The most prominent differences between the current Wi-Fi versions

 

Many of us still remember those days when if we wanted to connect a group of computers located in one place or building, it was necessary to have Ethernet cables that extend around us in all directions to connect to the devices forming what is known as the local area network (LAN). This scene has now declined to a large extent now that wireless local networks known as Wi-Fi networks have appeared to replace most of these cables, and computers, phones, watches, televisions, and smart speakers can connect to the Internet through Wi-Fi networks deployed in homes and businesses. Hotels, airports, and even the streets of some cities provide this service for free to roamers.

 

But it is still complicated for some users who may find it difficult to choose the right device when they need to buy a router or router, as they usually find themselves in front of a set of options among different versions of WiFi, which may not be the differences and differences between them They are quite clear, especially when phrases like 802.11 followed by English letters (a, b, ac, ax, g, etc.) are used to name each type separately and distinguish between the different types.

 

The Wi-Fi Alliance, which regulates connection to Wi-Fi networks, recently proposed to eliminate this confusion by replacing those complex designations of different Wi-Fi versions with new, simpler ones. The IEEE 802.11ax standard is called Wi-Fi 6. What do labels like IEEE 802.11ax stand for? What are the most prominent differences between the different Wi-Fi versions that exist today? This is what we will address in the following lines.

 

How do Wi-Fi networks work?

 

Wi-Fi technology uses radio waves in the frequency range between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz of the electromagnetic spectrum and is based on the protocol 802.11 (802.11) allocated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for the wireless Internet, which was first established in 1999 to standardize Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN) A network that provides a wireless connection to the Internet over a fixed-line. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is an American society of those who regulate the various communication protocols in electronics around the world. Now let's explain how Wi-Fi networks work.

 

Simply when your phone or laptop is connected to a Wi-Fi network through a router, and you start a connection to the Internet, say, for example, that you are going to use a search engine to search for something, the wireless adapter of the laptop or mobile phone will first translate the data and convert it to a radio signal, and then begins transmitting it using an antenna. The wireless router then receives this signal and decodes it, then sends the information back to the ISP using regular Ethernet cables.

 

The router will then receive packets of data from the Internet and translate them into a radio signal before sending it to the wireless adapter on your laptop or smartphone. In order to show you the search results on its screen at the end. This process continues to be repeated in both directions, and thus information is transferred to and from the phone or laptop, and the connection to the Internet is achieved through an intermediary wireless local network, which is the Wi-Fi network.

 

 

The transmitters, receivers, and signal converters used by Wi-Fi networks in routers are similar to those in different devices that rely on radio waves such as walkie-talkies and mobile phones in terms of their ability to convert 1 or 0 signals into radio waves and vice versa, but there are noticeable differences that distinguish Wi-Fi routers are different from other wireless radios, they send and receive radio waves in the frequency range between 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, which are much higher frequencies than the frequencies at which mobile phone networks, wireless communication devices, and televisions operate, and these frequencies allow High signal to carry more data.

 

The main differences between the Wi-Fi versions

 

The original version of Wi-Fi, which was first launched in 1997, was based on the 802.11 standards at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, and the maximum data transmission speed using this standard was only 1 megabit per second. Wireless data transmission standards have subsequently undergone successive development processes to improve the speed of information transmission and add new features to the following versions of Wi-Fi networks related to such things as frequency range, technology that allows users to move from one wireless network to another seamlessly, and the use of wide area networks (WANs). ) inside vehicles, etc.

 

Each standard that is developed is called a new name to identify it consisting of the name of the original standard plus one or more letters to refer to the new version. In 1999, two new standards for Wi-Fi networks were developed, namely the standard (802.11b) and the standard (802.11a). The standard (802.11b) was widespread at the time, while the use of the standard (802.11a) was limited to a limited scope, so 802.11b was considered the first version developed with additional features of the Wi-Fi network standards, so it was known as the first generation of Wi-Fi networks.

 

802.11b (first-generation Wi-Fi)

 

The 802.11b standard was considered the first updated version of the Wi-Fi technology that was originally based on the 802.11 standards. Both standards worked at the same 2.4 GHz frequency, so the 802.11b standard suffered from the problem of interference with waves of other devices that operate at close frequencies such as microwave ovens and cordless phones, but it was distinguished by a higher data transfer speed than its predecessor, reaching 11 megabits per second. Standard Complementary Code Keying (CCK) transmission calibration to improve speeds.

 

802.11a (second generation Wi-Fi) standard

 

This standard was developed shortly after the appearance of the first standard 802.11b to have improved features and less interference, as it worked at a frequency of 5 GHz, and was able to transfer data at a speed of up to 54 Mbps, and it also used Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM) technology It is a more efficient encryption technology that splits the radio signal into several sub-signals before it reaches the receiver, which greatly reduces the occurrence of interference with other wireless radio signals, and allows connecting multiple devices such as mobile phones, tablets and portable computers to the wireless network through a router. One wireless simultaneous.

 

However, this version did not have the same prevalence as the previous version, which was less expensive, so its use was limited to some business applications before the use of both versions declined together to be replaced by more advanced versions.

