What is WiFi 5 ?

What is Wi-Fi 5?

Wi-Fi 5 or IEEE 802.11ac is the fifth generation of wireless networking standards in the IEEE 802.11 set of standards which provides high throughput in a wireless local area network (LAN) using the 5GHz band frequency. Wi-Fi 5 was released in 2014 and brought several upgrades from the previously used Wi-Fi 4. Wi-Fi 5, while a wonderful innovation, has pros and cons. 

The pros include:

• Wireless data transmission in Wi-Fi 5 occurs on the less congested 5GHz band frequency. The previous Wi-Fi standard, 802.11n, operated using both the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, while others used only 2.4 GHz. The 2.4 GHz band was hardly ideal, as many devices use that radio frequency. To make it worse, other types of wireless networks also use the same frequency. Wi-Fi 5 tries to solve this problem by using a different, less congested frequency channel, the 5GHz band.
• Wi-Fi 5 has better performance and speed than its predecessor, Wi-Fi 4. Wi-Fi 5 boasts a theoretical maximum attainable connection speed of 6.9 Gbps. This is a huge advantage considering that a few years ago, devices could only dream of a few bits being transferred per second. 
• There is increased channel width with more advanced MU-MiMO technology allowing more significant amounts of data from up to 4 users to be effectively transferred.
• Signal modulation of Wi-Fi 5 is more efficient than the previous generation.

The cons are:

• Signals cover a shorter distance due to the 5GHz band. 
• Backward compatibility might be an issue as devices operating with 2.4 GHz may not work well with the 5GHz Wi-Fi 5.
• The initial cost of installing it can be high.

Wi-fi is a prevalent technology used worldwide. Virtually every smartphone has some form of wireless connectivity. Wi-Fi was coined as a tradename by a group of tech companies, the Wi-Fi Alliance. It is a technology that uses waves to enable computers, smartphones, smartwatches, and other electronic devices to access the Internet and communicate with each other via a wireless personal area network. 

In its most primitive form as ALOHAnet, Wi-Fi originated in Hawaii in 1971. WaveLAN was then developed in 1991 and became the precursor to today’s IEEE 802.11 Wi-Fi standards. Since its advent, wireless technology, specifically Wi-Fi, has kept evolving with the release of more sophisticated standards over the years. A few years back, Wi-Fi 5 was the highest Wi-Fi standard available. However, Wi-Fi 6 has been released and has begun to penetrate the global market.