Every few years, we see a jump in technology that establishes the foundation of what the future will hold. The advent of Internet was one such jump, and every new generation of the same introduces an entirely new set of innovations for the world. While 5G is supposed to be our biggest jump yet, Wifis have seemed to stagnate, and have been operating on the same framework from quite some time. However, the Federal Communications Commission voted to open up a chunk of spectrum in the 6GHz band in April, something that Google is ready to take advantage of.
The company has disclosed in FCC filings that it plans to test a 6GHz network in 17 different states across America, Business Insider reports. The list of states being considered for the test includes: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Virginia. While Google plans to test in just one or two cities in each state, California, being its home state, is an exception, where it will test the technology in 7 cities.
This means that the company will test the technology in a total of 26 cities and towns spanning across 17 states.
Google already operates a WiFi service, and this test can become an extension on the existing infrastructure. Thus, the 6GHz WiFi can arrive under Google Fiber Webpass as a separate offering in the future. However, that future is more distant than near, as Google has asked for 24 months to conduct these tests.
Now, what will be the main attraction of a 6GHz wifi? Well, much like the jump from 2.4GHz to 5GHz, the expanded bandwidth on the new technology will provide more speed, better reliability and a better chance of scaling up in the future (for 5G services and so). However, as the band size increases, the range decreases. A 5GHz connection covers less range than a 2.4GHz connection, and a 6GHz connection will follow the same rule.
