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Wi-Fi Standards Explained: The Difference Between Wi-Fi 4, 5, 6, 6E, and 7

Tap a standard to see its traits.

Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n)

Standardized in 2009, supporting speeds up to 600Mbps β€” still found in many budget devices today.

Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac)

Primarily uses the 5GHz band for much faster speeds than Wi-Fi 4, and served for years as the standard for home routers.

Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax)

Substantially improves efficiency so speed holds up better with many devices connected at once, and has recently become the standard for routers and smartphones.

Wi-Fi 6E

Keeps all of Wi-Fi 6's technology while extending it to also use the less-congested 6GHz band.

Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be)

The newest standard, using wider channel bandwidths and the ability to use multiple frequency bands at once for even faster, more stable connections.

A Higher Number Means a Newer Standard

Instead of the confusing 802.11 technical naming, the simple generation-number system β€” Wi-Fi 4, 5, 6, and so on β€” was introduced to make things far easier to understand when shopping for a router. The higher the number, the faster and more reliable the connection.

Both Ends Need to Support the Same Standard

To fully benefit from a newer standard, both your router and your device need to support it β€” mismatched hardware will always fall back to whichever standard is older.

Frequently Asked Questions

My router is Wi-Fi 6 but my phone is only Wi-Fi 5 β€” what happens?

The connection defaults to whichever standard is lower between the two devices, so in this case it would run at Wi-Fi 5 speeds. To fully benefit from a newer standard, both the router and the device need to support the same generation.

What does the 'E' in Wi-Fi 6E stand for?

It stands for "Extended" β€” it keeps all the existing Wi-Fi 6 technology while adding support for the less-congested 6GHz frequency band.