There are various versions of WiFi – which one your router and devices have will determine the speed and range of your wireless internet connection. We explain what they are and how to find out which ones you have.
Most of us don’t spend too much time thinking about WiFi. We just want it to work. But it pays to know which version of WiFi is in your router, smartphone, laptop and other devices as there have been many different flavours of WiFi ever since it hit the mainstream way back in 1999.
Each version has increased in speed, interference and congestion resistance, and security. After all, security and the likelihood that wireless signal will reach into every room of your home are just as important as raw speed.
WiFi versions now have a reasonably simple numerical naming system – the higher the number, the newer and more capable the technology. But, in many places, they’re still referred to using an older, more complicated- and fussy-looking – naming system. In our breakdown of the most common WiFi versions, we’ve used both.
It’s important to note that the maximum speeds listed below are theoretical maximums: in reality, the speeds you’ll get will depend on all sorts of factors, from the thickness of your home’s walls to the number of antennas in your devices. Plus, there’s the speed of the internet line coming into your home which is separate from the speed of your wireless signal.
WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E (aka 802.11ax)
Year introduced: 2021
Max speeds: 600 to 9,608Mbps
WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E are the state of the art, so only some routers (such as Ultra Hubs for Vodafone Pro Broadband customers) and devices support it. The focus in this generation is on reliability and minimising interference, especially in households and other spaces with large numbers of connected WiFi devices.
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Improvements to MIMO and beamforming (more on both of these in a bit), as well as an intimidating-sounding wireless signalling technology called Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), enable WiFi 6 and 6E routers to handle more connected devices simultaneously than older generation routers.
WiFi 6 and 6E routers and devices should all support the WPA3 security standard out-of-the-box.
WiFi 6E works on the uncongested 6GHz frequency, alongside 2.4GHz and 5GHz used by previous generations going all the way back to WiFi 4. Rules about 6GHz usage vary from country-to-country, but any WiFi 6E router and device using it should see reliability improvements. Smartphones such as the Google Pixel 6 and the Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra are examples of WiFi 6E-equipped handsets. The very latest router for Vodafone Pro Broadband customers, the Ultra Hub, also supports WiFi 6E.
Will I really get such fast wireless speeds?
It’s tempting to glance sceptically at all these maximum speeds, but they’re very real. We’ve seen a WiFi 4 router with a 500Mbps full fibre line only able to provide a 110Mbps wireless signal. Replacing it with a brand spanking new WiFi 6E model saw wireless speeds jump to 500Mbps.
Can I upgrade the WiFi capabilities of my smartphone, tablet or computer?
With iOS, iPadOS and Android devices, the answer is no. Whichever version of WiFi is built into your mobile device is the one you’ll be using for as long as you own it.
It is possible to upgrade the WiFi capabilities of laptops and desktop computers using USB adapters or expansion cards that plug into a desktop’s innards if it has an internal expansion slot. These options aren’t as popular as they used to be as most people don’t like having adapters hanging off the side of their laptops or want to futz around with upgrading their desktop PC if they have one.
How can I tell which version of WiFi I’m using?
Check with the manufacturers of your devices and router, or consult the documentation that came with them. Alternatively, try our steps below.
Your router
The one universally sure-fire and easy way to check which kinds of WiFi your router can use is to check with the manufacturer or the broadband provider that supplied it to you.
iOS and iPadOS
Download the free Mactracker app from the App Store.
Open the Mactracker app. The app’s main screen will appear.
Find the entry for your iOS/iPadOS device by scrolling and tapping through the categorised list, or by using the search box near top of the screen.
Tap the entry for your device. Its details should appear in a long scrollable screen.
Scroll down the screen until you come to the ‘Connections’ section. Your device’s WiFi version will be listed here.
Android
The only sure-fire and easy way to check which kinds of WiFi your Android device can use is to check with the manufacturer.
Windows 10
Open the Settings app.
The ‘Windows Settings’ window should appear. Click on ‘Network & internet’.
The ‘Network & internet’ control panel should appear.
On the left hand side should be an entry for ‘Wi-Fi’. Click on it.
The ‘Wi-Fi’ window should appear. Click on the ‘Hardware properties’ link.
A ‘Properties’ window should appear. Under the ‘Description’ entry should be the model of WiFi hardware in your computer and which types of WiFi networks it can connect to. If it only lists the model, you should be able to search for information about that model on the web.
In this example, this Windows 10 computer has WiFi 5-capable hardware built-in.
Windows 11
Open the Settings app.
Click on ‘Network & internet’ in the left-hand panel.
The ‘Network & internet’ panel should appear. Scroll down the panel and click on the ‘Advanced network settings’ entry.
The ‘Advanced network settings’ panel should appear.
