The FCC ratified Wi-Fi 6E this morning (Thursday April 23):
During the Federal Communications Commission's monthly meeting today, it ratified unlicensed use of the 6GHz radio frequency spectrum in the USA. This decision opens the way for the proposed Wi-Fi 6E standard to move forward.
[...] Although the FCC was widely expected to unanimously ratify unlicensed use of 6GHz spectrum in general, the associated usage rules were less certain. Until today, the 6GHz spectrum was for licensed use only—but that doesn't mean it isn't already in use.
Licensed use of the 6GHz spectrum includes point-to-point microwave backhaul (used by commercial wireless providers), telephone and utility communication, and control links. It also includes Cable Television Relay Links—which are mobile links used by newscasters doing onsite live reporting—and radio astronomy.
The truly excellent news for Wi-Fi 6E backers—and future users—is that the FCC has ratified unlicensed use of the entire 1.2GHz spectrum for low-power indoor devices. Separating unlicensed outdoor and high-powered usage from indoor and low power allows for the maximum utility of spectrum in the most common (and most crowded) Wi-Fi environments, while preserving the utility of incumbent licensed users.
[...] With usable rules for unlicensed 6GHz spectrum use defined, we broadly expect to see Wi-Fi 6E devices beginning to become available to consumers in late 2020 or early 2021.
Previously: Wi-Fi Alliance Announces Wi-Fi 6E for Devices Operating in the 6 GHz Band
The FCC Sets a Vote for Expanding Wi-Fi into the 6GHz Band
Related Stories
Wi-Fi Alliance Announces Wi-Fi 6E Moniker for 802.11ax in the 6 GHz Spectrum
The FCC has been considering the opening up of the 6 GHz band (essentially, the 1.2 GHz unlicensed spectrum span just above the currently used 5 GHz band) for unlicensed operation. Wideband unlicensed channels of 160 MHz and more may become essential to achieve expected performance from 802.11ax, 802.11be, 4G LTE, and 5G NR in unlicensed spectrum. Opening up a continuous 1200 MHz chunk will enable substantial amount of new bandwidth over multiple wide bandwidth channels.
Unfortunately, even though there are no currently unlicensed users of the 6 GHz band, certain fixed wireless point-to-point long-range deployments are licensed to utilize it. Wi-Fi platform vendors such as Qualcomm and Broadcom have been confident of working with those users to prevent any interference. Their key message to the licensed incumbents is that any Wi-Fi deployment in the 6 GHz band would use LPI (low-power indoor) operation and can also implement AFC (automated frequency coordination). LPI operation, for example, may impose restrictions on the total EIRP (effective isotropically radiated power) and PSD (power spectral density) for Wi-Fi devices. This will prevent interference due to low power levels and substantial building losses. In addition, most licensed users of the spectrum have their point-to-point endpoints well above the ground (mounted atop towers and buildings), and devices rated for LPI operation are not likely to affect them. AFC involves the maintenance of a database where licensed users are tracked based on their deployment location, and any unlicensed Wi-Fi usage in that spectrum capable of interfering with the licensed users could automatically shift to a different channel.
The Wi-Fi Alliance is introducing a new terminology to distinguish upcoming Wi-Fi 6 devices that are capable of 6 GHz operation - Wi-Fi 6E. This is essentially the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 / 802.11ax (higher performance in terms of faster data rates as well as lower latency) in the 6 GHz band. Wi-Fi 6E devices are expected to make it to the market relatively quickly after regulatory approval, as it only requires changing the antenna tuning / RF front end on existing devices.
802.11be is likely to become Wi-Fi 7 and also operate in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands.
In retrospect, the new Wi-Fi naming scheme is not that bad. Or at least, it's not as bad as USB yet.
Previously: Wi-Fi Alliance Rebrands Wi-Fi Standards
Related: Netgear Introduces its First Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) Routers
Intel Launches a Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) Wireless Network Adapter
The FCC sets a vote for expanding Wi-Fi into the 6GHz band:
The Federal Communications Commission announced a potentially significant step for Wi-Fi today, with plans for an April 23 vote on a proposal to open the 6GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi use. Doing so would free up more than 1,200MHz of additional bandwidth for next-gen Wi-Fi 6E devices with antennas and chipsets capable of tapping into the extra spectrum.
