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Will We Notice Better Speeds If I Upgrade to a WiFi 6 Enabled Extender?

Mom-E

I too have a G1100 FIOS router and may have stupidly let the Verizon techs talk me into getting the WiFi 6 service for only $8 more per month. My question is - I have a Linksys AC level extender to get signal to the back rooms of the house. Will we notice better speeds per device if I upgrade to a WiFi 6 enabled extender? College kids coming home for extended Xmas break.

Comments

Cang_Household

What speed are you pulling on G1100's 802.11ac? G1100 is capable of 400Mbps+.

Please run the following "test:"

1) Do you have an over 500Mbps internet speed subscription (i.e. 750Mbps or gigabit)?

2) Do you have WiFi 6 (802.11ax) capable devices?

3) Do your devices require over 400Mbps of speed?

If ANY of the above condition fails, then WiFi 6 is unnecessary.

For WiFi range extension, any third party 802.11ac Wave 2 should do the job. Verizon's solution is WCB6200Q, a 4 x 4 MIMO 802.11ac device, capable of 1000Mbps+ on 4 x 4 MIMO devices.

gs0b

@Mom-E wrote:
I too have a G1100 FIOS router and may have stupidly let the Verizon techs talk me into getting the WiFi 6 service for only $8 more per month.

I'm confused. Verizon doesn't sell "WiFI 6 service." They sell various speeds, which have nothing to do with WiFi. WiFi speed is determined by the router. The G1100 is not WiFi 6. The G3100 is WiFi 6.

What did your $8/month upgrade get you?

All that said, the speed a WiFi device gets is limited by two things:

The available speed of the service (e.g. 100M, 200M, 300M or 1G)
The performance of the WiFi link to the router.

A WiFi 6 router or AP will help with the 2nd, while upgrading service speed will help with the 1st.

You don't have to use a Verizon AP with the G1100. If you use a non-Verizon extender, it will connect by Ethernet to the router. You'll have to manage it yourself; Verizon won't help at all (not an issue for most reasonably techie folk).

j.jones1

You will not get WiFi 6 speeds yet. The FCC just approved one device to use it and it’s a broadcom nic (radio) for new computers, and not Verizon’s anything is going to get you using it. Get your money back

it will take years to get devices to use the new standard.

Mom-E

Thank you and jonjones. I was ripped off. I called for a FIOS app login problem and a billing issue. But the slick unscrupulous Verizon person offered me faster speeds for only $8 more per month. I SPECIFICALLY asked "you mean Wifi 6?". She said "yes". I then asked her "don't I need a new router?" She said "no" my current model would handle it. I'm thinking they could do some software upgrade, etc. to get the speed up.

Using 2 sites just right before writing this reply - Speedtest.net registers at 85.85 down and 71.31 up. Fast.com is at 151 down and 66 up. So $8 x 12 = $96 per year more. I am pretty angry.

Cang_Household

@Mom-E wrote:
...But the slick unscrupulous Verizon person offered me faster speeds for only $8 more per month. I SPECIFICALLY asked "you mean Wifi 6?". She said "yes". I then asked her "don't I need a new router?" She said "no" my current model would handle it. I'm thinking they could do some software upgrade, etc. to get the speed up.

It's always possible that you may experience miscommunication with any person you talk to.

A firmware upgrade cannot change the WiFi speed. The wireless controller in older models are limited to 802.11ac (WiFi 5), and this is a hardware issue.

In my perspective, you don't need 802.11ax (WiFi 6) even for gigabit subscription. WCB6200Q's 4 x 4 MIMO is capable of over-gigabit performance, but almost all the times, your phone only has a 2 x 2 antenna. A majority of times, it is the user's devices that are throttling speeds.

@Mom-E wrote:
Using 2 sites just right before writing this reply - Speedtest.net registers at 85.85 down and 71.31 up. Fast.com is at 151 down and 66 up. So $8 x 12 = $96 per year more. I am pretty angry.

It is possible that your device is throttling the speed. I typically run three speed tests on three devices simultaneously and add them all up to get the real throughput.

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