Should I upgrade from WiFi 6, to at least 6e, at this point?

[iFrogMac]

Hey all,
been a while since I've posted a question here. I've been using an Asus RT-AX86U for the past few years. While there is nothing wrong with this router, and everything is working. For future compatibility, would it be ideal to upgrade from this WiFi 6 router to at least 6e? I did get the newest iPhone which is 6e compatible, and while I don't have any plans to just start buying a bunch of new devices, I'm thinking anything I do buy that's capable of high speed will probably be at least 6e compatible (if not 7) by the time I get it. I am also asking this question also from a software / firmware support point of view when it comes to continuing to get updates for my current router. Nothing suggests that the router is going to lose support any time soon, at least for security and bug fixes. However, I thought it would be a good time to combine these considerations into this question to see what people suggest at this point. I know there are a few on this forum who are happy with the Asus Pro model of the 86U, but that's still only Wifi 6.

Thanks.

P.S, not planning to make a decision overnight, just looking to see if enough has changed and if there are enough new devices out yet, that would benefit from the hardware upgrade.

 

[L&LD]

Moving from WiFi 6 to 6E does not make sense at this point. Not when WiFi 7 is being actively worked on.

And particularly when WiFi has always been about backward compatibility.

The RT-AX88U Pro is an upgrade worth considering, if you didn't have a working system today.

But buying even that best bang for the buck router makes little sense when the RT-AX86U is still being supported.

If you're able to sell the RT-AX86U today, or, can use it as an AiMesh node, or in Media Bridge mode, that would be a good reason to buy an RT-AX88U Pro today.

But again; taking down a working system is never a good thing.

 

[iFrogMac]

Moving from WiFi 6 to 6E does not make sense at this point. Not when WiFi 7 is being actively worked on.

And particularly when WiFi has always been about backward compatibility.

The RT-AX88U Pro is an upgrade worth considering, if you didn't have a working system today.

But buying even that best bang for the buck router makes little sense when the RT-AX86U is still being supported.

If you're able to sell the RT-AX86U today, or, can use it as an AiMesh node, or in Media Bridge mode, that would be a good reason to buy an RT-AX88U Pro today.

But again; taking down a working system is never a good thing.

OK, thanks for the feedback. As mentioned, I wasn't sure what my expectations should be set on. Yes, I'm behind leaving a functional system alone. Sounds like WiFi 7 will be the better upgrade when I have more devices that support it. As far as AIMesh, the apartment is really too small to even bother with it, any modern router is more than enough to cover the whole apartment and reach the neighbors too. I'm glad the RT-AX86U is still supported. I've been keeping an eye on that as well since updates have slowed down. So, I think the three main factors to keep in mind here are:
The support of the current router runs out
The current router fails
I have enough devices that support newer standards that would justify a router upgrade.

I'll keep these main three items in mind going forward.

 

[L&LD]

That last point is never a consideration.

Buy quality hardware, when needed, at great prices. The client devices will always come.

 

[coxhaus]

How many clients do you have? I have none yet so I would not upgrade.

 

[iFrogMac]

How many clients do you have? I have none yet so I would not upgrade.

I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max. It's my first WiFi 6e compatible device. Besides that I have an Apple TV 4K (2022) model that I'm actively using that's WiFi 6, but use it with a gigabit Ethernet connection, so currently the iPhone is the only wireless client I use with the 6e capabilities.
That's why I was asking about the upgrade if it would make much difference over WiFi 6.

 

[RMerlin]

For future compatibility, would it be ideal to upgrade from this WiFi 6 router to at least 6e?

The 5 GHz band is not going anywhere, therefore you don`t need the 6 GHz for future compatibility. Every client device you will buy over the next 10 years will support the 5 GHz band.

 

[Piotrek]

I have an iPhone 15 Pro Max. It's my first WiFi 6e compatible device. Besides that I have an Apple TV 4K (2022) model

Let me know when you have Apple TV 32K or watch broadcasts on your Iphone in a resolution higher than 16K. WiFi 6 is enough to watch media in 16K resolution.

 

[iFrogMac]

The 5 GHz band is not going anywhere, therefore you don`t need the 6 GHz for future compatibility. Every client device you will buy over the next 10 years will support the 5 GHz band.

