You’ve been hearing about Wi-Fi 6E for two years now. When I wrote about it in 2020, the biggest leap forward in Wi-Fi performance in years was yet to arrive in Canada. In 2021, the government of Canada announced it was opening the 6GHz band, paving the way for Wi-Fi 6E in Canada. The support for Wi-Fi 6E is now paying off, with the news that NETGEAR is releasing a series of high performance routers in Canada that will be able to take full advantage of the new capabilities offered by Wi-Fi 6E.
Here’s what you need to know about Wi-Fi 6E and the new NETGEAR routers that support this game-changing wireless technology.
A quick Wi-Fi 6E refresher
We all know about Wi-Fi 6 and its many advantages by now, but Wi-Fi 6E is a very different beast. And thanks to the pause in implementation while additional wireless spectrum was cleared for use, it may have dropped off your radar. Here’s a really quick rundown on why Wi-Fi 6E is so exciting.
Most routers sold today offer two bands for devices to connect to: 2.4GHz and 5GHz. A few support only a single band. Wi-Fi 6E adds a third band: 6GHz. The new 6GHz band supports nearly double the number of high-bandwidth channels as 5GHz, and it’s limited to devices that support Wi-Fi 6E (like the Samsung Galaxy S22 series of smartphones). That means more high-speed bandwidth is available, with less interference and congestion. The net result when upgrading to a Wi-Fi 6E router is extreme speeds (plenty for 8K video streaming), lower latency, and significantly better performance in crowded wireless environments like apartment buildings.
You can read more about Wi-Fi 6E in my explainer post.
That’s Wi-Fi 6E. Here’s the news about NETGEAR’s big Wi-Fi 6E router rollout.
The star of the Wi-Fi 6E show: NETGEAR Orbi AXE11000 whole home mesh Wi-Fi 6E system
If you are constantly bumping up against the limits of what Wi-Fi can deliver, the new NETGEAR Orbi AXE11000 whole home mesh Wi-Fi 6E system is the answer. This is may just be the most powerful home Wi-Fi system ever released. The quad-band mesh system can deliver 16 simultaneous Wi-Fi streams, with a new 6GHz Wi-Fi 6E band and a band dedicated to connecting the Orbi router to its satellites. This system offers an incredible 10.8 Gbps of throughput. The router and two satellites combine for seamless Wi-Fi coverage of 9,000 square feet (836 square metres).
For those times when a wired connection is a must-have, each of the Orbi devices is equipped with a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet LAN port plus three Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports.
I’ve been using a NETGEAR Orbi whole home mesh system for my home’s Wi-Fi for several years now. With three gaming teenagers, two people working from home, and a lot of connected tech constantly being tested around here, it has performed flawlessly. I can’t wait to see the performance the Wi-Fi 6E version of NETGEAR’s Orbi system will deliver.
A whole series of NETGEAR Wi-Fi 6E routers
Netgear has released an entire series of routers with Wi-Fi 6E support. This includes:
- The NETGEAR Nighthawk AXE7800 tri-band Wi-Fi 6E router with six external antennas for wide coverage, six streams, and speeds of up to 7.8Gbps.
- The NETGEAR Nighthawk AXE11000 tri-band Wi-Fi 6E router with 12 streams, five LAN ports, and speeds of up to 10.8Gbps.
- NETGEAR Orbi AX11000 Wi-Fi 6 satellite add-on, to expand coverage of an Orbi whole-home Wi-Fi 6 mesh system by an additional 3,000 square feet (279 square metres).
When can I get this ultra high-speed Wi-Fi 6E for my home?
The wait for Wi-Fi 6E is over. The new NETGEAR Wi-Fi 6E routers are available for pre-order now, with expected availability of May 22.
