RICHARD SWINBURNE / VIEW FROM TAIWAN
OPINION
I
f you’reshoppingfora newWi-Fi6 router,you’llbe
surprisedtolearnthat,despitecertifications,notall
productsofferthesamefeatures.‘Wi-Fi6’isthe
marketingnameadministeredbytheWi-FiAlliance,andit’s
supposedtomakeit easytounderstandthata product,suchas
a router,smartphoneormotherboard,offersa guaranteedset
offeatures.You’dthinkthattwoWi-Fi6 deviceswouldwork
togetheratthebestspeedswithallthebellsandwhistlesenabled,
butthat’snotthecasebecausesomefeatures
areonlyoptionalinthecertificationlist.
Thiscertificationlistis separatefromtheIEEE
802.11axspecificationgovernedbytheIEEE.
The802.11axspecificationis publicforanyone
toview,butthesameisn’ttruefortheWi-Fi
6 certificationrequirements– thatlistisonly
availabletoWi-FiAlliance(WFA)members.It’sinconvenient
ratherthaninsidious.TheWFAis a commercialentitythatmerely
existstoregulatetheuseofitsbrandingthrougha certification
program,bymakingsureWi-Fiproductsconform.It’sthistick-
boxapprovalmethodthat’sprovinginadequate.
I reachedouttoa technologycompanythatmakesWi-Fi
productsandhasWFAmembershiptoobtaina copyofthe
certificationlist,andI’mgoingtogothroughithere.Strictly
speaking,there’smore,buttheydivedeepintotechnicalterritory
that’sbeyondthiscolumn.
Let’sstartwiththe‘mandatory’itemsforcertification,which
includeWPA3 security,targetwaittime,longsymbol(data
signaling),DLMU-MIMO,ULOFDMAandDLOFDMA.Then
therearethe‘optional’parts,whichinclude160MHzchannel
bandwidth, 1024 QAM,Bluetoothinclusion,ULMU-MIMO,DCM
(dualsub-carriermodulation)andspatialreuse.There’salso‘no
requirement’tohave2.4+ 5GHzthroughputtogetcertification.
Keyfeatures,suchasthelatestWPA3 security,isrightly
required,whiletargetwaittimeletsconnecteddevices sleep
untilthey’recalledupon,improvingthepowerefficiency of
everydeviceonthenetwork.Othersfeatures,suchasOFDMA
andDLMU-MIMO,whichimprovethehandlingof many
devices,arerequiredonboth2.4GHzand5GHzbands.However,
currentlynoteveryproductisreleasedwiththesemandatory
featuresenabled.Forexample,theAsusRT-AX88U(Broadcom
BCM49408),whichis Wi-Fi6 certified,supports
theoptional160MHzchannelbandwidth,but
onlyenablesmandatoryOFDMAinthe5GHz
band,not2.4GHz.
Acertaintypeofsignaling(longsignal)is
requiredtoletdevicesknowthey’reWi-Fi 6
capable,buta particularprotocolusedinbeam
forming– whichimprovesperformance– isonlyoptional.The
reasonwhyit’soptionalis thesameastheotheroptionalfeatures:
notallproductsrequireorareevencapableofhighperformance.
Wi-Fi’subiquityisalsoitsAchillesheel.It’susedtoconnectall
sorts,fromhigh-endroutersandenterprisegeartoa million
smartdeviceswithlimitedcapabilities.Thisblanketoptional
list,regardlessofproducttype,ultimatelygivesmanufacturers
toomuchfreerein.
Whileyoursmartphonewouldbenefitfromoptionalfeatures,
suchas160MHzbands,ULMU-MIMOand 1024 QAM,thereality
isthatithasnospaceforextraantennaeandusingthese
featureswoulddestroyitsbatterylife.However,yourhome
router– notrestrictedinpowerandsize– wouldabsolutely
benefitfromallthree.TheWi-FiAllianceneedstosegment
featurerequirementsbyproducttypetoensurethebest
experiencewiththerightproduct,andnotjustruna tick-box
certificationscheme.WIFI 6, BUT ONLY MAYBE
Not all Wi-Fi 6 products are created equal. Richard Swinburne
demystifies the spec and certification systemRichard has worked in tech for over a decade, as aUKjournalist,onAsus’ROGteamandnowasanindustryanalystbasedinTaiwan @ricswi
The certification list is
separate from the IEEE
802.11ax specification