I'm aware of that. I was mainly asking in terms of would the 6Ghz band get wireless closer to a full gigabit speed like Ethernet compared to 5Ghz. That was mainly the question I was asking. Right now, I typically miss out on 200 to 300 Mbps of my connection on current wireless devices, even if they are high speed capable, and why I was asking if the newer Wifi standards would improve on that. Nothing wrong with current functionality. More looking to optimize the connection speed. (if possible)

 

[Piotrek]

I typically miss out on 200 to 300 Mbps of my connection on current wireless devices

For what activities and on what devices are you missing 200-300 Mbps?

 

[iFrogMac]

For what activities and on what devices are you missing 200-300 Mbps?

well, the main activities that would really benefit for the extra bandwidth would mainly be OS / app updates on the phone, or any other large file transfers. As your comment about the Apple TV, I went with Ethernet over WiFi for ripped full quality Blu-ray in (MKV) files as those can bee up to 50Mbps /sec so having the extra LAN bandwidth is nice. They typically work OK on wireless too but since Ethernet is full duplex I went with it to reduce bottlenecks. To be fair though, I don't have a lot of issues with updates, and I have unlimited Cell Data from Verizon and 5G so maybe if I'm in a good location 5G will give me a full gigabit at some point in time. I have the ultra wide, or whatever they call it now. I got that when I upgraded my plan to get a better trade in deal for the new phone from the 12 Pro Max, I upgraded from.

 

[Piotrek]

What is your Channel bandwidth in WiFi settings on router and Tx Rate and Rx Rate for transmission of your wireless devices?

 

[iFrogMac]

What is your Channel bandwidth in WiFi settings on router and Tx Rate and Rx Rate for transmission of your wireless devices?

All those settings are at the defaults Asus sets them (RT-AX86U) latest firmware. The channel bandwidth for 5G is 20/40/80 MHZ i've disabled 160 as I don't think the iPhone can take advantage of it and it maxes at 80. 2.4 is set to 20 MHZ only. 2.4 channel is set to 6 and 5Ghz is set to channel 36. I haven't touched the TX settings and those are the defaults Asus sets.

 

[Piotrek]

i've disabled 160

WiFi 6 and 6E has the same speed. You can get higher speed by enabling 160 MHz.

 

[iFrogMac]

WiFi 6 and 6E has the same speed. You can get higher speed by enabling 160 MHz.

I'll have to look up if the iPhone 15 Pro Max supports it as prior Apple WiFi 6 devices maxed out at 80 MHZ

 

[Piotrek]

Wi-Fi specifications for Apple devices

Learn about Wi-Fi specifications for Apple devices.

support.apple.com

ax@6 GHz - 160 MHz Supported on all iPhone 15 Pro models

 

[iFrogMac]

Wi-Fi specifications for Apple devices

Learn about Wi-Fi specifications for Apple devices.

support.apple.com

ax@6 GHz - 160 MHz Supported on all iPhone 15 Pro models

Thanks for the post, while I was posting will turn it on to see what happens.

 

[Piotrek]

It may be that 160MHz is only available on band 6GHz (WiFi 6E and 7).

 

[iFrogMac]

It may be that 160MHz is only available on band 6GHz (WiFi 6E and 7).

I think so, because I turned it on and it still only showed as 80 Mhz. So I'll just let it be until i need new hardware and have more devices that support newer standards that I have.

 

[RMerlin]

I'm aware of that. I was mainly asking in terms of would the 6Ghz band get wireless closer to a full gigabit speed like Ethernet compared to 5Ghz.

You can get around 900 Mbps on the 5 GHz band with Wifi 6, which should be plenty sufficient for mobile devices.

On a laptop/desktop, if it has an Intel wireless NIC and both your router and your region support 160 MHz channels, you can get around 1500-1800 Mbps depending on congestion.

Bottom line is, it's not worth replacing a recent high-end router just to add 6 GHz support, unless you live in an area where the 5 GHz band is too congested, and that you do have enough 6 GHz capable clients to make use of it (and that your clients are close enough to have a good signal strength).