The U.S. Court of Appeals for the district of Columbia circuit has backed up an April 2020 decision to open up 1,200mhz of spectrum in the 6ghz band for unlicensed use. Unlicensed means anyone can use it, as long as they do so responsibly, covering uses like your future Wi-Fi 6e home network.

Wi-Fi 6e routers will work at 2.4GHz and 5GHz plus the new 6ghz band. That has enough room for up to seven maximum capacity Wi-Fi streams to broadcast in the same area at once.

Until recently, Wi-Fi generations were referred to by an arcane naming scheme. It required you to understand whether 802.11n was faster than 802.11ac, and whether the names were just made up nonsense.

Wi-Fi Alliance renames Wi-Fi generations with simple version numbers. So the current generation of Wi-Fi, 802.11ac, turned into Wi-Fi 5. This new generation is now Wi-Fi 6.

For Wi-Fi 6, you might see the 802.11ax name here and there. But companies largely seem to be on board with using the simplified naming scheme.

There’s already work on a future standard, known as wireless 802.11be or Wi-Fi 7. That could further optimize the use of the new band with even larger 320MHz channels, 46 Gbps maximum transfer rates, and more.

Mobile carriers preferred a plan where the FCC would auction off a chunk of the 6ghz bandwidth for use solely by their 5G networks. The FCC said that low-power indoor use protects licensed 6ghz tech like at & T’s microwave links and TV broadcasts from interference.

At & T did not have a comment today on the outcome of the FCC’s decision to pause its ability to start using C-band spectrum for 5G.

Fcc does n’t have to show no potential for harmful interference ever. Instead, FCC balances all factors to conclude whether harmful interference is unlikely enough to be negligible risk.

The D.C. circuit reaffirmed that it will not second-guess the technical expertise of the FCC when the agency balances the needs of both licensed users and new innovations in Wi-Fi.

Unlicensed spectrum does n’t reserve it exclusively for Wi-Fi. It could be used by other devices and connections, like 5G.

Today the DC circuit unanimously upheld the FCC’s decision to free up the 6 GHz band for more unlicensed use. This decision = more Wi-Fi in more places and it matters because it comes at a time when being connected is more important than ever.

New FCC chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has continued to back the measure that was decided under her predecessor, Ajit Pai. She said that’today’s decision is an important step in clearing the way for next generation Wi-Fi access at a time when it is needed most’.

The National Association of broadcasters did n’t directly address interference in the 2.4GHz spectrum. Backers of the plan appear confident it will be overcome.