"To accommodate that increase in Wi-Fi demand, the FCC is aiming to increase the supply of Wi-Fi spectrum with our boldest initiative yet: making the entire 6GHz band available for unlicensed use," reads the FCC's announcement. "By doing this, we would effectively increase the amount of spectrum available for Wi-Fi almost by a factor of five. This would be a huge benefit to consumers and innovators across the nation. It would be another step toward increasing the capacity of our country's networks. And it would help advance even further our leadership in next generation wireless technologies, including 5G."
With more than twice as much bandwidth as the 5GHz band used by Wi-Fi devices today, the 6GHz band could accommodate up to seven 160MHz channels at once. Latency stands to be a lot lower on the 6GHz band too, because there aren't any existing, older-gen Wi-Fi devices operating in that spectrum to slow things down. That gives the 6GHz band the potential to serve as an exclusive, multilane expressway for Wi-Fi devices equipped to take advantage, all of them using Wi-Fi 6, the newest, fastest and most efficient version of Wi-Fi.
The announcement of a vote on opening the 6GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi use comes months after FCC Chairman Ajit Pai signaled his support for the move.
"This band is currently populated by microwave services that are used to support utilities, public safety and wireless backhaul," Pai said in September of 2019. "But studies have shown that sharing this band with unlicensed operations is feasible, and can put massive amounts of new spectrum into the hands of consumers."
(Score: 5, Informative) by MostCynical on Sunday April 26 2020, @01:52AM (3 children)
6e Opens 1,200 MHz in the 6GHz spectrum, with non-overlapping channels, meaning 14 additional 80 MHz channels and 7 additional 160 MHz channels.
what is 6E? [digitaltrends.com]
It looks like many manufacturers already assumed this was going to happen..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 4, Informative) by fishybell on Sunday April 26 2020, @02:29AM (1 child)
The assumptions are always "if you lobby hard enough" you get what you want. These are still assumptions, but without significant risk.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by epitaxial on Sunday April 26 2020, @02:50AM
Now see who "retires" from the government and becomes a board member in the private sector.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2020, @02:31AM
Great... More EMR that infiltrates my brainwaves and makes me post stupid comments.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Username on Sunday April 26 2020, @04:55AM (4 children)
5ghz doesn't go through my old victorian walls that are layered inchboard/lath/plaster/drywall. I can get the signal on the other side but the attenuation is so bad the router will drop the connection, which makes it fairly useless. I still leave one radio on 5ghz though, since there might be some device that only uses it in the future. This 6ghz can only be worse, higher the frequency the less it goes through. I'm guessing their going higher to make the radios smaller and cheaper and sell you a $100 router for each room.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2020, @05:01AM (1 child)
In your case, I'd probably run cable behind the walls. Then you can connect your PC to a cable outlet and install a WAP in a good place so that you can connect from a couple of rooms. If it matters to you, you could install another WAP on another floor if you need it.
(Score: 2) by hendrikboom on Monday April 27 2020, @04:31AM
I remember drawing ethernet cables through my old house. The trick was to avoid as much damage as possible.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2020, @05:15AM
https://www.consumerreports.org/wireless-routers/best-mesh-routers-of-the-year/ [consumerreports.org]
(Score: 2) by Muad'Dave on Monday April 27 2020, @03:05PM
Do you have sheet metal lath [plastermesh.com]? That'll do it. You could make a decent dish antenna out of that mess. If you have rib lath, polarization might matter.
That's not actually 100% true if you have metal lath. The mesh size needs to be on the order of a tenth of a wavelength in size to block RF, so as frequencies get higher the effective blocking will go down as the wavelength approaches and dips below 10x the mesh size.
If we use the 9/16" stuff, the gap is about 14.29mm. The frequency that corresponds to 1/10 wavelength of that size is 2.1 GHz, so attenuation _should_ be already decreasing from 2.4 GHz to 5 GHz. 60 GHz should go right thru!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2020, @06:47AM
weeeh, some facist are throwing a f#cking tantrum right about now:
"stupid stupid americans. why they give possible free communication channels to people? people have to pay mobile company and they have to pay us, the government big money! no free communication channel! we lose control to manage flow (of lies)."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 26 2020, @07:43AM
6G?
Start burning down the masts now!!