I'm looking at 802.11ax (aka WiFi 6) routers for home consumers.
As of the time of this writing, I see terms like AX1800, AX3000, AX5300, AX10600, etc. associated with the product description of each router.
For example:
I can intuit that AX3000 is faster and more expensive than AX1800, but I can't find anything more detailed than marketing descriptions.
Is there any clear IEEE standard or other canonical definition for what AX* means? What does it refer to?
If I get, say, 200 Mbps speed from my ISP, how does that translate into what AX* tier I should get?
1 Answer
These numbers refer to the maximum bandwidth, in megabits per second, that the routers are capable of, on all bands simultaneously (including 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands). So an AX1800 router, should in theory be capable of transmitting and/or receiving up to 1800Mbps.
These numbers can be misleading. Because devices can only connect to a single band at a time. This means the quoted speeds won't reflect the actual speeds you'll get in reality. For instance, an AC1300 router might only have a maximum bandwidth of 300Mbps on the 2.4Ghz band.
