Time Makes You Bolder

Do you remember when your iPod held a thousand songs and you felt a little like George Jetson? We’ve come a long way from selecting our songs via click wheel – now you can stream any song from any artist whenever, wherever. But streaming isn’t without its issues. The problem? Your signal tends to cut out and get all unreliable right when you need it most. Like when you’re going through a subway tunnel or crying in a parking garage trying to listen to “Landslide” because your latest romance just shattered into ten million pieces.

But worry no more – there’s an emerging WiFi standard that makes streaming Fleetwood Mac during a stressful situation better: 802.11ax. While the old 802.11ac standard gave us a good (if kind of grainy) way to watch cat videos on the train, we’re ready to bid buffering adieu. So in the world of WiFi, you’ll find that one little “x” makes a huge difference.

802.11ax > 802.11ac

Consumers are outgrowing the 802.11ac standard. While 802.11ac provides ample bandwidth, it doesn’t do well with congestion and isn’t able to handle a large volume of consumers downloading, streaming, or Snapchatting – and when the network is overcrowded, performance suffers. The difference between the two standards basically comes down to one thing: efficiency. It’s like waiting in line at a busy restaurant: with 802.11ac, there are four cashiers taking orders from four lines of people. With 802.11ax, those four cashiers can quadruple the number of people they take orders from. Now instead of ringing up four orders, those super-efficient 802.11ax cashiers can ring up sixteen orders simultaneously and accommodate more demand.

Faster = Better

Content-heavy streaming services keep improving, so it makes sense that the infrastructure used to deliver those goods keeps improving, as well. That’s where we come in: we’ve designed and created new, ultra-powerful APs that can securely support more simultaneous users using the 802.11ax standard. With 802.11ax expected to be about four to ten times faster than 802.11ac, the new standard will provide a much needed boost in speed and user capacity – especially in crowded environments like airport terminals, train stations, and stadiums and arenas.

Another benefit aside from lightning fast connectivity and less congestion? Improved battery life. With Target Wake Time (TWT) technology, 802.11ax improves the wake and sleep efficiency on your device. “TWT allows devices to negotiate when and how often they will wake up to send or receive data. TWT increases device sleep time and, in turn, substantially improves battery life.” This is especially important for Internet of Things (IoT) devices that might only need to communicate with the internet every so often. Cumulatively, this will cut down energy costs – another 802.11ax win.

From bustling offices to crowded airport terminals, 802.11ax will drastically improve connectivity and the way connected devices operate. For fans of fast, reliable WiFi, the future has never looked brighter.