Question Is it better to upgrade the WiFi of a PC to 6E and WPA3?

[modeonoff]

Hi, my PC supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band. Recently my ISP upgraded the modem which supports WiFi-6E and WPA3. Is it better to upgrade the WiFi system of my PC to 6E and WAP3 to get a more secured connection? Also, what is the advantage of using PCIe card rather than USB?

 

[kanewolf]

Hi, my PC supports 802.11a/b/g/n/ac and 2.4/5 GHz Dual-Band. Recently my ISP upgraded the modem which supports WiFi-6E and WPA3. Is it better to upgrade the WiFi system of my PC to 6E and WAP3 to get a more secured connection? Also, what is the advantage of using PCIe card rather than USB?

6Ghz is generally only useful in the same room as the WIFI source. So, is your router very near your PC?
WPA3 has issues with many devices. Unless your WIFI source supports multiple SSIDs, you will probably break some WIFI connected devices if you enable WPA3.

 

[modeonoff]

There is another problem. I found that after my ISP upgraded the modem, devices that use WiFi-6E cannot get the signal almost all the time even they are in a room about 10 feet from it. They used to work with the old modem. I will need to buy an extender/mesh. Is one unit sufficient or I need to get a pair?

WiFi source supports multiple SSIDs.

 

[kanewolf]

There is another problem. I found that after my ISP upgraded the modem, devices that use WiFi-6E cannot get the signal almost all the time even they are in a room about 10 feet from it. They used to work with the old modem. I will need to buy an extender/mesh. Is one unit sufficient or I need to get a pair?

WiFi source supports multiple SSIDs.

Even with a WPA3 SSID, you will still have to have WPA2 (most likely) for IOT and other devices. So your WIFI is no more secure. I could have WPA3 enabled, but have chosen not to, because it is a false sense of security.
An extender (wireless link back to base) will still have lower bandwidth than 6Ghz, so no benefit from 6Ghz. Unless you have a wired backbone with multiple WIFI access points on 6Ghz, it is not that useful.
One thing you could check on your 6Ghz settings is the channel width. Turn it DOWN. Start with 80Mhz then 160Mhz. I wouldn't recommend 320Mhz.

 

[bill001g]

devices that use WiFi-6E cannot get the signal almost all the time even they are in a room about 10 feet from it. They used to work with the old modem.

This is a very unfortunately issue with wifi6e. It all depends on how your house is built. Some house do a very good job of blocking the 6ghz signals. For those it does work in there is a large increase in speed because of all the additional bandwidth on the 6ghz radio.

You can force it to use 5ghz but unless you know what radio bands your old modem/router used it is likely your new router is using different radio channels.

The huge problem with any kind of wifi and any kind or reviews is the house it is being tested in makes far more difference than the differences between equipment. It seems there really no way to predict what the optimum wifi solution is other than trial and error to see what works best for you.