What Do Your Wi-Fi Router’s ‘AC’ and ‘AX’ Numbers Mean?

In relation to product specs and mannequin numbers, the upper the quantity, the higher. So, is an AC2000 wi-fi router higher than an AC1900 router? Isn’t AX6600 alleged to be extra succesful than AX6000?

We perceive for those who’re not sure. Router producers have chosen a convoluted, perplexing naming scheme that varies broadly between producers and may depart you, the shopper, at the hours of darkness. Sure, these are pace statistics, however they mirror speeds that you simply gained’t see in your cellphone or pc as a result of they’re the entire of all conceivable speeds throughout all channels and frequency bands supported by the router.

Tri-Band vs. Twin-Band

Routers that help Wi-Fi 5 (AC) and Wi-Fi 6 (AX) are normally dual-band or tri-band. They’re dual-band in the event that they work on each the two.4GHz and 5GHz bands, and tri-band in the event that they work on each the two.4GHz and 5GHz bands on the identical time.

You could possibly use the faster upper-range channel with a tri-band router, or that channel could also be dedicated to backhaul between mesh system units. (That is dependent in your router.)

In any occasion, the quantity on the router represents the combination of all of the router’s attainable bands, not the pace of any single band or gadget. For instance, if the entire pace of all of a Wi-Fi 5 router’s bands is 1,900Mbps, it might be promoted as AC1900.

Wi-Fi 5: Select One Band, Not Each

Probably the most essential factor to recollect about Wi-Fi 5 router speeds is that they’re a mixture of the router’s 2.4GHz and 5GHz speeds, and a Wi-Fi 5 gadget connecting to it could solely use certainly one of them. You’ll more than likely be on 5GHz. So, with an AC1750 router, your laptop computer has a most obtain pace of 1,300Mbps. (See the graph beneath.)

802.11ac Modes

Telephones and smaller items normally take care of only one or two spatial streams. The Samsung Galaxy S21 and the Apple iPhone 13 every have 2×2 MIMO of their Wi-Fi.

When using an AC1750 router, because of this every gadget will solely get 867Mbps. (In my expertise, that quantity is often nearer to 650Mbps.) A router that helps extra streams can deal with extra units on the identical time whereas sustaining the best attainable speeds.

The accompanying graph primarily exhibits dual-band 802.11ac modes. The underside three are tri-band modes, which have two 5GHz channels lively on the identical time.

Wi-Fi 6: Bigger Channels, Elevated Speeds

Wi-Fi 6 permits faster pace based on a number of new utilized sciences. Greater encoding and wider channels allow further information to be carried on a single stream.

In any other case, the identical laws as for Wi-Fi 5 apply. Your gadget should select between 2.4GHz and 5GHz, and it is probably not able to dealing with the identical variety of spatial streams as your router. We used knowledge from Asus and different router producers to complement Netgear’s checklist of Wi-Fi 6 modes.

Twin-Band 802.11ax Modes

Tri-Band Wi-Fi 6: Sooner Speeds (inside the Background?)

Each the high and low 5GHz channels are supported concurrently by tri-band Wi-Fi 6 programs. They could make use of the higher 5GHz channels as devoted backhaul for a mesh system, utilizing them simply to move knowledge between router items, stopping shoppers from utilizing that channel for his or her units.

Tri-band mesh programs may have bigger AX numbers even when the pace given to every specific gadget (on 2.4GHz or 5GHz) is similar as a standalone dual-band router with a decrease quantity, as proven on this chart (primarily offered by Netgear and modified by PCMag).

Tri-Band 802.11ax Modes

The “5GHz” columns inside the chart seek the advice of with the decreased 5GHz channel utilized by the router, and the “5GHz-2” columns seek the advice of with the higher 5GHz channel.

What About Wi-Fi 6E?

Wi-Fi 6E makes use of a model new 6GHz channel to ship even faster speeds to items. Nonetheless, there are just a few Wi-Fi 6E routers out however, and they also’re very expensive. (See, as an example, our evaluation of this .) In the meantime, though they seem like following the similar naming convention as completely different Wi-Fi items, the amount is the sum entire of all speeds.

You’re using an actual Wi-Fi 6E shopper machine, though you’re liable to get elevated speeds than on Wi-Fi 6 if, so your provide connection is fast sufficient to take care of it.

The Actual World vs. Router Numbers

Probably the most important level is that no single shopper gadget will ever be capable to obtain the utmost pace displayed on a router field. These are theoretical prime speeds, not precise measurements. Listed here are a number of the variables that work collectively to sluggish issues down:

Final however not least…

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