6 GHz — What Does It Mean for Consumers?

We presented this issue to our bank of knowledgeable industry experts for their thoughts in FrequencyPulse.

Our question was, In 2020, the FCC voted to unlock a big swath of spectrum in the 6 GHz band for use by Wi-Fi. How will this decision affect consumers?

Photo by Parker Byrd on Unsplash

Read on for their insights and sign up to receive the next Frequency Pulse newsletter.

Kristian Stout, ICLE, Director of Innovation Policy:

Again, it’s hard to know practically until the investments are made. But judging by the history of Wi-Fi and spectrum deployments, I believe that this will generate an ability to deploy more network access to more customers.

Bartlett Cleland, Innovation Economy Institute, Executive Director:

Mid-band spectrum (1 GHz to 6 GHz bands) is the sweet-spot swath of spectrum that combines range and power in the best balance, making it attractive for a range of uses. No new mid-band unlicensed spectrum had been released in a decade, so these bands were reaching exhaustion, becoming increasingly congested. Thoughtful leadership by the FCC to continue to maximize use and availability throughout the 6 GHz band permits future generations of Wi-Fi to be deployed, providing the 5G experience in our homes and businesses, in urban and rural communities alike.

The 6 GHz band has existing licensed users, such as electric utilities, some public safety operations and electronic news over-the-air programming. But other users could use the band as well. Fortunately, the FCC engineers and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have a history of being competent in successfully facing the challenge of maximizing the use of spectrum, including the use of database technologies to help in avoiding interference. They have done so in the 3.5 GHz band where rules were crafted to allow licensed and unlicensed to safely co-exist with military radar, and in the 28 GHz band in protecting satellite users. Moreover, unlicensed spectrum operates as a second priority in any band to limit harmful interference, and must shut down if there is a problem.

David Coleman, Extreme Networks – Director of Wireless, Office of the CTO:

Both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are part of a wireless paradigm shift toward infinitely distributed connectivity. Enterprise companies need to connect anybody, anywhere, to any other person, device, or application. Wi-Fi 6 and 6E technology and the new 1,200 MHz of 6 GHz spectrum offer an enhanced user experience in all enterprise verticals, including K-12 and higher education, retail, manufacturing, and healthcare. I am very excited about the future of Wi-Fi because of the new availability of the 6 GHz spectrum.

Rick Chessen, NCTA – The Internet & Television Association, Senior Vice President, Legal and Regulatory Affairs and Chief Legal Officer:

Opening 6 GHz to unlicensed created a home for the next generation of Wi-Fi for Americans at exactly the moment when we all need more Wi-Fi resources. This was an exceptionally important bipartisan decision based on thorough and careful engineering. The 6 GHz decision enables seven contiguous wide-bandwidth, 160 MHz Wi-Fi channels. We’ll see these wide channels used more often—it will improve throughput and capacity on our Wi-Fi networks, and enable exciting high-bandwidth applications like automated and virtual reality.

Now it’s your turn: tweet us or email us with your take on balanced spectrum policy to join this conversation. We might feature thoughtful submissions right here in a future piece.

If you’re new, catch up on everything FrequencyPulse thus far. If you know someone who might appreciate learning about Wi-Fi and unlicensed spectrum, have them sign up for FrequencyPulse here!