Ookla Finds a Slow Global Shift to Advanced Wi-Fi
The company found that some regions rely on Wi-Fi 6, but most of the globe still uses Wi-Fi 5.
WASHINGTON, May 8, 2026 – The future of connectivity belongs to Wi-Fi 7 and 6 GigaHertz spectrum band Wi-Fi. Still, advanced Wi-Fi has yet to take off globally, says Ookla, an internet metrics and network diagnostics company, in a Q1 findings report released Monday
The company, under CEO Stephen Bye, used Ookla Speedtest data to track different generations of Wi-Fi and found that North America leads the globe in 6 GHz Wi-Fi use. In the region, 13.8% of users connect to the band. This is a large increase compared to the 2.2% of users that were connecting on the band in 2024.
“In North America the newly available 6 GHz spectrum band resulted in the Wi-Fi router industry making substantial investments in Wi-Fi chipsets and access points that incorporated the new spectrum band,” said Mark Giles, head of Oola research, and Sue Marek, analyst and director of Ookla’s editorial team, in the report. The region has invested in upgrading and advocating for advanced Wi-Fi speeds.
The 6 GHz Wi-Fi has seen progress, but 5 GHz remains the most used Wi-Fi band. The 6 GHz band Wi-Fi has seen growth in certain areas of the world, but only 1.7% of users globally rely on it. Sixty percent of global users still connect to Wi-Fi 5 because the lower portion of the 5 GHz band is available for unlicensed use in most countries.
European markets have low 6 GHz use, with the continent's band utilization capped at 1.6%. Internet quality varies across European countries, with Switzerland leading the region at a 58.7% modern Wi-Fi share.
Wi-Fi 7 is still emerging in most markets but is showing potential. Slightly less than 2% of data shows Wi-Fi 7 usage, with Singapore having the highest percentage of users. The Singaporean government has pushed to upgrade home broadband speeds to 10 Gbps through educating users about Wi-Fi speeds and bundling Wi-Fi 7 hardware with 10 Gbps broadband subscriptions.
Most smartphones can support Wi-Fi 6 or newer generations. However, advanced routers that can support newer Wi-Fi are lagging due to inflated semiconductor supply chain costs. There is a demand for more advanced routers to allow an increase in internet speeds.
