Carla Smith of Weatherford, Texas, doesn’t know for sure. But she does know that when the pandemic forced her four teenagers to attend school online and their father to work from home via videoconference all day – adding to existing demands from home automation, streaming, gaming, and other devices in the house – things hit a breaking point. That’s before they had access to Wi-Fi 6E.

“Everything started crashing, and everyone was complaining to me every few hours about the internet connection – as if there was something I could do about it,” she says. 

Wi-Fi congestion problems like Smith’s are increasingly common as connected devices proliferate and users continue to demand more from their equipment and services, whether it’s making video calls, streaming high-definition films, or security cameras that record to the cloud 24/7. 

New Mesh Wi-Fi networks have helped to improve the situation for many households. Now a new standard, Wi-Fi 6E, is set to raise the bar even higher, improving wireless connectivity dramatically.

Wi-Fi 6E is the latest version of the Mesh Wi-Fi standard. Existing technologies operate on two frequency bands, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz; Wi-Fi 6E adds access to a third, at 6 GHz. The higher the frequency, the faster the throughput, which means anyone installing Wi-Fi 6E devices like the new Nest Wifi Pro will enjoy combined speeds of up to 5.4 Gbps – twice as fast as Wi-Fi 6.¹

Additionally, the 6 GHz Wi-Fi band is much less crowded than the other two.² Old 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi systems operate across 11 overlapping channels in North America; 6E has wider channels, and more of them – 21 in total, at various frequencies. That means neighbours can stop worrying about interference from each other’s Wi-Fi networks. And inside a typical house, Nest Wifi Pro can simultaneously support up to 100 connected devices per router or up to 300 connected devices on a three-router network.³

Wi-Fi 6E works exactly the same way as existing Wi-Fi products, but it solves many issues that have cropped up in recent years, such as slow speeds and inconsistent connections, due to overcrowded networks. Products that use it, like the Pixel 6 phone and later generations, are already on the market, and many more are on the way. 

Jon Peha, professor of electrical engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, says that opening up newer, less crowded channels will make it easier to consider adding devices to a home network. “Wi-Fi 6E supports much higher data rates, whether it’s one device on the network or many devices,” he says. “Its lower latency is especially important for applications like virtual reality and gaming.”

For users needing Wi-Fi coverage for large or challenging spaces – multiple floors, houses with long hallways or thick walls, or outbuildings, for example – new mesh Wi-Fi networks are still the answer. And Nest Wifi Pro, which ships with up to three routers that can cover 2,200 square feet each, will cover a wide area with fast 6 GHz Wi-Fi for reliable connectivity based on the latest technology standard.⁴

Adding Wi-Fi 6E routers isn’t just a solution for today’s problems – it’s future-proofing your environment, as more and more devices become Wi-Fi 6E-enabled.

Meanwhile, old devices running on 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz frequencies will work fine with a Wi-Fi 6E mesh system, though they won’t be able to take advantage of the higher throughput rates. (For example, most smart home technology, like cameras and smart light bulbs, operates on the 2.4 GHz band.)

The upside is that for anyone who has struggled with slow performance, dropped connections, or other wireless hiccups, Wi-Fi 6E devices like Nest Wifi Pro provides significant benefits – along with some peace of mind.¹

As Smith notes, “It’s nice when the internet just works.”