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Wi-Fi 6 vs Wi-Fi 6E: Here’s the difference

Wi-Fi 6 is the fastest version of Wi-Fi yet, but now, Wi-Fi 6E wants to take it to a whole new level. Here’s what you need to know.

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48 Comments

  1. Dave Mathijs

    June 25, 2020 at 1:03 pm

    Very well done, I like the visuals.

    • CNET

      June 25, 2020 at 3:25 pm

      Thanks, Dave!

  2. DylValentine

    June 25, 2020 at 1:12 pm

    I only just bought a wifi 6 router and now there’s wifi 6E 🤬

    • Angel Raj

      June 25, 2020 at 2:36 pm

      It doesn’t really matter because no devices that can use wifi right now can even use wifi 6e. Unless you plan to replace all of your devices that use wifi it doesn’t matter for right now.

    • Tikslolo

      June 25, 2020 at 3:25 pm

      @Vinayak thats just WiFi 6 not 6E

    • resistance 0078

      June 25, 2020 at 4:07 pm

      Vinayak pay attention kid

    • Streaming Junkie

      June 25, 2020 at 6:25 pm

      @Angel Raj I disagree. Unless you replace your routers every year, it is good to buy a router with some future-proofing in mind. Waiting to get a 6E router might save a buyer from purchasing a new router for the next 6 years. At least that’s the way I see it. Getting the best value of the hardware purchase is the way I would go about it.

    • Christopher Todd

      June 25, 2020 at 8:18 pm

      LOL My fingers were itching to buy one then I saw wifi 6E and I was like “hold the f*&^&* up….”

  3. Speed Racer

    June 25, 2020 at 1:13 pm

    I hope ASUS updates their ROG GTAX11000 router to 6E

    • sabishiihito

      June 25, 2020 at 2:08 pm

      Speed Racer I’m pretty sure it would have to be a new model. I don’t think the radios in current AX devices support 6GHz band.

  4. Manthan Flash

    June 25, 2020 at 1:25 pm

    Wifi sexy

  5. lasarith2

    June 25, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    0:57 Dr Octopus , found a job during the COVID pandemic I see.

  6. Tharun V

    June 25, 2020 at 2:18 pm

    is internet connection need to be faster even though we have WiFi 6 router

    • CNET

      June 25, 2020 at 5:37 pm

      This is from Ry: Good question. It’s really important to remember that your internet plan is like a speed limit. If you’re only paying for 50 Mbps, then that’s as fast as your router will pull data from the cloud, regardless of how fancy it is. Wi-Fi 6 routers will work with any incoming internet connection, but in order to take full advantage of the faster speeds, you’ll want a plan of at least 300 Mbps, and you’ll get the most out of Wi-Fi 6 if you’re paying for gigabit speeds. The fastest Wi-Fi 6 speeds we’ve been able to hit in our test lab sit at about 1.5 Gbps.

  7. Clifton Parchment

    June 25, 2020 at 3:02 pm

    Thanks for the explanation 👍🏼✌🏽

    • CNET

      June 25, 2020 at 3:21 pm

      Thanks for watching, Clifton!

  8. Yoni Caragay

    June 25, 2020 at 3:32 pm

    Just download more mbps to upgrade it

  9. Christopher Alden

    June 25, 2020 at 4:22 pm

    Wireless standards board, “We need to make things easier for people to understand, so Wifi AX is now “Wifi 6″, and because this wasn’t confusing enough we’re going to start adding letters to numbers again.”

  10. RG Engineer

    June 25, 2020 at 4:25 pm

    Wow sir this was really good

  11. GarethRossUK

    June 25, 2020 at 4:35 pm

    what ever wifi the next gen consoles come with is the wifi router to buy. probably 802.11ax nothing more than wifi 6 thats plenty enough im sure for a majority of home users unless for business or enterprise you wont see a worthwhile beneft.

  12. Unclejerry50th

    June 25, 2020 at 4:46 pm

    Considering most people don’t know what their router is and how old it is and upgrade it once every 10 years, I’d highly recommend you tell everyone to wait until 6E routers come just so in 2030 they have the option to connect to 6ghz if they want to

    • Dark Shadows

      June 25, 2020 at 5:04 pm

      Wow 10 years lol I upgrade mine every 3 – 5 years

  13. antonio beljr

    June 25, 2020 at 4:52 pm

    Thank you, very informative 👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼

  14. antonio beljr

    June 25, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    Can anyone suggest a good WIFI 6 router?TIA

    • Dark Shadows

      June 25, 2020 at 4:59 pm

      I’m personally a fan of Netgear nighthawk wifi 6 routers. I got a RAX40 and it works good. I heard Asus is good also but I never tried their routers.

