WiFi technologies to change their name so that users can finally understand how they actually work

Meet WiFi 6

A butterfly sits on a mobile phone during a preview visit of the butterfly conservatory at the American Natural History Museum in New York on October 3, 2018 (ANGELA WEISS/AFP/Getty Images)

The long and confusing set of numbers that follow every WiFi name is finally disappearing. And it is being swapped for something far more simple.

Anyone who has ever tried to buy a WiFi device has probably struggled with the arcane naming system that each of them is given. Each begins with 802.11, and then is followed by letters like "ac" – it's those letters that matter, but it can be hard to work out how and why.

The codes actually refer to something very useful: different generations of WiFi technology, which bring with them upgrades and updates to things like the speed they can transmit data.

But the names have been entirely confusing, with no real way to tell what they actually refer to or even which is newest.

From now, those names will be swapped for simple numbers that increase when a new one comes out, the WiFi Alliance has announced.

So the next generation of Wi-Fi technology, previously known as 802.11ax, will just be referred to as WiFi 6.

Previous technologies will have their name changed, too. The one known as 802.11ac is WiFi 5, and 802.11n is WiFi 4.

“For nearly two decades, WiFi users have had to sort through technical naming conventions to determine if their devices support the latest WiFi,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “WiFi Alliance is excited to introduce WiFi 6, and present a new naming scheme to help industry and WiFi users easily understand the WiFi generation supported by their device or connection.”

As well as being easier for people to understand, the new name will be able to fit into screens on phones and computers. That will let people know how they are connected to WiFi, for instance, and tell them whether they should expect faster or slower speeds.