 

802.11g (the third generation of Wi-Fi)

 

The third version appeared in 2003 to combine the characteristics of both previous versions, and it worked at a frequency of 2.4 GHz as in the first version, but with the ability to transfer data at a speed of up to 54 megabits per second due to the fact that it uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing technology as in that like the second edition.

 

The distinguishing feature of this version was that it remained compatible with devices still using the first standard (802.11b), which means that any user with an 802.11b phone or laptop can still connect to the Internet through a wireless router that works with the standard (802.11b). 802.11g), and vice versa as any user with a wireless router that works according to the standard (802.11b) can still connect to the Internet if their phone works according to the standard (802.11g), but in both cases, the data transfer speed will not exceed 11 Mbps One is the 802.11b data transfer rate.

 

802.11n (4th generation Wi-Fi)

 

The 802.11n standard appeared for the first time in 2009, and it has improved features and many additional advantages. In addition to the data transmission speed, which has increased dramatically to reach 300 Mbps in this version, this standard now supports dual frequencies, so it can work at a frequency of 2.4 GHz. It can also work at a frequency of 5 GHz, and in the case of working at the higher frequency, the maximum data transfer speed may reach about 600 megabits per second through four data flow paths, each of which transmits data at a rate of 150 megabits per second, which is only a theoretical speed Most routers only allow two or three lanes for data flow.

 

This version also had an additional feature, which is the use of Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO), a multi-user technology that splits the wireless signal into several sub-signals like orthogonal-frequency multiplexing, but then allows It transmits radio signals through four channels instead of transmitting them through only one so that each of the four channels covers a frequency space of 40MHz. This release also remains compatible with all devices that use the previous three standards.

 

802.11ac (5th generation Wi-Fi)

 

In 2014, there was a huge leap in the speed of Wi-Fi networks with the release of the fifth version of the 802.11ac standard, which provided a maximum speed of data handling of 1 gigabyte per second at a frequency of 5 GHz. This type of Wi-Fi network was characterized by low interference, and the number of channels doubled to 8 instead of only four, the width of one channel was doubled to cover 80MHz, and the single path allowed a flow of 450Mbps.

 

This version used new technology to strengthen the signal and enhance its better reception called Beamforming, which we explained in detail in the previously article. While a traditional Wi-Fi router or wireless router sends its wireless radio signals in all directions, this technology uses specialized hardware and algorithms to be able to discover the location Approximate the phone or laptop connected to the network and then tries to launch the wireless signal in the direction of the receiver on the phone or laptop in particular, which helps to receive the signal better.

 

802.11ax (6th generation Wi-Fi)

 

The recently launched 802.11ax standard is the latest Wi-Fi standard. This generation of Wi-Fi is comparable to the fifth generation for mobile phone networks, and this version was characterized by an astonishing maximum data transfer speed of 9.6 gigabits per second, and it also supports work at both frequencies 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and it is expected to release an updated version of this The release this year with limited additional features is the WiFi 6e standard that operates at a frequency of 6 GHz, which will be about 20 percent faster under ideal conditions.

 

This standard also allowed manufacturers to install multiple antennas on a single wireless router, allowing them to connect to multiple networks simultaneously without concerns about interference and lag issues.

 

 

A new Wi-Fi standard is expected to be launched in 2024, 802.11be, which will represent the seventh generation of Wi-Fi networks. Tech professionals around the world hope that this standard will provide better connectivity, more features, and faster data transfer rates than all previous versions.

 

Summary

 

In general, all versions of different Wi-Fi networks primarily use the 802.11 standard, which is a wireless communication protocol assigned by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for the wireless Internet, but this standard has undergone successive development processes to improve the speed of data transmission and to give Wi-Fi networks additional advantages. The first of these improved versions was the 802.11b standard that ran at a frequency of 2.4 GHz and reached a maximum data transfer speed of 11 Mbps, but it suffered from the problem of interference. The second version came to solve this problem by working at a higher frequency equal to 5 GHz and improving the data transfer speed to reach 54 Mbps. The third version was 802.11g, which ran at a frequency of 2.4 GHz, was able to transfer data at speeds up to 54 Mbps, and is also compatible with all devices that use the standard.

 

This was followed by the emergence of the fourth version of the 802.11n Wi-Fi network with improved features to support work at both frequencies 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and the maximum data transfer speed reached 300 megabits at the lowest frequency, and 600 megabits at the higher frequency. This version was distinguished by the multi-input multi-output technology that allowed the wireless signal to be divided into smaller parts with the possibility of sending it through 4 channels, each of which covers a frequency band of 40MHz.

 

The fifth version of 802.11ac Wi-Fi featured a maximum data transfer speed of 1 gigabit per second, with the number of signaling channels doubled to 8 so that each channel covered a bandwidth of 80 MHz, but it only worked at 5 GHz. 802.11ac Wi-Fi devices can now detect the locations of connected devices using packet-forming technology so that the signal is better routed to receivers. 802.11ax was the latest standard for Wi-Fi networks that provided a maximum data transfer speed of 9.6 gigabits per second, and it works at both frequencies of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, and it is expected to release an updated version of this version that works at a frequency of 6 GHz.