In April 2020 the US regulator FCC made the start and added an additional frequency block between 5.9 and 7.1 GHz for the Use enabled by WLAN. These channels can be understood as an upward extension of the 5 GHz band, which the manufacturers’ association Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA) markets as “Wi-Fi 6E”.

With the additional channels, neighboring WLAN systems can be better distributed in the spectrum, so that they more often find a free radio channel in densely populated areas and do not have to wait for neighbors who are currently transmitting. In short, this results in more net throughput for everyone, but the bonus is only available with new, Wi-Fi 6E-capable hardware.

WLAN with 6 GHz On the European side, the ETSI BRAN (Broadband Radio Access Networks) standardization committee is working on the EN standard 303 687, which defines the technical parameters for 6 GHz WLAN in the EU. The draft for it achieved stable status at the beginning of November.

The Electronic Communications Committee (ECC), the body of the umbrella organization of European regulatory authorities (CEPT) responsible for frequency issues, was able to present it at its November meeting of the European Recommend Commission (EC) for adoption by the 48 Member States. The path to 6 GHz WLAN approval in the EU is clear and probably short.

New channels already 2021 A spokesman for the regulatory authority for Germany: “The Federal Network Agency assumes that the 6 GHz frequency range can be made available in Germany in the 2nd quarter 2021. Everyone will be able to use the frequencies under the conditions specified in a general allocation. ”

The EC will initially only show the frequency block between 5.9 and 6.4 GHz for WLAN and thus significantly less than the FCC. But even this 500 MHz double the spectrum that can be used for WLAN. The German network technology manufacturer Lancom Systems is already preparing: “We are relying on a tri-band solution, Wi-Fi 6E access points from LANCOM will be able to transmit in the 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands at the same time.” However, the WLAN clients – smartphones, notebooks, tablets, etc. – still have to learn to use the additional frequencies.

(ea)