WIFI has quickly become an essential tool in the function of doing business. We rely on it to stay connected at work, at home, even in coffee shops around the world. Access to the internet whenever and wherever we need it is becoming the new norm. But that’s not where it ends. There’s a bright future for Wifi. Here’s a little peek at what’s just on the horizon for the vital technology.
Where We’re At Now
If you look at Wifi from a consumer perspective, not too much has changed in terms of the Wifi technology, except perhaps an expanded network of increasingly reliable and better download speeds. The technology is simply keeping up with our quickly expanding expectations. But from a technical perspective, Wifi has come a long way in the past 5 years. Today’s gigabit-plus speeds, broad features and capabilities, and impressive pricing for high performance has made the technology the new standard for online connectivity. The Internet of Things would hardly be possible without Wifi, and innovations are hardly slowing down.
Changing Standards
Because that massive increase in demand is so inevitable, the very standards which define the Wifi technology are being revised as we speak. A great deal of attention within the industry is focused on the upcoming 802.11ax standard, which looks to achieve 10Gbps in the 5-GHz bands in addition to 2.4 GHz. As with all new technologies, consumer adoption rate can be staggered so LAN operators don’t want to cut off a large portion of the market who have not yet invested in the newer devices. As time goes on and fewer devices require less power, this is expected to provide a solid incentive to reduce devices limited to standards before 802.11n. 802.11ax is still in development but is expected to contain several enhancements such as frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), bi-directional multi-user MIMO (802.11ac MU-MIMO is downlink only), and others that improve efficiency and reliability as early as 2019.
Next Generation Wifi
Experts predict that the next five years will continue to reveal some exciting advances in Wifi technology. Today’s issues with capacity, cost, management, and support will quickly be a thing of the past as new innovations make the technology even more accessible and reliable. Faster will always be better, and the increased ability to manage the load is even more important as residences and businesses alike add more connected devices to the environment. Everything from smartphones, to iWatches, smart appliances, home security systems, heating and cooling, entertainment consoles and who knows what else will hit the market in the next few years. The new Wifi will need to be able to handle it all and more. This points to an inevitable adoption of 60 GHz speeds, in response to such a demand.
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