Wi-Fi 6 is the marketing name for IEEE 802.11ax, the Wi-Fi generation introduced in 2019 and currently the mainstream standard for new equipment. Wi-Fi 6 operates on both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands (with Wi-Fi 6E adding 6 GHz support), and is designed primarily for improved efficiency and capacity in dense environments rather than raw peak speed.

In short: The main Wi-Fi 6 innovations are OFDMA (which allows the access point to subdivide channels and serve multiple devices simultaneously within a single transmission), MU-MIMO in both directions (extending multi-user operation to uplink as well as downlink), Target Wake Time (which lets battery-powered IoT devices schedule precise wake-up windows, dramatically reducing power consumption), and BSS Colouring (which reduces interference between overlapping Wi-Fi networks). Peak speeds run to several gigabits per second on capable hardware, but the bigger practical benefit is more consistent performance when many devices are connected.

For IoT deployments, Wi-Fi 6 brings two important benefits. Target Wake Time substantially extends battery life for Wi-Fi sensors, making Wi-Fi viable for some applications that previously required cellular or LPWAN. And the improved handling of dense environments makes Wi-Fi 6 well-suited to deployments with many connected devices (warehouses with hundreds of barcode scanners, retail stores with high customer Wi-Fi load alongside point-of-sale systems, transport hubs with mixed staff and passenger traffic).

Wi-Fi 6 is now the working baseline for new enterprise and industrial Wi-Fi installations. Current Teltonika routers including the RUTM and RUTC ranges support Wi-Fi 6 on appropriate models. For most new deployments, Wi-Fi 6 is the right specification, with Wi-Fi 7 reserved for environments needing its specific advantages.