Does PS5 Support WiFi 6? – Is There Any Benefit?

PS5 introduces many new hardware bells and whistles that can greatly improve your gaming experience. From SSDs to haptic feedback on the controllers, the quality of life improvements is many.

But one relatively less talked about improvement is WiFi connectivity. Only those who want the fastest WiFi connectivity on their console would ask, “does PS5 Support WiFi 6?”

The short answer to the question is a Yes, PS5 DOES support WiFi 6 connectivity. However, in order to use the high potential of WiFi 6, you NEED to have a compatible router in the first place.

In the following text, I will talk about WiFi 6 in general and talk about its support on PS5 specifically.

WiFi 5 vs WiFi 6 vs WiFi 6E

WiFi standard is an ever-evolving standard. It started off in 1997 with the WiFi 0 or the 802.11 standard. It had a maximum speed of about 2 Mbps.

But WiF has come a long way since then and if you have been following the standard closely, you’d be quick to point out that the latest standard is the WiFi 6/WiFi 6E released in 2019.

Now the two more relevant standards for gaming consoles are WiFi 5 (802.11ac) and WiFi 6 (802.11ax).

WiFi 5 was used with the previous generation of consoles i.e on PS4 Pro and PS4 Slim.

As far as the speeds go the following table explains it better:

So Does PS5 Support WiFi 6?

Fortunately, the answer to this question is a yes. PS5 DOES support WiFi 6. However, it should be noted that it does NOT offer the newer WiFi 6E standard.

The difference between WiFi 6 and 6E lies in that the latter operates at different frequencies which are less crowded allowing for improved latency and performance. The max transfer speed, however, on both is the same.

The introduction of WiFi 6 is a great step forward for PS5 particularly given the fact that its arch-rival, the Xbox Series X/S, only offers the only WiFi 5 connectivity.

You Must Have a WiFi 6 Modem to Use the Potential

It should be noted that the maximum potential of WiFi 6 on your PS5 can ONLY be utilized if the router in your home also corresponds to the WiFi 6 version.

If your home internet router conforms only to WiFi 5, then you will NOT benefit from the improvements WiFi 6 offers.

It gets worst still if you have a very old modem that only conforms to WiFi 4 or older.

Ethernet is an Option

Now if you do not already have a WiFi 6 router, then upgrading your existing old router can get quite expensive.

WiFi 6 routers are not cheap. Hence you have to way what other options you have available for fast internet connectivity.

Fortunately, PS5 also offers an Ethernet port for a physical cable connection to the internet.

The Ethernet Port on the PS5 can operate at speeds of up to 1000 Mbps or 1 Gbps. This is may seem slower than the 9.6 Gbps promised by WiFi 6, but know that 9.6 Gbps is ONLY the theoretical maximum. The actual speeds can be much lower.

In addition to that, the speeds over WiFi get divided into the number of devices you have connected to it. The higher the number of devices, the slower will be the maximum transfer speeds on your PS5 over WiFi.

We can spend the entire day talking about the pros and cons of Ethernet vs WiFi.

The fact of the matter is that while the Ethernet connection may seem slow, this type of physical connection offers the least latency.

WiFi can introduce as high as 100ms of latency easily. So if you are downloading, this should be an issue. But if you are a gamer playing online competitively, particularly in first-person shooters, a 100ms latency can give you a huge handicap.

Also Read: Does PS5 Use USB C Port?