What is the Huawei WiFi 6+?

HUAWEI Wi-Fi 6+ is a Huawei-developed technology, based on self-designed chipsets and the global Wi-Fi 6 standards.

In recent years, Huawei has helped nurture the development and widespread adoption of the Wi-Fi 6 standards, alongside its much-celebrated role as a pioneer in 5G technology. The company's tireless efforts are evident in the 240 technical proposals that it has submitted, making it one of the two most productive contributors to the Wi-Fi 6 standards. Huawei has used this in-depth knowledge of Wi-Fi 6 as a springboard for wholly new technology: Wi-Fi 6+.

Wi-Fi 6+, Bolstered by Huawei's Proprietary Chipsets

Even with this high-level technological prowess, Wi-Fi 6+ could only be realized with the construction of premium hardware. This understanding inspired Huawei to develop an end-to-end network solution, as embodied by the GigaHome 650 and Kirin W650 chipsets. GigaHome 650 is used in Huawei & Honor routers and Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), while Kirin W650 is used in consumer-end devices, including Huawei and Honor smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs.

Two Features in Wi-Fi 6+ that Reinforce Extra-strength Mode and Faster Internet

Long-distance scenario: Chipset-level collaboration and dynamic narrow-bandwidth technology have greatly improved the power spectral density (PSD) of consumer-end devices, including Huawei and Honor smartphones that support Wi-Fi 6, with a maximum PSD soaring as high as 6 dB, which serves as a basis for the impressive extra-strength mode.

Short-range scenario: Thanks to support for the 160 MHz super wide channel, Internet speeds under Wi-Fi 6+ are twice as fast as those under the standard 80 MHz channel, when the MU-MIMO traffic is the same for both scenarios.

Let's take a closer look at these two key features, to get a sense of how they work at the granular level.

Principle behind Dynamic Narrow-bandwidth Technology

Successful data transmission involves transferring the data from the router to the device (smartphone in this example), and then from the smartphone back to the router.

However, in most cases, the signal transmitted by the router is much stronger than that transmitted by the smartphone. As a result, the signal transmitted by the router can reach the smartphone at relatively long distances, but it does not work the other way around. This is known as the "fake signal" phenomenon, a reference to the fact that even when the phone is displayed as having two or three signal bars, it is still unable to connect to the network.

Generally speaking, in order to communicate with the phone, a standard Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 5 router must use bandwidth that is equal to or larger than 20 MHz. This threshold is a remarkable 2 MHz under a Wi-Fi 6+ supporting router.

Furthermore, under constant transmit power, the power spectrum density (PSD) can be increased by up to 6 dB in narrow-band mode, improving signal quality and network speed when the phone is further away from the router.

A hose serves as an intuitive analogy. After connecting it to a faucet, and ensuring that the water flow (analogous to the transmit power) remains unchanged, squeezing down on the hose (or "narrowing" the bandwidth), the water will shoot further out (or transmitting the signal to a more distant location).

Why aren't other Wi-Fi 6 devices able to provide extra-strength capabilities as well?

The key behind the bolstered signal under Wi-Fi 6+, is the Wi-Fi automatic slicing technology that is packed into Huawei's end-to-end chipsets.

The Wi-Fi 6 standard specifies the maximum length of the Wi-Fi packets under different bandwidth modes, and thus the length of Wi-Fi packets sent by the device is constantly changing. If the size of Wi-Fi packets is too large during long distance scenarios, this can cause the device to stop working under narrow-band mode, forcing it use the larger bandwidth, which results in a decrease in PSD and inability for the data transmitted by the phone to get back to the router.

Wi-Fi 6+ makes use of an end-to-end chipset to determine the working bandwidth, based on the distance, and automatically "slices" Wi-Fi data packets according to the working bandwidth. This ensures that each data packet is small enough for Wi-Fi 6+ to work stably in narrow-band mode. The sliced Wi-Fi data packets need to be identified and re-allocated by both devices, which requires proprietary protocols. Other Wi-Fi 6 smartphones and routers opt for generic commercial chipsets, through which chipset collaboration, automatic Wi-Fi slicing and re-allocation cannot be performed. Therefore, they are unable to operate with optimal stability under narrow-band at greater distances, and their signal strength cannot be improved.

How does 160 MHz ultra-large bandwidth double the speed?

Routers and smartphones communicate based on the bandwidth. If other factors remain unchanged and bandwidth doubles, the speed will double as well. This is similar to the traffic flow on a highway (equivalent to the bandwidth); if the number of lanes double, the number of vehicles (transmission speed) traveling at the same time will double as well.

Current Wi-Fi 6 devices also feature a 2 x 2 MU-MIMO channel, but are limited by 80 MHz bandwidth, with a maximum connection speed of up to 1200 Mbps. Huawei and Honor phones bolstered by the Kirin W650 chipset, boast 160 MHz of bandwidth, and connection speeds of up to 2400 Mbps.

If you were to use a phone with Wi-Fi that offers 160 MHz of bandwidth, while using a router featuring 80 MHz of bandwidth, you'd be limited to a maximum transmission speed of 1200 Mbps, regardless of how many antennas are used. In other words, if you want your device to reach its maximum speed, you'll need to use a router that supports 160 MHz bandwidth.

A Huawei or Honor phone that packs the Kirin W650 chipset, paired with the HONOR Router 3 for instance, will do the trick!

Can I use a Wi-Fi 5 smartphone with a Wi-Fi 6+ router to achieve faster transmission speeds?

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HONOR Router 3 is capable of supporting the 160 MHz bandwidth provided by Wi-Fi 5. This means that it can reach the maximum transmission speed, when used with a wide range of Huawei and Honor flagship devices, including Mate 30 series, P30 series, Mate 20 series, HONOR V20 series, and HONOR V30 series smartphones, as well as HUAWEI MediaPad M6 series and MatePad series tablets. The transmission speed can soar to a staggering 1733 MHz, even when the router is connected to the HUAWEI Wi-Fi AX3, 45% faster than that for a Wi-Fi 6 phone with 80 MHz bandwidth. Remarkably, this framework allows for Huawei's Wi-Fi 5 devices to outperform many of their Wi-Fi 6 counterparts!

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HONOR Router 3 retails at just £79.90 — the cheapest router with Huawei Wi-Fi 6+ technology, and barely more than a Wi-Fi 5 router!

Note:

1. The images in this article are for reference only. Actual product use may vary.

2. The preceding reference data is theoretical values. The actual rate will depend on the usage environment and device models. The technical comparisons mentioned are based on technical principles, and are for reference only. The data was obtained through Huawei lab tests.