Under the ‘Network adapters’ section should be an entry for ‘WiFi’. This should list the model of WiFi hardware in your computer and which types of WiFi networks it can connect to. If it only lists the model, you should be able to search for information about that model on the web.
In this example, this Windows 11 computer has WiFi 5-capable hardware built-in.
macOS
Open the preinstalled System Information app.
The System Information window will appear. Click on the ‘Wi-Fi’ entry in the left-hand panel – you may have to scroll down to see it under the ‘Network’ section.
After a second or two, the window should show a long list of technical information about your Mac’s WiFi hardware. Look under the ‘Interfaces’ section.
The ‘Supported PHY Modes’ entry should list the types of WiFi your Mac can connect to.
In this example, this Mac has WiFi 5-capable hardware built-in.
What are the other, older versions of WiFi?
WiFi 2 (aka 802.11b)
Year introduced: 1999
Max speed: 11Mbps
The Apple Airport Base Station was one of the first widely available WiFi-equipped routers when it was released back in 1999.
This was the earliest version of WiFi to be widely used. It’s highly unlikely your router or devices will be WiFi 2-only, unless they’re of an exceptionally old vintage. Due to their outdated security standards, it’s not advisable to use any WiFi 2 devices you may have for sensitive tasks.
WiFi 3 (aka 802.11g)
Year introduced: 2003
Max speed: 54Mbps
WiFi 3 provided a respectable speed bump over WiFi 2. WiFi 3 routers were backwards compatible with WiFi 2-equipped computers, but this came with a catch. Any connected WiFi 2 devices would slow down the entire wireless network for everything else. Most WiFi 3 routers introduced support for WPA2, a technology for encrypting your wireless signal to protect it against hackers. This made WiFi 3 routers and devices significantly more secure than their predecessors. Although you might have the odd WiFi 3 device still kicking around, such as an early generation iPod touch, it’s unlikely you’ll still have a WiFi 3-only router.
WiFi 4 (aka 802.11n)
Year introduced: 2009
Max speeds: 300Mbps on 2.4GHz and 600Mbps on 5GHz
WiFi 4 was groundbreaking with its leap in wireless speeds, made possible by introducing early versions of new technologies and techniques that are still with us. This was the first WiFi standard to have Multiple-Input and Multiple-Output (MIMO), a way of using multiple antennae, receivers and signalling techniques to send more data at the same time.
WiFi 4 also popularised the use of radio waves on different frequencies. Radio frequencies is a knotty topic we don’t need to get into here. What’s important to know is that the 5GHz frequency is much less congested than the 2.4GHz frequency which was the only one that WiFi 2 and 3 could use. By sending data over 5GHz, WiFi 4 routers and devices can do so more quickly and reliably. A few WiFi 4 devices could only work on 2.4GHz, but most of these should still gain speed advantages over WiFi 2 and 3 when connected to a WiFi 4 router.
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The wireless speeds of a WiFi 4 device depend on how many antennas it has. Smaller and cheaper devices, such as some smartphones for example, tend to have fewer antennae.
As you’d expect, WiFi 4 routers – which you may still have – are backwards compatible with WiFi 2 and 3 devices. The Samsung Galaxy S3 is an example of a WiFi 4-equipped smartphone.
WiFi 5 (aka 802.11ac)
Year introduced: 2013
Max speeds: 433 to 3,500Mbps
WiFi 5 is widespread and is most likely to be the version inside your router and devices. It not only refined the technologies introduced in WiFi 4, such as multi-user MIMO, it also introduced a few of its own. One of the most important is beamforming, which allows routers to precisely direct radio signals to laptops, smartphones and other devices. This minimises wireless interference, increasing the reliability of your signal.
The increase in speeds can be dramatic, although this greatly depends on how many of WiFi 5’s many wireless transmitting and interference-avoiding techniques were built into your router and devices. Cheaper models tend to use less of them to cut down on cost.
Back in the early days of WiFi 5, some router manufacturers released so-called ‘Wave 1’ products based on a draft version of the WiFi 5 standard, followed by ‘Wave 2’ versions using the actual finalised technology. This is unlikely to be an issue now though, unless you were an early adopter or are scouring eBay for second-hand bargains.
Some router manufacturers muddy the waters even further by advertising the total combined speed that a router can handle across all available radio frequencies, such as 2200Mbps or ‘AC2200’, even though no single device can connect to the router at that speed (a WiFi 5 device would only be able to manage a maximum of 450Mbps on 2.4GHz or 1,733Mbps on 5GHz on such a router).
Just as importantly, WiFi 5 routers were among the first to be compatible with the latest and most hardened wireless security standard – WPA3. Introduced in 2018, it’s still not as widespread as it should be. Some manufacturers haven’t provided software upgrades to enable it for older routers, while it’s still common to find budget WiFi 5 routers on sale today that don’t support it and only the older WPA2.
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