Wi-Fi 6 may have more impact than 5G in Zambia

Wi-Fi 6 may have more impact than 5G especially in Zambia where most internet community average users are reliant on Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi 6 is designed to improve speed, increase efficiency and reduce congestion in heavy bandwidth usage scenarios

Wi-Fi 6 is a consumer-friendly name for IEEE 802.11ax. The current Wi-Fi naming is 802.11ac which was introduced in 2014. It is equivalent to Wi-Fi 5 as the association now wants to call it by version.

Wi-Fi brief history

Wi-Fi 1: 802.11b (1999)
Wi-Fi 2: 802.11a (1999)
Wi-Fi 3: 802.11g (2003)
Wi-Fi 4: 802.11n (2009)
Wi-Fi 5: 802.11ac (2014)
Wi-Fi 6: 802.11ax (20??)

Wi-Fi 6 Significance

“While 5G is getting much of the limelight, Wi-Fi 6 will have a bigger impact in our connected lives — and sooner,”

said FeibusTech analyst Mike Feibus.

Why more impact? Because say in Zambia the majority of the people use more of Wi-Fi than 4G because of 4G exorbitant bundle pricing for activities that consume more bandwidth. What this means is that one affordable data connection at home or work serves numerous devices.

Haven’t you noticed that some people are particular about social media posting? Patterns like there are lesser postings after 17hrs and there might be more postings at some weekends.

Because after 17hrs there is no access to corporate internet and at some weekends someone affords weekend bundles that are shared from the home router.

Also, network admins will look to provide internet to there small business set up with simply a Wi-Fi router. Current Wi-Fi gets overwhelmed by the sheer number of connections rendering the device null for corporate use.

20 networked connections to the commonly Huawei B315 Router used by all ISPs Zamtel, Hai, MTN and Airtel gravels the services to disability and slows down the internet.

But Wi-Fi 6 with newer chips like Qualcomm, the Networking Pro 1200 can handle a whopping 1,500 simultaneous connections to devices such as security cameras, Xbox, PlayStation, Explora, TVs, phones and PCs.

This means a host of connections of devices, for both home and businesses, and their data devouring needs will be met with by Wi-Fi 6 great bandwidth throughput; connect more devices simultaneously

In Zambia, corporate internet connection is more expensive than Home Data Packages which often come with bonuses. Additionally, the corporate bundle is taxed with Excise Duty pegged at 17.5% making the internet very expensive for businesses.

This means that network admins can turn to Home Data packages and serve the connection right in their business setup. Another advantage of Wi-Fi 6 is that it has fewer conflicts and interference from the neighboring Wi-Fi. So more blistering efficiency for work.

Life of Streaming; Additionally, given the Zambian growing internet-savvy community turning to stream channels such as Amazon, YouTube and Netflix will also enjoy the upshot while gaming.

The life of online should get better at home and away.
With Wi-Fi 6, you can enjoy 8K movies, large file downloads and uploads, and responsive smart home devices – all without buffering.

Thirdly an equivalent of 5G network in Zambia is already present with Zamtel 4.5G. The Zamtel 4.5G LTE-2300 technology offers significant data speed that approaches 5G.

Wi-Fi 6 is designed to improve speed, increase efficiency and reduce congestion in heavy bandwidth usage scenarios