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With Apple’s fall launch, we’re seeing Wi-Fi 6E proceed to come back to Apple’s product line. Exterior of the MacBook Air, all the Macs now have choices for Wi-Fi 6E. On the iPhone, the iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max help Wi-Fi 6E. On the iPad, solely the iPad Professional 11-inch (4th technology) or iPad Professional 12.9-inch (sixth technology) help Wi-Fi 6E. Are we at a tipping level the place it’s time to begin contemplating Wi-Fi 6E deployments? What about Wi-Fi 7?
About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT community from 2009 to 2021. By way of his expertise deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a cell machine administration system, enterprise grade Wi-Fi, 100s of Macs, and 100s of iPads, Bradley will spotlight methods through which Apple IT managers deploy Apple units, construct networks to help them, prepare customers, tales from the trenches of IT administration, and methods Apple may enhance its merchandise for IT departments.
What are the advantages of Wi-Fi 6E?
Wi-Fi 6E is a wholly new world for Wi-Fi. If you happen to’ve been across the Wi-Fi trade for lengthy sufficient, you understand that we’ve had this back-and-forth battle between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. 5 GHz is way sooner and cleaner, however it didn’t journey almost so far as 2.4 GHz whereas additionally costing extra battery life. 2.4 GHz is a crowded band It solely has 3 non-overlapping channels. In dense environments, it’s difficult to keep away from cross-channel interference. I assumed 5 GHz would finally part out 2.4 GHz, however Wi-Fi 6 know-how truly introduced again 2.4 GHz. It clearly is tougher to kill than The Terminator.
If Wi-Fi 6 was a 4-lane freeway, Wi-Fi 6E is an 8-lane interstate that solely permits a sure velocity automotive. Wi-Fi 6E makes use of spectrum within the 6 GHz band which might accommodate as much as seven 160 MHz channels or fourteen 80 MHz channels. This additional spectrum enormously will increase the bandwidth out there for Wi-Fi units, which is particularly helpful in crowded areas. Wi-Fi 6E is the largest improve, in my view, to Wi-Fi in a few years. Whereas units that help Wi-Fi 6E are backward appropriate with older Wi-Fi know-how, units that don’t help Wi-Fi 6E can’t be part of the 6 GHz band. It’s like saying that there’s a new freeway that solely EV vehicles can take. It’s going to be a lot much less crowded. So we’ve got a scenario the place there’s a new Wi-Fi know-how that’s fairly revolutionary, and it’s rapidly coming to Apple’s total platform. Wi-Fi 6E know-how has been round for a number of years, however like all new spec, it takes time to come back to units.
Is it time to deploy Wi-Fi 6E?
If you happen to’re deploying a brand new fleet of Apple units to your college or enterprise workplace that helps Wi-Fi 6E, then sure, I feel it’s time to think about a Wi-Fi 6E deployment to match it. Wi-Fi 6E is in some methods “not the flavour of the month” as Wi-Fi 7 entry factors are beginning to substitute it on the excessive finish. I’ll have extra to say on Wi-Fi 7 in a future article, however I feel we’re a number of years away from seeing it substitute Wi-Fi 6E in Apple’s units. Apple is rarely the primary to deploy a brand new Wi-Fi commonplace as early variations are typically fairly battery-hungry. Wi-Fi 7, in very best environments, does have some main efficiency enhancements, however there’s rather a lot that goes into seeing these velocity will increase.
Sure, Wi-Fi 6E is dearer than Wi-Fi 6. You’ll be able to spot the distinction in pricing between UniFi’s 6E entry level vs the UniFi Wi-Fi 6 entry level. It’s dearer, however when you’re deploying 6E-compatible units at present, I feel it is sensible to think about upgrading no less than a part of your community to help 6E. If you happen to’re nonetheless utilizing Wi-Fi 6 units, such because the MacBook Air, you possibly can in all probability stick with Wi-Fi 6 till you’ve gotten Wi-Fi 6E units.
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