I count approximately twice as many channels available on 6ghz than 5ghz, so even if we ignore the penetration differences between 5 and 6ghz, the 6ghz band is still better. Plus this isn't a "pick one" type of scenario (especially with MLO), 5ghz + 6ghz is 3x as many channels as 5ghz alone.
> I count approximately twice as many channels available on 6ghz than 5ghz
Isn't this mostly arbitrary? Eg what frequency range one defines channels over and thus how many channels? Eg in the wikipedia link that "6GHz" goes up to ~7.1GHz. Because otherwise channels seem to be more or less spread centered 20MHz apart in each case.
Yeah, I wasn't making that argument as some sort of intrinsic benefit to frequencies around 6ghz, but rather we have administratively decided that the slice of spectrum available for "6ghz" wifi has approximately twice the room compared to the slice of spectrum we have administratively allocated for "5ghz" wifi. In reality, "5ghz" wifi is more like 5.2-5.9ghz (with a hole around 5.4ghz) and "6ghz" wifi is more like 5.9ghz to 7.1ghz.
The intrinsic benefit for the frequencies around 6ghz is the reduced penetration through walls which will also reduce the congestion.
No definitely not in practice. 5Ghz reaches across multiple rooms with some loss whereas 6Ghz clearly looses more and drops off to 0 much faster.
The really big problem here is that 6Ghz also comes with the ability to have 320Mhz towards one channel so its got double the bandwidth of 5Ghz as well as being lower penetration. Its really good for things like VR headsets due to the lower interference and higher bandwidth.
6GHz has worse penetration than 5Ghz, but the difference is indeed not as pronounced as it is compared to 2.4GHz.
The main benefit is going to be the additional frequency space. 5GHz effectively has 3ish channels, and 6GHz adds another 3-7 to that. Combine it with band steering and dynamic channel allocation, and you and all of your close neighbours can probably all get your own dedicated frequency.
Even if you half that, that's (IMHO) probably sufficient for the vast majority of online activities. And if you have a 2x2 client you double it anyway.
