We tested WiFi 4, 5, and 6 — here are the results

MyBroadband tested various Wi-Fi standards to determine what makes the biggest difference in real-world performance. It found that bandwidth capability makes a much bigger difference than Wi-Fi generation.

We set out to test the real-world performance differences between Wi-Fi 4, 5, and 6, also known as n, ac and ax, under identical circumstances.

We used the same Wi-Fi router, connection, and two devices for all the tests to ensure a fair comparison.

The router in question is a Cudy WR3000, running OpenWRT firmware, which allows manual control over the 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios.

The router is capable of AX3000 Wi-Fi, while the firmware allows us to manually limit each radio to a specific Wi-Fi generation.

To keep the testing fair, we only enabled one radio at a time for testing, giving separate results for 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

Generally, these are both enabled with the same SSID, allowing devices to switch between connection types automatically.

We used two devices for testing: a Samsung Galaxy S22+, which is Wi-Fi 6 capable with bandwidths up to 160MHz, and a 15” Surface Laptop 3, which is only capable of Wi-Fi 5 and 80MHz bandwidth.

All testing was done to the MyBroadband Speedtest servers, with a 400/400Mbps Afrihost Fibre connection over MetroFibre.

We tested this connection over gigabit ethernet and got consistent speeds above 420Mbps on both uploads and downloads and an average latency of only 2.2ms.

We also regularly double-checked the connection over ethernet between other tests to verify that there were no dips in speed that could affect our other results.

We performed two sets of tests on each device—the first from one room away from the router and the second from two rooms away. Each test included five speed tests done in quick succession.

The different Wi-Fi standards make many improvements to the data modulation and combination of bandwidth used for more efficiency.

They also improve the handling of a large number of devices on the same network and technologies, such as beamforming, which can improve signal strength.

However, the most significant differences in overall speeds are in the total bandwidth used.

Wi-Fi 4 (n) allows for the use of both the 2.4GHz band and the 5GHz band with channels up to 40MHz wide.

Wi-Fi 5 (ac) is an improvement that focuses solely on the 5GHz band, allowing channels up to 160MHz, but more commonly, only 80MHz.

Wi-Fi 6 (ax) features many other improvements but changes very little around channel frequencies and bandwidths, with 160MHz 5Ghz combinations now more common.

It should be noted that narrower channels are less susceptible to noise and interference, and if you are in an area with many Wi-Fi networks, you may not be able to use wide channels effectively.

One room away

From one room away, the Samsung got very close to full speed on Wi-Fi 5 and 6 on 5GHz.

Changing to Wi-Fi 4 on the 5GHz radio cut speeds in half to around 200Mbps due to the 40MHz bandwidth limit.

The laptop showed us the limits of 80MHz of bandwidth, with download speeds around 300Mbps and upload speeds closer to 200Mbps on Wi-Fi 5 and 6.

The speeds on 5Ghz Wi-Fi 4 were similar to that of the Samsung.

Testing on the 2.4GHz radio gave us very poor results. The Samsung only reached download speeds in the mid-30Mbps range, with surprising upload speeds of around double that.

The laptop performed similarly but with inverted values for upload and download speeds. This is likely due to the laptop having a better 2.4GHz radio than the phone.

Two rooms away

The results were a little more interesting when we moved further away from the router.

The Samsung still performed great on Wi-Fi 5 and 6 on 5GHz, with the ac connection beating the newer ax connection by a significant margin.

The laptop showed similar speeds on both connections, which shows that the huge 160MHz bandwidth was no longer a significant advantage.

Cutting the bandwidth to 40MHz on the Wi-Fi 4 connection significantly slowed down both devices but had a much bigger impact on the smartphone.

Speeds dropped to 93Mbps and 48Mbps for downloads and uploads, compared to 196Mbps and 182Mbps on the laptop.

The 2.4GHz radio started to perform at a longer distance, with the laptop still reaching decent 56Mbps download speeds and upload speeds in the mid to high 30Mbps range.

The Samsung suffered on 2.4GHz at this distance, with speeds closer to 20Mbps.

You probably don’t need Wi-Fi 6 yet

This testing shows that upgrading from Wi-Fi 4 to 5 or 6 may make a big difference for many users with fast internet connections, but upgrading from Wi-Fi 5 to 6 may be unnecessary.

For most average internet connections in South Africa, having dual-band Wi-Fi is enough to get the most out of your internet connection.

Upgrading to Wi-Fi 6 also brings many improvements if you have many devices on a network, such as running a smart home.

Wi-Fi 6 speeds are also handy if you want to transfer large files inside your own network, where internet speed becomes irrelevant.

Wi-Fi 6E is also slowly coming to market, which opens up a less congested 6GHz band with channels up to 160MHz, but only a few devices currently support it.