Let's Understand What Wi-Fi HaLow Is?

Wi-Fi HaLow Is the Future of IoT Connectivity
While Wi-Fi 7 has garnered significant attention as the latest and fastest Wi-Fi technology, an emerging wireless technology called Wi-Fi HaLow is quietly transforming the Internet of Things (IoT) landscape. Here's everything you need to know about Wi-Fi HaLow.

Wi-Fi HaLow Overview
Wi-Fi HaLow is a wireless technology specification based on the IEEE 802.11ah protocol. First introduced in 2016, the technology operates in frequencies below 1 GHz, unlike the traditional Wi-Fi 5, Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 6E, and Wi-Fi 7 protocols, which use 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequencies.

Because lower frequencies can transmit over longer distances, Wi-Fi HaLow can provide connections up to three kilometers, and even further with line-of-sight connections. However, using lower frequencies also means narrower channels and lower bandwidth, resulting in slower data rates. Despite this, Wi-Fi HaLow still offers data rates of 150 Kbps at longer distances and up to 86.7 Mbps at closer ranges.

Wi-Fi HaLow is not a replacement for traditional Wi-Fi standards. Instead, it's designed to complement existing WiFi protocols, providing devices with longer-range connectivity without the need for wireless extenders, multiple access points, and complex wired connections. IoT devices, smart city projects, and mesh networks will benefit most from Wi-Fi HaLow.

Wi-Fi HaLow vs. Traditional Wi-Fi
Traditional Wi-Fi protocols have made the greatest strides in wireless speed and latency. However, signal range has suffered in the rush to increase speed. Wi-Fi HaLow seeks to address this significant shortcoming in Wi-Fi's feature set, especially as the exponential growth of IoT devices demands a reliable way to stay connected.

As previously mentioned, Wi-Fi HaLow offers greater range than traditional Wi-Fi. But most importantly, Wi-Fi HaLow uses a lower frequency, which means it can better penetrate obstacles like walls, just as 2.4GHz Wi-Fi offers superior signal range and wall penetration compared to the 5GHz and 6GHz Wi-Fi bands.

Wi-Fi HaLow also consumes less power, as it can maintain low-power states through the various sleep modes defined in the 802.11ah specification. Therefore, Wi-Fi HaLow meets the needs of battery-powered devices such as sensors and wireless security cameras, allowing them to operate for months or even years without battery replacement or recharging. Another advantage of Wi-Fi HaLow over traditional Wi-Fi is its ability to connect over 8,000 devices simultaneously, while WiFi 6 can only connect 2,007 devices.

Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Thread
Wi-Fi HaLow isn't the first wireless technology to offer IoT device connectivity. Other wireless technologies, such as Z-Wave, Zigbee, and Thread, already exist, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.
Z-Wave is similar to Wi-Fi HaLow in several respects. It also uses sub-1GHz frequencies, allowing for longer transmission range and lower power consumption. However, despite its greater range, Z-Wave's coverage cannot match Wi-Fi HaLow. A single Z-Wave network cannot support more than 232 devices. Furthermore, a controller is generally required to effectively operate Z-Wave devices.
Notably, the Z-Wave Alliance released a new long-range version of Z-Wave in 2020, increasing the signal range to that of Wi-Fi HaLow and increasing the number of devices supported on a Z-Wave network to 4,000.
Zigbee, on the other hand, operates at 780MHz, 868Hz, 915MHz, and 2.4GHz. However, most Zigbee devices used in homes use the 2.4GHz band, which provides faster data transfer rates than Z-Wave but has a limited range. Furthermore, Zigbee's interoperability isn't as good as expected, its security isn't as good as Wi-Fi, and it requires a "coordinator" device to control the network. However, Zigbee can support over 65,000 nodes in a single network, far exceeding Z-Wave and even Wi-Fi HaLow.

Thread is one of the newer low-power wireless protocols. Thread also uses the 2.4 GHz frequency to connect and communicate with other Thread devices. Thread devices are IP-based and can connect to each other without a hub or bridge. However, a Thread border router is still required to connect the Thread network to the internet. Furthermore, a Thread network can only connect approximately 250 devices, making it less than ideal for relatively high-bandwidth devices such as surveillance cameras.

Thus, while these specialized low-power wireless protocols offer many advantages, they also have their own drawbacks. In contrast, Wi-Fi HaLow offers a long signal range, eliminates the need for a hub, offers high security, can connect to over 8,000 devices, and provides reasonable data speeds. Furthermore, Wi-Fi HaLow offers seamless interoperability and uses a different frequency band than existing Wi-Fi networks, thus avoiding congestion in existing infrastructure.

Benefiting from Wi-Fi HaLow
Wi-Fi HaLow has the potential to benefit a wide range of use cases, but average home users will see the greatest impact in smart home devices, the Internet of Things, and mesh network systems. Because nearly every home device has become intelligent and requires wireless connectivity, the 2.4GHz wireless band is most congested, as it only has three non-overlapping channels.
However, Wi-Fi HaLow operates on a completely different frequency than traditional Wi-Fi, allowing for over 26 non-overlapping channels. Therefore, unless there are tens of thousands of devices vying for connection, interference and congestion are negligible.
Furthermore, Wi-Fi HaLow's extended range makes it possible to serve IoT and smart home devices across a large property from a single access point. So, for example, a single router or mesh system covering a primary residence can serve high-bandwidth devices. However, with Wi-Fi HaLow, the same router or mesh system can also cover sensors, security cameras, and other relatively low-bandwidth devices located around the property, in the perimeter, in guest rooms, and elsewhere. This eliminates the need to wire an entire property or install additional mesh nodes or Wi-Fi extenders to expand signal coverage.
How to get Wi-Fi HaLow?
As with any new generation of Wi-Fi products, to reap the benefits of Wi-Fi HaLow, both your wireless router and your devices must support it. As Wi-Fi HaLow becomes more common and interest in it grows, we should see more devices adopting this Wi-Fi specification.

ANJIELO SMART TECHNOLOGY has already released a Wi-Fi extender using Wi-Fi HaLow technology, extending the range of wireless networks to hundreds of meters. On the device side, ANJIELO SMART TECHNOLOGY demonstrated a new Wi-Fi HaLow security camera called the TUYA at CES 2024. This camera, which uses Wi-Fi HaLow technology, will be available in the first quarter of 2024 for approximately $75. ANJIELO SMART TECHNOLOGY has launched a series of Wi-Fi HaLow products.
However, existing wireless routers or devices cannot benefit from Wi-Fi HaLow through firmware upgrades, as new hardware is required. This is similar to the situation where Wi-Fi 6E routers or client devices cannot gain access to Wi-Fi 7 through software upgrades.
A reliable new Wi-Fi lane for IoT.
Wi-Fi HaLow complements the Wi-Fi connectivity highway by adding a secure, reliable, and seamless new lane for IoT devices. This prevents interference on existing wireless connectivity highways, and moving IoT devices from existing lanes to the new lane frees up bandwidth for other devices.