The reason 6Ghz was introduced with WiFi 6E and 7 was because 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz was very busy.

My question is why isn’t there anything in between? Why isn’t there a 3Ghz, 3.5Ghz, 4Ghz, etc?

Also, what if things that require very little data transmission used something lower than 2.4Ghz for longer range? (1Ghz or something?)

  • fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    10·
    27 days ago

    Radiowaves are not free real estate. Every country has their own laws on what frequencies you’re allowed to use for what.

    2.4ghz frequencies are basically as unregulated as they can get in the US, so that’s why wifi used that for the longest time. I’m not sure what devices used 5ghz before, but they took that frequency for wifi. You have to fight for every mhz you can get in radio waves.

    Here’s the wiki article talking a bit about this. I’ve never heard of like 3.6ghz wifi so that’s interesting. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wi-Fi#Operational_principles%3A~%3Atext=some+cases+severely.-%2CWaveband%2C-[edit]

  • sbird@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
    3·
    27 days ago

    Is it due to cost? Does adding more frequencies increase the cost? (maybe that’s why WiFi 6E and 7 routers are so expensive)

    Or is it because of compatibility? It would be more difficult to get everyone to agree on so many different wireless frequencies.

    Or maybe it’s because of interference? Maybe adding things in between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz would make the network harder to read as things like 3Ghz, 4Ghz, etc. are too close to either 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz. But if that’s the case, how is 6Ghz okay?

    Or maybe things in between 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz ARE being used, but for different things that would break if WiFi started to use them, and if so, what are those things?