Wi-Fi Gets Rebranded - Say Goodbye to Wireless ac and Hello to Wi-Fi 5

[LAwLz]

 

 

There has been quite a lot of confusion surrounding wireless standards. What happened to all the letters between wireless G and wireless N? Is n faster than ac or is it the other way around?

 

The reason why WiFi have historically had such confusing naming standard is because they have been named after the IEEE standard associations working number.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is an association which creates standards for a wide variety of things. For example the IEEE 1394 is the standard for FireWire, but they also develop standards such as IEEE 1547 which are a set of criteria used when checking interconnections of distributed generation resources into power grids.

When a new standard starts getting worked on, it gets assigned the next unused number. For example the project that was started after 802.11g got assigned the number 802.11h.

 

802.3 (Ethernet)  and 802.11 (local wireless LAN standards) are probably two of the most well known work groups.

For some reason, the Wi-Fi Alliance who promote and certifies Wi-Fi devices decided to use the IEEE standard names for consume products. As a result, we ended up with confusing names like wireless N and AC.

 

Yesterday, the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to make things simpler by renaming everything. Wi-Fi Alliance certified products will no longer use the IEEE names, but rather a straight forward and simple number.

Quote

“For nearly two decades, Wi-Fi users have had to sort through technical naming conventions to determine if their devices support the latest Wi-Fi,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Alliance is excited to introduce Wi-Fi 6, and present a new naming scheme to help industry and Wi-Fi users easily understand the Wi-Fi generation supported by their device or connection.”

 

802.11n will be marketed as Wi-Fi 4.

802.11ac will be marketed as Wi-Fi 5.

802.11ax will be marketed as Wi-Fi 6.

 

It's simple. Higher number = newer and better.

 

 

Source: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

 

 

Personally, I think this will make things a lot easier for consumers.

But on the other hand, it was fairly convenient for looking up information when the marketing name and standard name were the same. Now if you want to look up specific details about how a particular Wi-Fi standard works or what it supports, you might first need to look up what standard "Wi-Fi 7" actually is, before searching for it. But then again, that is a small problem for an even smaller group of people.

 

[Froody129]

Thank Tech Jesus. I understood the wifi names but it wasn't self explanatory. This is a nice change 

[Taf the Ghost]

I actually appreciate this move. Try explaining WiFi standards to normal people.

[asus killer]

what's next a i9 with 9 cores? tech people prefer their naming's confusing, i fell this will make some brains explode 

[LukeSavenije]

where are ac wave 2 and ad?

[LAwLz]

7 minutes ago, LukeSavenije said:

where are ac wave 2 and ad?

Not sure about ac wave 2, but ad falls under "WiGig" which is a separate thing from Wi-Fi. 

[yian88]

Should i say finally? i hate when engineer nerds decide naming stuff, wtf 802.11n/ac/ax  its like someone randomly smashed the keyboard.

 

Took them long enough.

[LukeSavenije]

Just now, LAwLz said:

Not sure about ac wave 2, but ad falls under "WiGig" which is a separate thing from Wi-Fi. 

sounds more confusing to me than just 802.11(letter)

[ZacoAttaco]

Is Intel listening?...

 

 

 

'Wait, we're getting an i7 that doesn't have hyper-threading?'  

 

On topic: So there's going to be a lot of outdated documentation and software referencing the old naming standard? It'll be confusing especially for your average consumer for a little bit, but it will be worth it in the long term. Finally something in the industry trying to make their naming scheme LESS confusing.

[LukeSavenije]

1 hour ago, LAwLz said:

 

 

There has been quite a lot of confusion surrounding wireless standards. What happened to all the letters between wireless G and wireless N? Is n faster than ac or is it the other way around?

 

The reason why WiFi have historically had such confusing naming standard is because they have been named after the IEEE standard associations working number.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is an association which creates standards for a wide variety of things. For example the IEEE 1394 is the standard for FireWire, but they also develop standards such as IEEE 1547 which are a set of criteria used when checking interconnections of distributed generation resources into power grids.

When a new standard starts getting worked on, it gets assigned the next unused number. For example the project that was started after 802.11g got assigned the number 802.11h.

 

802.3 (Ethernet)  and 802.11 (local wireless LAN standards) are probably two of the most well known work groups.

For some reason, the Wi-Fi Alliance who promote and certifies Wi-Fi devices decided to use the IEEE standard names for consume products. As a result, we ended up with confusing names like wireless N and AC.

 

Yesterday, the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to make things simpler by renaming everything. Wi-Fi Alliance certified products will no longer use the IEEE names, but rather a straight forward and simple number.

 

802.11n will be marketed as Wi-Fi 4.

802.11ac will be marketed as Wi-Fi 5.

802.11ax will be marketed as Wi-Fi 6.

 

It's simple. Higher number = newer and better.

 

 

Source: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

 

 

Personally, I think this will make things a lot easier for consumers.

But on the other hand, it was fairly convenient for looking up information when the marketing name and standard name were the same. Now if you want to look up specific details about how a particular Wi-Fi standard works or what it supports, you might first need to look up what standard "Wi-Fi 7" actually is, before searching for it. But then again, that is a small problem for an even smaller group of people.

 

and also, it's sounding like every version is better. but "wifi 4" has a longer range than "wifi 6", it's just more speed

[TetraSky]

I'm fine with this.
As long as they actually stick with "higher number = better".
And will they just keep going higher and higher? Will we someday have WiFi 69 ?

[lewdicrous]

1 hour ago, VegetableStu said:

"... wait why do my WiFi have notifications now?!"

