The world’s first Wi-Fi 6E router will be released in December this year by Asus.
What’s Wi-Fi 6E?
Wi-Fi 6 is the latest evolution of Wi-Fi with up to ~40% of speed gain from the previous/current generation Wi-Fi 5 (AC) Wave-2. The primary strength is; however, for more efficient handling of multiple devices. New standard requires new hardware and that applies to both router/access point and the client.
Wi-Fi 6E is further evolution of Wi-Fi 6. The primary feature, most users are looking forward to is new operating band addition, 6 GHz band. As with Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E technology requires both new supporting router/AP and client. This is true even for those who already own Wi-Fi 6. In another word, Wi-Fi 6 devices will not able to utilize Wi-Fi 6E technology though 6E is backward compatible.
6GHz Band
So why should we care about new band? To simply put, there will be less congestion, non-overlapping wider channel availability translating into “higher and consistent throughput” for users.
The 5GHz band is […] only six 80MHz channels or two 160MHz channels.
[…]
Wi-Fi 6E, unlocks 14 80MHz channels or 7 160MHz channels for compatible devices
THE ROG RAPTURE GT-AXE11000 GAMING ROUTER OPENS THE WI-FI 6E FRONTIER (ASUS)
2.5G Ethernet
The Wi-Fi speed gain may only mean so much if backhaul ethernet cable is not capable of supporting the higher throughput from it i.e. network is bottleneck based so the weakest/slowest link determines the overall rate of the network connection.
The GT-AXE11000 doesn’t just take advantage of the new 6GHz spectrum to increase speeds and lower your latency wirelessly. We went all-out to make the most of the available bandwidth and cutting-edge connections from ISPs and client PCs. That focus on speed starts at the GameFirst 2.5G Ethernet port.
THE ROG RAPTURE GT-AXE11000 GAMING ROUTER OPENS THE WI-FI 6E FRONTIER (ASUS)
AiMesh
The GT-AXE11000 will automatically monitor the signal strength of the 5GHz and 6GHz bands and choose the one that’s best suited to use as a backhaul.
THE ROG RAPTURE GT-AXE11000 GAMING ROUTER OPENS THE WI-FI 6E FRONTIER (ASUS)
As I have reviewed my previous Wi-Fi 6 AiMesh setup, the concept of being able to use essentially any Asus router as mesh node/access point is nothing but a brilliant. AiMesh system is really a scalable system. The new breakthrough in the technology like this is where scalable system shines. I would have purchased AXE11000 on day 1 and replace it as my router, move Ax11000 router as another mesh node.
Analysis
Now let’s take a closer look at specs as this is the world first Wi-Fi 6E router but it is also flagship model; therefore, it is highly educated guess that soon to be followed other consumer brand routers like from TP-Link, Netgear to have pretty much identical specs. In another word, this is standard high-end spec for Wi-Fi 6E products.
160 MHz will be here
The number “11000” refers to an aggregate throughput. This is identical to the existing flagship Wi-Fi 6 router e.g. Ax11000. So it means 6 GHz band will be replacing the one of the two 5 GHz band in AXE11000. Based on the number, we can infer 6GHz band does not have increased throughput rating i.e. still at 4802 Mbps. However, I believe we will actually see a significant speed boost with 6E, way more than Wi-Fi 5 Wave 2 to Wi-Fi 6 jump. Why?
One of the main reason WiFi 6 has 4802 Mbps rating is because of 160 MHz channel width. However, majority of the world is stuck at 80 MHz despite technical capability due to signal overlap and DFS existence. For those who are not familiar with DFS, it is a radar signal and if any router detects it, it has to immediately disconnect i.e. DFS overlapping channel is not the best for stability. Essentially, 160 MHz has been just for marketing trick/hype for manufactures rather than the real world practical technology in a large majority of home users. In current 5GHz band, two 160 MHz channels Without overlap exist but both require DFS channel usage. If one tries to avoid DFS, there are only two 80 MHz channels in 5 GHz band.
In contrast, Wi-Fi 6E will have 7 non-overlapping 160 MHz channels without DFS interference. This is actually more than six 80 MHz in 5 GHz band, which includes DFS channels. Basically, 160 MHz band will be finally usable in Wi-Fi 6E.
160 MHz band will be finally usable in Wi-Fi 6E.
What does this mean to consumers? Channel width will proportionally increase the throughput. So the math is simple 80 MHz to 160 MHz means 2x increase in throughput. So despite AXE11000 still have the same label as its older brother Ax11000 (Wi-Fi 6 router), it will make previously just marketing channel width into the real world use.
despite AXE11000 still have the same label as its older brother Ax11000 (Wi-Fi 6 router), it will make previously just marketing channel width into the real world use.
Therefore, I surmise that we see twice the throughput on Wi-Fi 6E devices when compared to current Wi-Fi 6 devices. To put this into the real numbers, Wi-Fi 6 system with most client devices being 2×2 MIMO, PHY is capped at 1201 Mbps at 80 MHz channel width. This link speed translates into the real world throughput of 600-800 Mbps. With 160 MHz channel, we are looking at 2402 Mbps link speed. Hence, we are expecting 1.2 to 1.6 Gbps real world throughput!
Hence, we are expecting 1.2 to 1.6 Gbps real world throughput!
2.5 Gbps Ethernet
Recently, I made a quick analysis about 2.5GBase-T ports for Wi-Fi 6 device whether it is enough or not based on the UniFi’s upcoming switch. The difference here is for UniFi AP I expect they do not go over 2.4 Gbps for single band link speed, but this is not because of client device limitation rather due to their AP will switch from 4×4 80MHz MIMO to 2×2 160 MHz MIMO i.e. there is no 4×4 160 MHz MIMO on the UniFi APs.
However, this is different on Asus AXE11000 as they are clearly labeling 4402 Mbps for 6GHz channel. This number means 4×4 160MHz is supported and such number translates into the real world potential throughput of 2.2Gbps to 3.1 Gbps based on 50-70% Wi-Fi efficiency. So 2.5 Gbps sitting right in the middle may seem reasonable for single band but if all 3 bands reach at their peak throughput, there seems like we don’t have enough.
Real Max Throughput Capacity
Using the same logic as above, I have constructed table below.
2.4 GHz band supports 40 MHz channel width but this will result in every channel overlap; therefore, practically 20 MHz channel width has been used.
Based on the above, if all 3 channels can operate at their max, there will be 5 Gbps throughput going in/out of the router.
if all 3 channels can operate at their max, there will be 5 Gbps throughput going in/out of the router.
However, in reality most clients will be at 2×2 so that will halves the throughput. One may wonder in the AiMesh setup using wireless link, two routers may connect at 4×4 link but in such case, ethernet will not be utilized. So 2.5 Gbps is sufficient for actual practical use.
Take Home Points
- Expecting 6 GHz band to double the practical maximum throughput i.e. 1.2-1.6 Gbps
- 2.5 Gbps ethernet port is indeed sufficient, but theoretical max throughput across the router may reach up to 5 Gbps range.