Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi 6E: What’s The Difference?

Although Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 6E are both members of the wireless clan and use radio waves for connectivity, they differ in many ways, including range, bandwidth, latency, speed, power requirements, and potential applications.

Bluetooth technology allows us to connect and transfer data between various short-range devices. Mobile phones, tablets, keyboards, mice, printers, headsets, and other devices fall into this category.

Wi-Fi 6E, on the other hand, is the next-generation Wi-Fi technology that is an extension of the Wi-Fi 6 spectrum. This technology’s development aims to provide new features such as faster speeds, higher bandwidths, lower latencies, and enhanced security.

Before we get into the details of both technologies, let’s compare them.

Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi 6E: Side-by-Side Comparison

Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi 6E: What’s the Difference?

Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth are different in many ways, and we will try to explore each of them in this section. Bluetooth, which has been around since the 1990s, is still a useful technology for connecting short-range devices. However, as the technological paradigm shifts, many new technologies are emerging to compete with it, and Wi-Fi 6E is one of them.

Wi-Fi 6E is a Wi-Fi 6 technology extension in the 6 GHz bands. This new frequency expands the capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 by adding a 1200 MHz spectrum, allowing for faster speeds, increased bandwidth, and lower latency.

This technology not only meets our current needs but also prepares us for future needs such as high-end gaming, 8K streaming, augmented and virtual reality, and so on. However, you may be wondering how all of this is possible and how technology affects our lives. Let us now contrast the two technologies.

Frequency

Unlike technologies like Infrared, which uses light, Bluetooth uses radio waves to communicate. A typical Bluetooth device’s frequency range is between 2.402 GHz and 2.48 GHz. It is an unlicensed short-range frequency band that is open to the general public.

When two Bluetooth devices are connected, the transmitting device divides the data into small packets and uploads it over one of the 79 available 1 MHz channel.

A Bluetooth data packet performs 1600 hops per second using adaptive frequency hopping. This allows short-range devices to create a small personal area network in which devices are connected ad hoc in a pico cell.

Wi-Fi 6E technology, like Bluetooth, uses an unlicensed frequency band, but its range is much greater. Because the Wi-Fi 6E is an extension of the Wi-Fi 6, it can operate at 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and an additional frequency of 6 GHz.

As a result, the 802.11ax standard employs seven additional 160 MHz channels, allowing it to provide more bandwidth, increased throughput, and faster speeds.

Modulation technique

Aside from frequency, both technologies use different modulation techniques, which is a significant difference between them. Because many short-range devices do not require a large amount of data to communicate with one another, Bluetooth technology may still exist.

Bluetooth devices, such as keyboards, mice, and headsets, communicate using GFSK,/4 DQPSK, and 8DPSK modulation techniques. These techniques allow the devices to transfer data across all 79 channels with 1 MHz spacing. However, in the case of Bluetooth low energy, these channels are reduced to 40 channels with a spacing of 2 MHz.

The Wi-Fi 6E is intended to improve throughput in high-density scenarios such as hospitals, shopping malls, airports, apartments, corporate offices, and so on.

This is made possible by the use of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), which transmits information in beam form to all connected clients even when data is transmitted simultaneously.

OFDMA divides a channel into different resource units for concurrent connection and assigns each resource unit to a different user. This not only reduces interference but also increases throughput because multiple clients can receive different data at the same time without interfering with each other’s communication.

Bandwidth

When comparing the two technologies in terms of bandwidth, Wi-Fi 6E outperforms Bluetooth technology. Because Bluetooth technology is purely based on the frequency-hopping spread spectrum (FHSS), it cannot compete with Wi-Fi 6E’s bandwidth availability even if data transfer occurs on all 79 channels.

To achieve higher bandwidths, Wi-Fi 6E not only uses an extended 6 GHz band with an additional 160 MHz channel, but it also employs MU-MIMO, Trigger-based random access, and OFDMA.

Data Rate

Higher data rates are becoming a basic requirement for modern-day application needs, whether you are transmitting data over the internet or among devices.

When comparing the two technologies, Bluetooth falls far behind because it provides a very small amount of data, up to 50 Mbps, which is more than enough for connectivity and data transfer between mobile phones, tablets, Bluetooth headsets, and so on.

