Qualcomm launches Latin America's first 6E Outdoor Wi-Fi connection

A Qualcomm Brazil, through a partnership with the National Telecommunications Agency – ANATEL, launched this Saturday (03) the first connection Outdoor (outdoor) from WiFi 6E in Latin America. So far, the use of this network is only restricted to closed places, so as not to cause interference in satellite services in the country and there is no forecast for release.

The event took place in Campo Belo, a neighborhood in the capital of São Paulo and the initiative had the cooperation of the companies Cambium Networks, Telium Always On e Tecexpert Brazil🇧🇷 In addition, the Mayor of São Paulo, Ricardo Nunes, Anatel's director, Moses Queiroz Moreira and representatives of internet companies, as well as partners of Qualcomm in the project, were also present.

How to test outdoor Wi-Fi 6E network?

Francisco Soares, Vice President of International Relations at Qualcomm, highlighted that the first test, due to the bidding of the ANATEL, will last two months and that after that period, the performance of the wireless internet will be evaluated and from that point on, it will depend on the interest in expanding it.

For those interested in trying out the new service, the connection will be available in the Campo Belo region, in Gabriele D'Annunzio street — however, to access this specific band, it is necessary to have devices compatible with 6E technology. If the equipment does not support this technology, the user will still be able to access the wireless internet network through 2,5GHz or 5GHz connections.

When connecting to the Wi-Fi point, you will be redirected to complete a small registration, where you will need to provide your first name, last name and also an email address. After completing these steps, the smartphone will be able to use the connection.

The values ​​presented by the speed tests, in general, are impressive, with the download rate surpassing the 910MBps, while the upload was in the range of 610MBps🇧🇷 The test was performed on the website Speedy during the first use of the technology, that is, before it is released to everyone present at the launch event.

Qualcomm's Outdoor Wi-Fi 6E connection launch event

In addition to allowing access to the first Outdoor network in São Paulo, the event was also the moment when more information was passed on how tests are being carried out in the country and what benefits this Wi-Fi 6 technology can bring in the future.

“We have two important missions with this project. The first is to test the technology in Brazil, as this is the first practical study. We will be testing until January 24, 2023 and after that, Anatel will carry out a public consultation. The other important point is the use of the AFC, since the system collaborates so that there is no interference between the systems.” 

Francisco Soares, Vice President of International Relations at Qualcomm.

Already for Luiz Tonisi, Director of Government Relations at Qualcomm Brasil, technology is an important means for evolution, but that 50% of homes in the country are still not connected. Soon, Wi-Fi 6E technology will help people to have easy access to the internet.

Moses Queiroz, Anatel Advisor, complements and says that, in addition to São Paulo being the first capital in Latin America to receive the Outdoor connection, it will bring great general benefits: the channels connected in 160MHz networks will allow connected cars, facial recognition and much more.

Lastly, Ricardo Nunes, mayor of the city of São Paulo, stresses the importance of seeing the internet and technology as a broad issue. Since investing in connectivity, for example, allowed Telemedicine to be more used, something that opens up space for the city hall to also invest in other spectrums and provide better quality of life for residents.

For the mayor, this issue of being connected is extremely important, as it was found that during power distribution projects tablets for children in São Paulo, many extreme places had no cell phone signal. Thus, there were negotiations with the operators to install 250 antennas, offering support to this region.

In addition, today, in the capital of São Paulo, there are 1088 free Wi-Fi points to be accessed by the population at no cost and they expect these numbers to exceed the 20 mark by the year 2024. The same goes for buses, as currently, 3500 offer internet connection and the expectation is that all will offer free internet by the end of the mandate.

AFC technology assists network management

A Automated Frequency Coordination (Automated Frequency Coordination) is one of the technologies proposed by Qualcomm to maximize the operation and utilization of Wi-Fi 6 technology, ready to be used in both hardware and software.

This system allows the reduction of external interference that using the wireless network can cause in other services that also use the same 6 GHz band, such as radio links🇧🇷 Through the geolocation of each Access Point (AP), a list of available channels will be created, in this way, they will be used without harming the signals.

The technology also promises to deliver power optimizations to users, driving significant improvements indoors, where up to 63x transmission improvement could be observed.

What is WiFi 6E?

The new wireless internet standard, with support for 6GHz frequencies, has the main objective of reducing congestion for connected users and ensuring better access to people on more network channels, ensuring more stable connectivity and greater performance between connected devices.

In this way, in times of high demand for Wi-Fi networks with better conditions, mainly due to Streaming, online games and also remote work, which gained strength in Brazil during the COVID-19 pandemic, this technology emerged to supply the necessity.

Unlike 5G internet connections, this new internet standard makes it easier to transmit a signal over solid surfaces. So, in places with a lot of walls, it can become a better and more stable option than using repeaters to expand the signal.

Learn more

Interested in Wi-Fi 6? Discover the main differences between it and Wi-Fi 5.