"You have 5 unread WiFi networks"

[Bouzoo]

I can not remember how many times I got lost in the alphabet. Thank god. Can't wait for Wi-Fi 4.67/(48^2) 

[ryao]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

 

 

There has been quite a lot of confusion surrounding wireless standards. What happened to all the letters between wireless G and wireless N? Is n faster than ac or is it the other way around?

 

The reason why WiFi have historically had such confusing naming standard is because they have been named after the IEEE standard associations working number.

IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) is an association which creates standards for a wide variety of things. For example the IEEE 1394 is the standard for FireWire, but they also develop standards such as IEEE 1547 which are a set of criteria used when checking interconnections of distributed generation resources into power grids.

When a new standard starts getting worked on, it gets assigned the next unused number. For example the project that was started after 802.11g got assigned the number 802.11h.

 

802.3 (Ethernet)  and 802.11 (local wireless LAN standards) are probably two of the most well known work groups.

For some reason, the Wi-Fi Alliance who promote and certifies Wi-Fi devices decided to use the IEEE standard names for consume products. As a result, we ended up with confusing names like wireless N and AC.

 

Yesterday, the Wi-Fi Alliance decided to make things simpler by renaming everything. Wi-Fi Alliance certified products will no longer use the IEEE names, but rather a straight forward and simple number.

 

802.11n will be marketed as Wi-Fi 4.

802.11ac will be marketed as Wi-Fi 5.

802.11ax will be marketed as Wi-Fi 6.

 

It's simple. Higher number = newer and better.

 

 

Source: Wi-Fi Alliance introduces Wi-Fi 6

 

 

Personally, I think this will make things a lot easier for consumers.

But on the other hand, it was fairly convenient for looking up information when the marketing name and standard name were the same. Now if you want to look up specific details about how a particular Wi-Fi standard works or what it supports, you might first need to look up what standard "Wi-Fi 7" actually is, before searching for it. But then again, that is a small problem for an even smaller group of people.

 

Great idea. Now everyone will need to learn both naming standards to avoid confusion. This is so much better.

 

Also:

 

https://www.xkcd.com/927/

[S w a t s o n]

Seems a bit late for this move but ok. Most people figure'd out that 802.11 n was slower than ac, no one cares about a or b or g anymore generally. I guess the ol bigger number = better product strat cant hurt

[Brooksie359]

I oppose this change just because now I have to remember what standard goes with what number. It's not like normal consumers even looked at that stuff anyways. Half the time I ask about someone's processor they usually have 0 clue as to what they got and just say they bought the laptop with good reviews. Trying to help the normal population understand computer hardware is just pointless tbh. 

[Scheer]

"So wait, is your network 5ghz or is that Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac?"

 

I understand the change, but when 2.4/5 is already a notable number in Wifi, why TF would you use it again in nomenclature.

 

AND NOW wireless providers are going to have to rush out and release 7G, because god forbid they don't have the highest number in something wireless.

[Antistatic12]

They tried to simplify SD Cards with something similar but ended up adding more to it over the years. First it was speed class, then UHS speed class, then video speed class and now app performance. I know many people on this site might think they have a good handle on all that, but for the average consumer this can be very confusing and that might be by design, as "Confusion Marketing"  works as a sales/marketing tactic.

Provided the WiFi Alliance take a very fixed approach on the naming convention I think this is fine, only time will tell.

[NumLock21]

Most consumer don't care about this 802.11 stuff even with this new change. They buy their routers based on price, not on performance. The only ones that do are those who are into technology and for them, the old naming scheme is fine. How difficult can it get,  to not understand the difference between n, ac, and ax.

N is the oldest therefore is must the slowest

AC is newer N then it must be faster

AX is newer than AC, so it has to be faster than AC.

 

Also some router packaging will show the performance chart on the back, where consumers can see which is better.

[mynameisjuan]

3 hours ago, LukeSavenije said:

and also, it's sounding like every version is better. but "wifi 4" has a longer range than "wifi 6", it's just more speed

Yeah but also Wifi 4 has better range than Wifi 4.....

 

802.11n covers both 2.4 and 5 where 2.4 does still have valid uses including range and wall penetration. 

 

Also just more shit to cover in cisco certs 

[LukeSavenije]

9 minutes ago, mynameisjuan said:

Yeah but also Wifi 4 has better range than Wifi 4.....

 

802.11n covers both 2.4 and 5 where 2.4 does still have valid uses including range and wall penetration. 

 

Also just more shit to cover in cisco certs 

I'm going to stick with 802.11.

it's nice they tried it, but it's not flawless at all rn

[Coaxialgamer]

And now everyone is going to confuse wifi ac and 802.11n 5ghz... 

[Syntaxvgm]

Since people literally call their internet bill their "wifi bill", this will be marketing. Comcast, home of up 10Mb/s upload and 1TB cap, tells me their services are better because they have the fastest wifi. 

Now imagine

"COMCAST NOW WITH WIFI 7 GET THE FASTEST WIFI ONLY WITH US!"

[imreloadin]

Cool, too bad it'll take all of the cert authors YEARS to update their dpcumentation and exams so you'll still need to learn the old way still...

[The Benjamins]

17 minutes ago, Syntaxvgm said:

Since people literally call their internet bill their "wifi bill", this will be marketing. Comcast, home of up 10Mb/s upload and 1TB cap, tells me their services are better because they have the fastest wifi. 

Now imagine

"COMCAST NOW WITH WIFI 7 GET THE FASTEST WIFI ONLY WITH US!"

Comcast already says "Fastest in home wifi" which is better then saying a gen to convince people they have the fastest.