WiFi 6E is here! FCC authorized the first batch of 6 GHz spectrum band

After voting last month, the Federal Communications Commission finally released the 5.9 GHz spectrum, which was originally reserved for automakers 20 years ago.

However, the U.S. auto industry has done nothing and failed to use the spectrum in these years, which is equivalent to a waste of 20 years of 5.9 GHz spectrum in the hands of the auto industry.

Therefore, after discussion and voting, the Federal Communications Commission announced that the spectrum will be allocated to consumers to expand the current extremely congested 5 GHz wireless channel.

Although the US auto industry is still concerned about this matter, it can no longer be changed. At present, the Federal Communications Commission has authorized the first batch of devices to use the spectrum.

Note that the 6GHz spectrum mentioned in this article actually refers to the 5.9GHz spectrum, but for the convenience of calling the Wi-Fi Alliance, it is directly called the 6GHz instead of the 5.9GHz spectrum.

Currently, the frequency spectrum used by wireless networks in the consumer-level field is mainly 2.4GHz and 5GHz. In theory, the higher the frequency, the faster the transmission speed but the lower the penetration efficiency.

Even so, WiFi 5GHz is the first choice in the home environment, but the current use of 5GHz in too many home environments leads to very, very congested signals in this frequency band.

The result of congestion is to affect the network transmission speed, so after discussion and voting, the US Federal Communications Commission believes that it is necessary to abolish the wasteful behavior of the automobile industry.

The new spectrum supports WiFi 6 for expansion. Of course, although the protocol standard is supported, hardware devices such as routers may need to be upgraded to support it.

For example, the first batch of equipment authorized by the US Federal Communications Commission is from Broadcom. When router manufacturers adopt Broadcom’s new chips, they can support new frequency bands.