was a few years ago, and as part of these improvements, we are faced with two options that are trying to capture the market, one of which is the first, Wifi-AD, and the one that, will probably replace Wifi-AC, the more modest but more compatible Wifi-AC, Wifi-AX.
Currently, 15 billion devices use Wifi in its various variants, and so far the standard has supported them all, with legacy support, with every improvement it has introduced to the market.
Wifi-AD is better, but more limited and expensive to implement
More than a year ago, Wifi-AD (802.11ad) appeared in some Acer laptops from the corporate line, as well as in some routerax, such as the excellent TP-link Talon AD7200 or Netgear Nighthawk R9000. Routers that cannot be found for less than 10 rubles, and in the case of Netgear - almost twice as expensive.
Wifi-AD is an upcoming standard that adds support for 60 GHz frequencies, which is 12 times higher than the 5 GHz frequency of the Wifi-N or Wifi-AC standard. At this frequency, these routers, when used with the appropriate devices, can provide speeds of up to 7 Gbps (7000 Mbps) point-to-point. That's five times the throughput we currently achieve with Wifi-AC devices, which are limited to about 1300 Mbps.
The problem with this new standard is twofold. On the one hand, to achieve such speeds at such a high frequency, the range is limited to approximately 10 meters. On the other hand, it requires a new generation of devices, and must also be combined with other chipsets and specialized antenna systems to provide full support for all types of devices, including those operating at lower frequencies of 2,4 and 5 GHz.
Inaccurate outline of the scope of various IEEE 802.11 standards
This standard will change the way you view ultra-high definition content, supporting resolutions up to 8K with HDR image quality. This same frequency is used for systems such as Wi-GIG, which as you know is a technology that provides global wireless connectivity for portable systems. With this technology we can use USB, HD video, Ethernet, ... at speeds that we would have if we used wires.
Wifi-AD is expensive, difficult to bring to market, and perhaps a little ahead of its time, so network device and equipment makers are pushing an interim solution, Wifi-AX.
Wifi-AX is an interim solution that standardizes the Wifi developments of the last few months
Wifi-AX (802.11ax), whether we like it or not, will be the next solution we all use. It's a less mature standard, without those astounding speed peaks that make the best cables you have in your home look absolutely ridiculous, but it's easily accepted by the market. Wifi-AX will operate at the usual frequencies of 2,4 and 5 GHz, but it is at the latter frequency that it fully realizes its potential.
Speeds will be slightly faster than Wifi-AC, from 1300 Mbps to 1800 Mbps (using the new open channels in the standard), but it will be standardized, allowing for some of the improvements we've seen in recent years in the best routers or wireless cards. One such improvement that will be standardized is the use of MU-MIMO (Multi-User Multiple Input Multiple Output). This technology allows you to modulate frequencies and open channels for independent communication with each device connected to the wireless network.
When we share the bandwidth on our router with multiple devices, they share the available bandwidth among themselves. If we have 1300 Mbps in this frequency band, this band will be shared among all devices. This way, bandwidth is maximized for every device and router, providing the best speed for each. This is achieved at the modulation level, primarily through the use of more antennas in this type of router.
This way, the router can support higher speeds for each of the connected devices, but they will also need to support this type of signal "negotiation". MU-MIMO devices are difficult to purchase these days, especially because many manufacturers forget to list their compatibility, but with Wifi-AX, any device compatible with this standard will provide MU-MIMO support.
Wifi-AX will also allow us to maintain our current coverage and improve the performance of our home devices by reducing latency, increasing the number of concurrent devices, and providing enough bandwidth to complete common tasks in any home or business environment.
Conclusion
Sure, having 7200 Mbps of wireless network throughput is a dream come true, but the truth is that Wifi-AD is currently unaffordable for manufacturers, and is not needed by users except in very specific cases, which may continue to choose it standard since it will be on the market and is highly compatible with non-Wifi-AD devices.
Wifi-AX is a step forward, coming soon, perhaps before the end of the year, offering what we really need at the moment, which is the ability to make efficient use of available bandwidth and provide coverage for more wireless devices that are out there. in our environments. This standard will be cheaper and more successful in the market than Wifi-AD has been so far.
