Wi-Fi 6E technology is here to stay, and a good example of this can be found in the new smartphones and tablets that come onto the market, and that is that all high-end models have the possibility of connecting to these Wi-Fi networks that They work in the new 6GHz frequency band. In this article and with the help of our colleagues, we have had the opportunity to thoroughly test the Wi-Fi connectivity of three devices recently launched by Samsung, the devices tested are the Samsung Galaxy S22+ and Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra smartphones, and also the top-of-the-range tablet that is the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra. Do you want to know the real performance that we have achieved with these devices?
Wi-Fi features of these Samsung terminals
The new smartphones of the Samsung manufacturer’s S22 family incorporate the new Exynos 2200 processor, this new processor incorporates support for the Wi-Fi 6E standard in the Plus and Ultra models, but not in the normal S22 model. Although Samsung does not provide much information regarding the number of internal WiFi antennas, compatibility with 160MHz channel width and other important information to connect to WiFi networks, in this article we have verified that the Wi-Fi wireless features of the S22 Plus, S22 Ultra and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra tablet with the following:
- Selectable triple band : we can connect to the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands without any problem.
- Two internal antennas in MU-MIMO 2T2R configuration . This will allow us to reach theoretical speeds of up to 2.4Gbps maximum in the wireless network, although soon you will see the real speed achieved, which is really impressive.
- 160MHz channel width compatibility: This new smartphone is compatible in the 5GHz and 6GHz band with 160MHz channel width. This means that we will be able to achieve a theoretical speed of up to 2.4Gbps in 5GHz and also in 6GHz, although the actual speed that we will achieve will be about half that.
- Support for WPA3-Personal : One of the requirements of Wi-Fi 6E is to have the WPA3 security protocol for the wireless connection, or to use OWE (also known as Enhanced Open). This smartphone supports WPA3 on all frequency bands, not just the new 6GHz band.
As you have seen, these new smartphones and the tablet that we have tested have top-of-the-range wireless features, thanks to these specifications we can achieve high transfer rates via Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi Test Lab
In these wireless tests we have used the only Wi-Fi 6E router currently in Spain, the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 model. The configuration of this router in the different frequency bands is the usual one:
- Fixed channel and with automatic channel width but enabling 160MHz in the 5GHz and 6Ghz band.
- WPA3-Personal configuration in all frequency bands.
To carry out these tests, we have connected a computer with a Multigigabit network card to the 2.5G Multigigabit port for the LAN that we have available. Thanks to this 2.5G port for the LAN, we will not have any kind of bottleneck in the wired network, so we will be able to check the real Wi-Fi speed of each of the devices. All wireless tests are done in the same room where the router is located.
Speed in the 2.4GHz band:
In this 2.4GHz frequency band we have achieved a maximum speed of 180Mbps, taking into account that the theoretical speed is 574Mbps, and that this frequency band is quite saturated, the WiFi performance that we have achieved is as expected.
Next, you can see a table with the summary of all the speeds obtained by the different Samsung equipment:
| ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 – 2.4GHz Band | Living room | Kitchen | Main room | room 2 | Penthouse |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus | Sync: 216Mbps Speed: 17.5MB/s |
Sync: 574Mbps Speed: 13.4MB/s |
Sync: 516Mbps Speed: 11.5MB/s |
Sync: 98Mbps Speed: 1.5MB/s |
Sync: 44Mbps Speed: 1.0MB/s |
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra | Sync: 230Mbps Speed: 17.8MB/s |
Sync: 574Mbps Speed: 4.3MB/s |
Sync: 574Mbps Speed: 4.1MB/s |
Sync: 574Mbps Speed: 0.7MB/s |
Sync: 574Mbps Speed: 0.8MB/s |
In the following graph you can see the differences between the smartphones that have the Exynos 2200 and the tablet that incorporates the latest Qualcomm processor:
As you can see, the performance achieved by smartphones is somewhat below that of the tablet, however, the most important thing is the speed of the 5GHz and 6GHz bands, since that is where we will mainly connect.
Wi-Fi performance at 5GHz:
In this 5GHz band with “low” channels but using 160MHz of channel width, we have achieved a speed of 1,364Mbps with the Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra tablet, a wireless record, and that is that we far exceed the limit of Gigabit Ethernet interfaces. The Wi-Fi performance that we have achieved is above expectations, and we have achieved excellent speed.
Below, you can see a comparative table with the three devices:
| ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 – 5GHz Band | Living room |
|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus | Sync: 2.3Gbps Speed: 126.9MB/s |
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra | Sync: 2.3Gbps Speed: 136MB/s |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra | Sync: 2.4Gbps Speed: 170.5MB/s |
In the following graph you can see the difference in performance between smartphones and tablets:
As you can see, with smartphones we have achieved speeds greater than 1Gbps real, therefore, these devices will be faster than any normal computer with a Gigabit Ethernet network card, which is the most common today.
Speed in the new 6GHz band
The time has come to check the wireless speed in the new 6GHz band. On this occasion, the three devices have detected the new frequency band perfectly, without having to make any type of configuration. In the router we have activated the PSC functionality to allow clients to locate the wireless network quickly. In this case, the maximum speed that we have achieved is 1276Mbps, but all the devices are quite close to this figure, so we can achieve over 1,200Mbps of speed.
Next, you can see a comparative table with the three Samsungs that we have tested.
| ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 – 6GHz Band | Living room |
|---|---|
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus | Sync: 2.3Gbps Speed: 136.5MB/s |
| Samsung Galaxy S22 Ultra | Sync: 2.3Gbps Speed: 159.5MB/s |
| Samsung Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra | Sync: 2.4Gbps Speed: 151.4MB/s |
In the following graph you can see the difference in performance between the three teams:
The speed that we have achieved in this new frequency band is similar to the 5GHz band, something expected because the theoretical speed that we will achieve in both bands is the same. We will notice that the 6GHz band works much better than the 5GHz band if we have many neighbors broadcasting in the 5GHz band, right now the 6GHz band in the UNII-5 channels is completely free, for this reason we will get the best wireless performance regardless of how many routers of our neighbors we have around.
Conclusions
These new Samsung Galaxy S22 Plus, Ultra and the new Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra have shown excellent behavior in the Wi-Fi wireless network, either in the 2.4GHz or 5GHz band, as well as in the new frequency band. of 6GHz that we can already use in Spain. In previous models of the manufacturer we did not have the possibility of using the 160MHz of channel width, something that we can now do as we have verified.
Having 160MHz of channel width in a smartphone is very important if we want to achieve the maximum possible speed. Taking into account that smartphones have 2 internal antennas, if we had 80MHz of channel width we would get a maximum synchronization speed of 1.2Gbps, and a real speed of around 700-800Mbps in the best of cases. By doubling this channel width to 160Mhz, we will achieve a maximum synchronization speed of 2.4Gbps, and a real speed of more than 1,100Mbps, as we have shown in these performance tests.
If you want to achieve a very high wireless speed with your smartphone, you should know that these Samsung are the best you can buy today, especially because of the support for the Wi-Fi 6E standard and the new 6GHz band, where He has behaved excellently.