This data rate is not supported by all Bluetooth standards. Bluetooth standards provide varying data transmission rates:

• Bluetooth 2.0 & 2.1 provides 2.1 Mbps,
• Bluetooth 3.0 & 4.0 provides 24 Mbps,
• Bluetooth 4.1 & 4.2 provides 25 Mbps,
• Bluetooth 5.0, 5.1, & 5.2 provides 50 Mbps.

But when we talk about the Wi-Fi 6E, our expectations rise because we use it not only for data transfer between devices but also to connect to the internet, which we use for a variety of purposes.

The typical data rate of a Wi-Fi 6E device can reach 10 Gbps, but due to indoor impediments, such as concrete walls, wooden doors, glasses, metal impediments, and others, it can range between 2 and 10 Gbps.

Bluetooth Application Areas   

While Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 6E technologies each have their own use cases, Bluetooth is most commonly used for the following purposes:

1. Data Transmission: Bluetooth is used by many devices, including wireless headsets, mobile phones, laptops, Fitbit, Jawbone, printers, PDAs, and fax machines, to transfer data over short distances.
2. Wireless Connectivity: Another feature of Bluetooth that makes it useful is its wireless connectivity, which allows us to connect various devices’ keyboards, mice, and other peripherals to our laptops or desktop computers.
3. Creating Ad hoc Personal Area Network: Bluetooth is a simple way to create our own personal area network, in which devices connect to each other on an ad hoc basis and share resources. This network is established in the absence of a centralized router or other network equipment.

Wi-Fi 6E Application Areas

Wi-Fi 6E is another indoor technology that we can use for the following purposes:

1. Interconnecting devices: Wi-Fi 6E, like Bluetooth, allows us to connect multiple devices to each other, but they must be on the same network and have a similar class IP address. Smartphones, smart LEDs, laptops, desktops, tablets, gaming consoles, smart air conditioners, and a variety of other IOT devices are examples of these devices.
2. Internet Connectivity: Wi-Fi 6E also allows us to connect a variety of devices to the internet, which is not easily possible with Bluetooth.
3. Online gaming: Another application area for Wi-Fi 6E is gaming, which is very popular these days. We can play games over the internet or intranets because of their high data rates.
4. 8K Streaming: Streaming movies and TV shows is the new trend these days, and Wi-Fi 6E allows us to easily enjoy any of our favorite content.
5. AR / VR: With Wi-Fi 6E’s increased bandwidth availability, new innovative technologies such as augmented reality and virtual reality are now possible.

Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi 6E: 10 Must-Know Facts

1. Bluetooth and Wi-Fi 6E are both members of the wireless family.
2. Bluetooth can only transfer data between connected devices.
3. Wi-Fi 6E helps us in connecting to the internet.
4. Wi-Fi 6E provides greater bandwidth, speed, and throughput, whereas Bluetooth does not.
5. Bluetooth technology communicates with short-range devices, whereas Wi-Fi 6E connects devices located hundreds of feet away.
6. The power consumption of Bluetooth devices is very low in comparison to Wi-Fi 6E devices.
7. We can use Bluetooth to create ad-hoc networks (personal area networks) that do not require a centralized device.
8. Wi-Fi 6E connects multiple devices via a centralized device, such as a Wi-Fi 6E router.
9. Wi-Fi 6E employs a cutting-edge security mechanism, whereas Bluetooth is more vulnerable to hacking and other cyber attacks such as bluejacking.
10. Wi-Fi 6E supports new and innovative technologies, such as 4k/8k streaming, AR/VR, and IoT, due to its extensive feature set. 

Bluetooth vs. Wi-Fi 6E: Which One Is Better?

So, which wireless tech is better for you? Bluetooth is an old technology that has been serving people since the 1990s. It is still in use because this technology is quite handy and provides interoperability. However, you should not get it confused with Wi-Fi 6E; they are completely different technologies for different use cases.

Wi-Fi 6E is now gaining popularity due to its fantastic features, such as speed, low latency, higher bandwidth, and massive data rates. By providing you with a dedicated band, it is useful not only for users looking to access bandwidth-hungry applications but also for those who require low latency for gaming or cloud-based applications.

It has enabled highly reliable connections and ensures a better user experience in all aspects. Wi-Fi 6E can manage the current and future needs of the users. This makes it an excellent choice for both businesses and homes. As for Bluetooth, most of your usage will be relegated to connecting wireless headphones, speakers, and even computer mice.