    • CNET

      June 25, 2020 at 5:39 pm

      From Ry Crist (from the video): Our current favorite is the Asus ZenWiFi AX, a 2-piece mesh system that retails for $450. For something that costs a little less, we like the TP-Link Archer AX6000, which is still the fastest Wi-Fi 6 router we’ve tested. That one currently costs $300 on Amazon. We’ve also tested a few entry-level Wi-Fi 6 routers that cost closer to $200, but we haven’t found one that impressed us enough to earn our recommendation yet.
      Asus ZenWiFi AX review:
      TP-Link Archer AX6000:

  15. Streaming Junkie

    June 25, 2020 at 4:58 pm

    I’ve held off Wifi 6 since Ubiquiti only had WIFI 5 AP units, then 6E is announced and I am still holding off so I can design a system around the Dream Machine Pro and 6E AP units, hopefully early next year. Any news on Unifi’s progress with 6E APs?

  16. Christopher Spence

    June 25, 2020 at 5:33 pm

    Cool I’m a buy one 💯💯👍

  17. LLCoolJo3l

    June 25, 2020 at 5:44 pm

    Great timing on this video as I have been shopping for a wifi 6 router. Now I will wait for the 6Es later this year! Thanks!

  18. gwvaio

    June 25, 2020 at 6:10 pm

    Good concise video

  19. Harsha Sai

    June 25, 2020 at 6:15 pm

    Nicely explained…. thank ya

  20. DANIEL LI

    June 25, 2020 at 9:26 pm

    Mmmh Something new is out there again

  21. Quesodealer

    June 25, 2020 at 11:54 pm

    Had to watch it twice because 98% of the video is explaining what WiFi 6 is and only briefly mentions that WiFi 6E adds the 6GHz band before going back to explaining WiFi 6.

  22. Geoffrey Kail

    June 26, 2020 at 12:03 am

    Does it make your existing devices faster or does it just go back to the lower band to communicate with them. In other words do the wifi cards need to be upgraded with a new router.

  23. Elvite

    June 26, 2020 at 12:23 am

    Is it just me or is Ry is looking more and more like 1970’s George Lucas? Not an insult, by the way.

  24. Daniel

    June 26, 2020 at 12:43 am

    iPhones and Samsung Phones…
    there are definitely not other phone manufacturers out there

  25. Paul T Sjordal

    June 26, 2020 at 1:31 am

    I bought a WiFi 6 router a while back, but my secondary router is still WiFi 5. It gets replaced tomorrow.

    I have a grand total of two WiFi 6 devices (phones), and zero WiFi 6E devices. I’ll be getting another WiFi 6 device in August.

    I’ll be in no hurry to get those new routers when they come out later this year. That 6GHz band is going to be even worse at penetrating walls than the 5GHz band. I won’t be interested in that band until I have a much more congested network.

  26. Angel Mora Jr

    June 26, 2020 at 4:19 am

    Love the breakdown, much appreciated

  27. Steven Mancera

    June 26, 2020 at 6:06 am

    They gotta chill with releasing nee WiFi standards, at least for until 5 years. And let the manufacturers, the industry and the user market to catch up first.

    Geez, we barely even have WiFi 6 devices right now and then we got a new WiFi 6E now

  28. Prem Koomr

    June 26, 2020 at 7:15 am

    Your wife just got upgraded.

    Edit: Sorry Wifi

  29. M Charan Sai

    June 26, 2020 at 9:08 am

    Awesome

  30. Daniel Fernandes

    June 26, 2020 at 9:29 am

    To access Wi-Fi 6E, do you need a Wi-Fi 6E enabled device or will a Wi-Fi 6 enabled device do?

  31. dingaan thatho

    June 26, 2020 at 11:03 am

    Cool, Would the range be on a 6ghz transmission? And would be more susceptible to barriers

  32. viba vigneswaran

    June 26, 2020 at 11:48 am

    Wooow 6ghz 🤩

  33. Eric Ling

    June 26, 2020 at 12:13 pm

    Wifi 6 is Octodad
    Wifi 6e is Octodad on steroid that shoots lasers

  34. Rajiv Kishore

    June 26, 2020 at 2:28 pm

    I’m guessing the 6ghz band is even worse than 5ghz for signal and transfer speeds through walls?

  35. M ST

    June 27, 2020 at 6:33 pm

    Useless, as my carrier can’t even provide me its theoretical max bandwidth. I argued with them and they said I needed a wifi modem with high speeds. When I showed them my alienware laptop with the fast modem, they said, and I quote, “it is advertised as UP TO xxx bandwidth…”. I live in the city in a new building with optic fibre. I am close to the switch. It’s just LIES and they know it. I knew more than the two techs they sent. 😑

  36. pantsuck11

    June 28, 2020 at 5:01 am

    he doesn’t have extra arms, the customers had too much to drink!🙂

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