iPhone 11+ vs Wifi 6 vs Switcher Studio
Buckle up — this is incredibly complex info that I’ve tried to put in English.
TLDR Punchline: Wifi 6 Should be game changing for live streaming with all wireless devices that support it.
When it comes to Wifi 6 routers, I mainly use 3 (Netgear M5, Amplifi Alien, 2021 iPad Pro).
Router Amplifi Alien:
Alien max transmit power for 5GHz wifi 6 is 20dBm. Lower than the max of the iPhone and ipad. While I don’t currently own an Alien, when I had 2, their performance and range for SS live streaming was unmatched by any other system I’ve used (which is a lot of routers/ap). For gigs where you need 150’+ on 5GHz Wifi — A single Alien will do great. Combine multiple as mesh points, and you can go much much further.
According to the 2021 iPad FCC filing, it does support OFDMA on wifi 6 for 2.4 and 5. Unknown about mu-Mimo.. but in our case — ofdma is more important I believe as the cameras are small chunks of data that multiple phones can transmit at the same time using ofdma back to the router. Better for live streaming. The bad news is there’s no real way to test it and “know” without thousands of $ in equipment. The main difference can be tested in dense areas like convention centers. A wifi 6 router should be day and night better than a traditional wifi 5 router.
Netgear M5:
The M5 supports it too and should perform great. Again — no way to know if it works for us in the field better without being there. Best guess is that the M5 should be more than enough for using any amount of SS without issue. If that is actually true, that is great news to no longer “need” bigger systems. A Massive space savings IF the tech just works.
Best Possible Option: 2021 iPad Pro Hotspot:
This iPad can create at 5GHz 20mhz wifi 6 network that runs up to 21dBm (basically same as Alien, except a 2x2 antenna systems instead of 8x8). It is VERY possible that this is the best possible option for almost anyone as long as the cellular internet is fast enough for the live stream — when using iPhones as cameras with Switcher Studio. Being built into the iPad, there’s no additional hardware to buy or store though you MUST have a cellular data plan that support hotspot which is beginning to be rare atm.
The perfect combo: M1 iPad Pro + M5 + Speedify
Both devices support 5G cellular and Wifi 6. Combined with Speedify in “Speed” mode when streaming to Facebook and “Streaming” mode to any other CDN.
I honestly could write a book on all this, but these are the details that I beleive matter most to all of us streamers. None of this tech is cheap or perfect, but it is a long shot better than the options we had before.
Cheers Friends!
