Linksys launches 5G enabled Wi-Fi 6 networking gear at CES

Wi-Fi 6, the latest Wi-Fi standard that’s considerably faster than what most of us need today, is about to get more relevant with Linksys adding 5G support.

While some of us are blessed with fibre or cable connectivity to offer the incredible speeds to make Wi-Fi 6 truly useful, for a lot of people the benefits are far outweighed by the high cost.

Mesh networking is a growing market, but prices are still high for the most part. And when you include Wi-Fi 6 support, prices jump even higher.

There are many benefits of Wi-Fi 6 in terms of internal networking speed gains, and more resilience to interference and so on, but most manufacturers have been slow to add Wi-Fi 6 support to their devices.

With only Samsung and Apple really taking things seriously on mobiles, why pay more for a superfast router right now?

Well the answer is of course for future-proofing, and Linksys has released new products that give some more reassurance, to what are still mostly early adopters, that you won’t need to change kit again for some time.

With 5G support added, you can now buy products that will take advantage of the 5G networks rolling out, with the potential to offer the speeds that a Wi-Fi 6 network can take full advantage of – and may not be available anytime soon via a fixed-line connection.

The product line-up consists of:

• Linksys 5G Mobile Hotspot – with Wi-Fi 6 support and Quick Charge support.
• Linksys 5G Modem – compatible with Mesh networking equipment.
• Linksys Velop 5G Mesh Gateway – combine the power of 5G and Linksys Intelligent Mesh technology with a combined modem and router solution.
• Linksys 5G Outdoor Router – tap into mmWave 5G and 10Gbps wired networking for superfast connections (mmWave is not currently in use in the UK for 5G but will be introduced over the coming years).

Linksys has also launched other new Wi-Fi 6 routers and mesh networking systems, as well as Linksys Wellness Pods that can check on a person’s well-being, monitoring daily routines, tracking breathing patterns, sleep quality and fall detection without the need of wearables or cameras.

Another new product is Linksys Vehicle Presence Detection, using the Linksys Aware motion sensing software that works with the Wellness Pods, mentioned above, to tackle safety issues such as children or pets being left unattended in cars during extreme temperatures.