Lets talk about Wifi 5 Routers and key difference with respect to Wifi 6 Routers
| WIFI 5 | WIFI 6 |
|---|---|
| IEEE 802.11aac standard | IEEE 802.11ax standard |
| Only 5ghz band is used as wifi 5 2.4ghz is separate as N network | 2.4ghz + 5 ghz is integrated into single network so you get both bandwidth and coverage auto optimised |
| Uses more battery if connected to 5ghz | Uses Target Wake Time to connect only when required saving battery |
| Less no of device can be connected | Due to OFDMA 50% more devices can be connected to same spec router |
| old N/G devices can be connected as 5ghz AC network is separate. | All devices need to wifi 6 supported to fully use wifi 6 capability. The moment any old device is connected it starts behaving as separate 2.4ghz and 5ghz wifi 5 network router. |
| All wifi 5 Wifi 4 wifi 6 devices can be connected | Only wifi 6 devices for wifi 6 benefits |
| cheaper to setup as only router is needed | costlier as router along with all clients need to be upgraded |
| Bss colouring not supported so congestion is formed if too many networks in same place | BSS colouring supports helps identify from other networks to reduce congestion |
Wifi 5 network is almost end of service. While wifi 6 has been extended to wifi 6E where another 6ghz frequency band has been added to support for multi-gigabits speed over wifi networks.