On a rooftop in Philadelphia, just standing in one spot and turning 360 degrees in a circle with my laptop, I was able to detect over 50 Wifi APs... (Good 'ol Netstumbler.)
This was in 2003.
A dozen in a city like HK seems quite low.
...which is the actual effect in a high interference scenario. The more interference you have, the less interpretable data you get.
I can count 67 APs right now.
And Oh Wow. I am checking out T1 now. :)
2007.
It is.
>> Could we get new spectrum support via Firmware update?
Yes. In US/FCC, the procedure is called "Class II permissive change".
Also, US, Korea, EU/UK, Chile, Brazil have opened up 6 GHz band. More countries will follow in coming years.
AFAIK, EU/UK, Korea only has plans to discuss and move forward on selected spectrum sometime in mid 2021. No exact date has been announced unlike the US. Which is a done deal. i.e It is not likely any part of the world other than US to get 6Ghz in 2021.
> Class II Permissive Change
Is that new? I remember Smartphone cant add new frequency spectrum support without going through FCC recertification again . Although that was many years ago.
UK/EU is in final stages of regulation. Final approval for EU countries is in March 2021; and after April, countries will implement it in their rules.
Brazil has approved their rules today! Chile and some other countries have rules in place as well.
[1] https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/samsung-galaxy-s21-u...
I assume that can be worked around by creating a dedicated network for WiFi 6 devices?
I'm on the 24th floor in downtown vancouver and see 45 APs and none are using the DFH bands.
1. WiFi 6 only improves / reduce congestions when all devices on the network are WiFi 6 only. As soon as you have older WiFi devices, the difference becomes negligible to non-existence.
2. WiFi 6 only improves / reduce congestions when all devices on the network support WiFi 6 OFDMA, which while being officially part of WiFi 6, it was not mandatory. And if you have one that doesn't support it or does not have a firmware updated to support it, read point 1.
3. WiFi 6E will mandate all those optional features that were intentionally missed out on WiFi 6 due to all sort of technical, economical, political reasons. So in realty if you dont have all your devices as WiFi 6E, read point 1.
4. It is not clear whether 6Ghz support is mandated to be certified as WiFi 6E. On paper it seems to be the case, In practice most part of the world dont have 6Ghz spectrum ready. And I am not sure how FCC ( or similar ) clearance will work for a product that are already shipped on the market. Could we get new spectrum support via Firmware update? I am sure that is how US intends to deal with it since Intel are already shipping WiFi 6E product with label that support 6Ghz. I am just not sure if EU, UK, or other part of the world would allow or follow similar route. That has an implications on how fast WiFI 6E could launch worldwide.
5. Finally, there is only so much you can do with WiFi spec. If you have an extremely noisy environment nothing could really help. In an ultra packed City like HK, I could detect at least a dozen AP at any given time.