5G is so fast that WiFi will be phased out? You are really too young

At the MWC19 Shanghai Conference last week, 5G was the absolute protagonist and basically became the core of most of the exhibition projects on site. Whether it is 5G+8K ultra-high-definition content transmission, 5G remote operation of heavy machinery, or simple network speed testing, 5G has demonstrated great application potential in many fields.

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However, compared with 5G, which has been showing its prowess this year, Wi-Fi, which has accompanied us through the 4G era, seems to be a little weak, so much so that some people have begun to question the necessity of its existence. On May 26, Lv Tingjie, a professor at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said at the Guizhou Digital Expo that 5G will be the basis for 4k and 8k videos in the future, and Wi-Fi is already an outdated technology that can hardly carry such a large bandwidth.

It is true that 5G does have great potential, but will the advent of 5G really mean the end of Wi-Fi? In my opinion, Wi-Fi will still exist for quite a long time and coexist with 5G. It will also continue to evolve and even absorb 5G technology for its own use, such as the emerging Wi-Fi 6.

What is Wi-Fi 6?

What exactly is Wi-Fi 6? It can make Wi-Fi and 5G networks go hand in hand. Simply put, Wi-Fi 6 (802.11 ax) is the sixth-generation Wi-Fi standard, which absorbs a large number of 5G key technologies, such as MU-MIMO. Compared with Wi-Fi 5, which is 802.11 ac mentioned on the router product label, Wi-Fi 6 has a 4-fold increase in network bandwidth, can connect more devices at the same time, and has a 20% larger coverage range. The network latency is reduced from an average of 30ms to 20ms, and the network speed is faster. At the same time, it is compatible with previous Wi-Fi standards.

802.11 Standards and Names

What? Will Wi-Fi 6 have a stronger ability to penetrate walls? Wi-Fi 6 is just a wireless network standard, which is divided into 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz like the current Wi-Fi standard. How many walls it can penetrate depends entirely on the antenna power of your wireless router.

One of the main use scenarios of Wi-Fi 6 is in densely populated places, such as shopping malls, stations, office buildings, etc. Recently, Huawei, together with Shenzhen Metro and China Unicom, built Shenzhen Metro Futian Subway Station into the first subway station in China to use Wi-Fi 6 technology, with the fastest downlink speed, which you can also understand as download speed, reaching 9.6Gb/s.

Wi-Fi 6 Subway Stations

In the future, IoT applications such as smart homes will gain additional features through Wi-Fi 6, such as target wake-up time, which allows devices to negotiate when to wake up to send or receive data, which can reduce terminal power consumption, extend device life, and improve the reliability and usability of IoT devices. Due to the low latency characteristics of Wi-Fi 6, it can be used in the field of industrial automation production to link industrial robot production.

But since we are talking about Wi-Fi, I would like to talk about WAPI, which has caused a lot of discussion on the Internet recently. The full name is China's Wireless LAN Security Mandatory Standard. It is not a new standard to replace Wi-Fi, but a set of security protocols proposed by China to protect users from using Wi-Fi to surf the Internet safely and avoid being hijacked by malicious websites. At present, all routers in China support the WAPI protocol.

At this point, I believe everyone already has a basic understanding of Wi-Fi 6. Like 5G, it has huge potential and has become an important part of China's network infrastructure.

Wi-Fi 6 will go hand in hand with 5G

"5G replacing Wi-Fi" is not a new topic to some extent. 20 years ago, some people proposed that 2G would replace Wi-Fi. 10 years ago, there was speculation that 4G would replace Wi-Fi. Now similar topics are making a comeback. However, the application scenarios of 5G and Wi-Fi are different. The former is a wide area network technology and is more used in outdoor scenarios, while Wi-Fi is mainly used in indoor environments. This is why I firmly believe that 5G and Wi-Fi will coexist for a long time. We can further analyze from the following perspectives.

1. Data charges

Let's assume that one day in the future, 5G has completely replaced Wi-Fi. Then, on the one hand, operators must launch real 4G data packages to make up for the network data needs of various hardware such as computers, tablets, smart homes, etc. in home and work scenarios. Otherwise, the cost will far exceed the current broadband cost. In addition, the broadband of the three major operators is not expensive at present, and they may even give you various gifts such as phone bills, thousand-yuan phones, and TV Internet packages. On the other hand, the influx of a large number of devices that existed on the Wi-Fi network in the past into the 5G network will inevitably squeeze the network bandwidth, resulting in a decrease in the user's Internet speed.

2. Network coverage

A major feature of 5G networks is that they use ultra-high frequency spectrum, which is 24Ghz to 52Ghz. The 4G network frequency band is 1.8Ghz to 2.6Ghz. The higher the frequency, the weaker the ability to cross obstacles. Therefore, 5G signals are very easy to weaken to a certain extent, especially in closed elevators, basements, etc. Although operators can make up for it by deploying a large number of micro base stations, it also means that higher costs are required; Wi-Fi can be brought into basements and every corner of buildings through routers and wired networks, while 5G networks will inevitably leave signal dead spots, and at the same time make it convenient for users to manage networked devices under the same Wi-Fi.

3. Network capacity

Before talking about this part, we need to mention a calculation formula: total network capacity = bandwidth x spectrum efficiency x number of terminals. Compared with 4G networks, 5G networks have higher network speeds, larger bandwidths, and more stable signals, bringing a better Internet experience. However, as I mentioned above, the total network capacity is limited. The large bandwidth of 5G does not mean that it can receive a large number of devices. Too many access devices will bring a very high burden to the base station. At this time, Wi-Fi is needed to divert traffic and reduce the burden on the base station.

4. Faster Internet Speed

The first impression that 5G gives to consumers is that it is fast, but in fact, Wi-Fi 6 is faster. The peak rate of a single stream of Wi-Fi 6 can reach 1.2Gbps, while the peak rate of 5G network is 1Gbps. Therefore, throughout the 5G era, the speed of Wi-Fi 6 may continue to be slightly higher than that of 5G network.

5. The terminal type has changed

Since the popularization of Wi-Fi, all walks of life have begun to move towards wireless, and smartphones, tablets, computers, cars, etc. have become connected devices. If 5G replaces Wi-Fi, then all connected devices in the future must be equipped with a SIM card or eSIM, which will cause great inconvenience to the use of the device, and the price of the device will also increase, making users have unnecessary purchase and learning costs.

Due to various possible problems, the possibility of 5G replacing Wi-Fi is not high. It is believed that the two will merge, help each other, and complement each other. It is worth noting that connecting to Wi-Fi 6 requires your smartphone, tablet, router and other devices to support Wi-Fi 6, that is, the 802.11 ax standard. Currently, terminal devices that support Wi-Fi 6 have been launched on the market one after another.

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As I said at the beginning, it is unlikely that 5G will replace Wi-Fi. On the contrary, Wi-Fi will continue to evolve and upgrade through 5G technology. For a long time in the future, 5G will coexist and advance with Wi-Fi 6, complementing each other. Moreover, both have great application potential and imagination space in many fields such as industrial production, Internet of Things, and intelligent driving, helping all walks of life to burst out new productivity.

For ordinary users, it is definitely a good thing that Wi-Fi can progress together with 5G. Regardless of whether the mobile device can directly connect to the 5G network, users can enjoy network speeds that are comparable to or even exceed 5G. Isn't it wonderful to have 5G when going out and Wi-Fi 6 at home?