Many small whites who do not know much about routers will feel confused when they see the terminology on the detail page when purchasing. What points should we pay attention to when picking them, and how to distinguish them? Today we will take the MX5502 as an example to take you to distinguish them.
1.AX and AC:
We see that some router models tend to carry the prefix AX or AC, especially on some mid-to-high-end routers? So what does it mean? In fact, this is a convention for router manufacturers to name, AX is the abbreviation of IEEE 802.11ax network technology standard, and IEEE 802.11 also has a name that we are "familiar with", that is, WiFi 6, the same can be obtained, AC is the abbreviation of IEEE 802.11ac, referring to WiFi5.
Therefore, we see that some WiFi router models will have AX or AC prefixes, like the MX5502 and a model name called AX5400, which means that it is a WiFi 6 router. However, the model name with AX does not mean that the router is a WiFi6 router, in order to prevent the other party from fishing in muddy waters, it is still necessary to go to the details page to see clearly for safety.
2.WiFi 6 PLUS:
Some manufacturers have not met the name of WiFi 6, in order to promote demand, they "created" some new terms, such as WiFi 6 PLUS and WiFi 6E, take WiFi 6 PLUS, it is not much different from ordinary WiFi6, the difference is that the earlier WiFi 6 only developed the bandwidth to 80MHz, and WiFi 6 PLUS is to expand 80MHz to 160MHz.
Now the bandwidth of the new WiFi 6 router can basically reach 160MHz, like the lingshi MX5502 in the APP to change the transmission area settings can upgrade the bandwidth to 160MHz. So what is the use of 160MHz bandwidth for us to access the Internet? It can increase the speed limit of a single Internet device, such as the MX5502 with xiaomi 11 that supports 4K QAM, and the internet speed limit of the mobile phone can be increased by about 10-20%.
3.MU-MIMO with stream antenna:
After entering the WiFi 6 era, an obvious feature is the popularity and maturity of MU-MIMO technology. MU-MIMO technology, also known as multi-user multi-entry and multi-output, compared to the early SU-MIMO (single user multi-entry and multiple output), it can be a little faster when connecting multiple devices to the Internet.
Mu-MIMO technology is also paired with the data flow antenna, if MU-MIMO is a technical concept, then the data flow antenna is to materialize it. In general, Internet access devices are connected to the data stream antenna through the channel, so on some pages we can often see "2 * 2 MIMO dual antenna", "4 * 4 MIMO four antenna" these terms, like the lingshi MX5502 has 2.4G 2 * 2 * 2 + 5G 4 * 4 a total of 6 concurrent data streams, allowing the router to connect up to 60 Internet devices at the same time.
4. Number of antennas and hidden antenna design:
Some netizens saw that some routers had a very large number of antennas, thought it was cool and then went online very fast. In fact, the exposed physical antenna is not directly related to the Internet speed, you insist on saying that there is a relationship, that is also intelligently related to the power and gain of the antenna. However, due to the relevant wireless communication regulations in the mainland, the antenna power of the router has certain restrictions, not that the router manufacturer wants to make the power of the antenna as big as it can be.
Some netizens will ask, the outer open air line must be better than the receiving capacity of the hidden antenna? In fact, this is also incorrect, to give a very simple example, that is, some old mobile phones with external antennas in the past, its signal is not stronger than the current smart phone. In the same way, the same is true on routers, with the maturity of hidden antenna technology, now more and more mid-to-high-end routers began to choose hidden antenna design.
Exposed antenna design may have a slight impact on the reception of the signal due to the different antenna placement angles. The hidden antenna has been more optimized and adjusted by the manufacturer before leaving the factory, and it is no longer necessary to manually adjust it yourself. Like the MX5502, which also uses a built-in omnidirectional antenna adjustment system, it not only has stronger signal reception capability, but also looks more beautiful and generous.
End
I believe that after reading these contents in front of the screen, you also know a little bit about some technical terms and concerns of the router, look at these terms when choosing, and then buy according to your own needs, of course, if you want to buy a WiFi 6 Mesh router, then the MX5502 is also a good choice.