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cyberbiker's avatar
cyberbiker
Guide
Jun 30, 2023
Solved

What Does “6-Stream WiFi Router” Mean?

I want a WiFi router that can broadcast on at least 4 SSIDs. The lingo is a bit confusing. Does “6-Stream” in the Nighthawk® RAX50 AX6 6-Stream AX5400 WiFi Router mean it can have 6 SSIDs? https://...
  • FURRYe38's avatar
    FURRYe38
    Jun 30, 2023

    Stream means how many MIMO antennas are running 2.4 and 5Ghz at the same time. 6x6 would be what this means here. 

     

    The most you'll ever see out of a dual band is two SSID broadcasts. Tri band router you can get 3 SSID broadcasts. Broadcasts is the SSID name for the 2.4 and 5Ghz radio frequencies. Most of the time Smart Connect is a feature that combines the 2.4 and 5Ghz SSID names into one SSID Name broadcast for both 2.4 and 5Ghz frequencies. 

Kitsap's avatar
Kitsap
Master
Jun 30, 2023
cyberbiker wrote:
I want a WiFi router that can broadcast on at least 4 SSIDs. The lingo is a bit confusing.

Does “6-Stream” in the Nighthawk® RAX50 AX6 6-Stream AX5400 WiFi Router mean it can have 6 SSIDs? https://imgur.com/a/uu1o9LI

If not, what verbiage should I look for that indicates how many SDIDs a router has?

Do not become a victim of marketing hype, it is a  moving target to avoid!  Some background reading material here:

 

https://www.duckware.com/tech/wifi-in-the-us.html

 

Scroll down to Appendix Q: What 'Stream' means.

 

Also, scroll down to Appendix N: Beware tri-band marketing hype.

 

Do you want all four SSIDs to be broadcasting on the same frequency band?  (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz)  If yes, you are going to have a difficult time obtaining that in one single router.  Recommend you rethink your requirements.

 

What are you actually trying to accomplish?