What is MU-MIMO?

Why MU-MIMO?

Wireless communication is prone to interference. To ensure reliable data transmission, the whole system follows the one-by-one transfer rule. This means WiFi can only communicate with one device at a time. Other WiFi devices are forced to wait their turn until the former transmission is finished.

However, today, an increasing number of WiFi devices, phones, laptops, tablets, game consoles, and even smart home gear have a greater demand for WiFi. At the same time, more and more devices are requiring bandwidth-intensive activities like large-file downloading and 4K streaming. On the other hand, people are also keeping legacy devices with poor data transmission. As a result, in peak hours or crowded scenarios, everyone feels stuck with poor WiFi performance. Because every device is wasting time waiting.

To enhance WiFi performance, wireless networking has adapted MU-MIMO technology since the 802.11ac wave2.

                                                                                                                  What can MU-MIMO do?

MU-MIMO, short for Multiple User – Multiple Input Multiple Output, is one of the most important features of wireless networking. The name of MU-MIMO is quite self-explanatory. It helps routers send or receive data with multiple devices simultaneously. This decreases the wait time each WiFi device spends to start transmission, resulting in improved whole WiFi network throughput and efficiency and also leading to a more responsive network with low latency.

                                                                                                         MU-MIMO in WiFi 6

MU-MIMO is further enhanced by WiFi 6.

In WiFi 5, MU-MIMO has a certain limitation that it only works in downlink connections. With WiFi 6, MU-MIMO adds support to uplink connections and now works with both uploads and downloads.

This means that whether your family is streaming, downloading, enjoying VR/AR, or playing MMORPGs, everyone can experience a stable connection and enough bandwidth.

                                                                             What products are equipped with MU-MIMO?

MR50G                                                                                                                Halo S12                                                                                                                           MR70X

AC1900 Wireless Dual Band Gigabit Router                                        AC1200 Whole Home WiFi System                                                                AX1800 Dual-Band Wi-Fi 6 Router

Check the Specification or Datasheet of the product on the Mercusys official website to find out which products support MU-MIMO or not. Moreover, please note that taking full advantage of MU-MIMO requires clients to also support MU-MIMO technology.