Wi-Fi Alliance Launches Wi-Fi Certified 6 Program

Promising a "new Wi-Fi era," the nonprofit Wi-Fi Alliance industry group launched the Wi-Fi Certified 6 program. The program aims to hold devices that use next-gen 802.11ax Wi-Fi radios to an established set of standards. Manufacturers that participate get to put a little certification badge on their packaging. That badge is important because it lets you know that the device supports Wi-Fi 6 (the consumer-friendly synonym for 802.11ax) and all of the speedy new bells and whistles that come with it. Its availability also serves as something of a green light for manufacturers who might be watching for the right moment to jump in with the new standard -- especially now that we have multiple Wi-Fi 6 routers on the market, as well as Wi-Fi 6 support in certain flagship phones. The Wi-Fi Certified 6 program verifies that devices support all of the individual upgrades that make Wi-Fi 6 up to 40% faster than Wi-Fi 5. That includes wonky features like orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), which allows Wi-Fi 6 routers to serve multiple clients simultaneously within a single channel.