The maximum theoretical speed of a Wi-Fi network is specified by the Wi-Fi 802.11 standard. Like most computer networks, Wi-Fi supports different levels of performance depending on the technology standard. Currently, the fastest standard is Wi-Fi 6, the general name given to the IEEE 802.11ax wireless standard that was introduced in 2019. The 802.11ax standard is more common, but that will soon change as more Wi-Fi 6 devices come to market.
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Wi-Fi standards are certified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Each Wi-Fi standard is rated based on its maximum theoretical network bandwidth. However, Wi-Fi network performance does not match these theoretical maximums. The actual speed of a Wi-Fi wireless network connection depends on several factors.
Current Wi-Fi networks support different standards.
An 802.11b network typically doesn’t operate faster than about 50 percent of its theoretical peak, around 5.5 Mbps. 802.11a and 802.11g networks typically don’t operate faster than 20 Mbps. While 802.11n can reach speeds of 600 Mbps compared to wired Fast Ethernet’s 100 Mbps, Ethernet can often outperform 802.11n in practice. However, Wi-Fi performance continues to improve with each new generation of the technology.
