Key Takeaways
Wi-Fi 6 routers are backward compatible with previous generations of Wi-Fi client hardware. You can connect old devices to new networks.
You bought a brand-new router with Wi-Fi 6 but most of the gear in your house is Wi-Fi 5 or older. Can you still use the Wi-Fi 6 router with your old gear?
Wi-Fi Is Backwards Compatible
Your new router supports Wi-Fi 6, a bunch of your smart home gear, older tablets, and maybe even your smartphone if it's a bit long in the tooth, don't.
Fortunately for you, that doesn't matter. Unlike upgrading from one generation of a console to another or similar upgrades, upgrading Wi-Fi doesn't require you to buy all new accessories.
Current generation Wi-Fi routers are backward compatible with prior generations of Wi-Fi client hardware. Somewhere, buried deep in the mess that is my workshop, there's an old Wi-Fi 3 (802.11g) wireless adapter for the original Xbox game console.
I have no need to put it on my current Wi-Fi network, but if I was so inclined to do so there's nothing stopping me---and it would work just as well, if not better than it did back in the day on my old iconic black-and-blue Linksys WRT54GL router.
That's the beauty of the Wi-Fi standard, it's designed to maximize interoperability. While you might choose to stop using a really old device in order to use more current Wi-Fi security standards, there's no need to retire Wi-Fi 5 devices because you upgraded to a Wi-Fi 6 network.
Your Old Devices Won't Slow Things Down
In the early days of Wi-Fi, there was a widespread belief that using old Wi-Fi devices on a newer network would slow the whole thing down and tank performance. The worry was technically true overblown back then, and it's certainly nothing to worry about today.
If you have a Wi-Fi 5 or even Wi-Fi 4 device on your newer network, the only performance hit you will see is a performance for that device. It will be bottlenecked by the limitations of the generation of Wi-Fi hardware it uses.
If you happen to have a blazing-fast fiber connection with robust network infrastructure in your home, you will notice the bottleneck when conducting speed tests on older Wi-Fi gear. Realistically, you'll probably never notice the difference in performance under real-world conditions. Even Wi-Fi 4 hardware, for example, is more than fast enough to stream HD and even 4K content.
Practically speaking, you'll see little difference between using an old streaming stick that doesn't support Wi-Fi 6 and a new streaming stick that does, or a difference in any other similar application.
So don't sweat it! Enjoy your upgrade to a Wi-Fi 6 router. Even with older devices mixed in, you'll still enjoy better network management and better optimization, and as you add more Wi-Fi 6 devices to the network, you'll get the benefits of the updated network on an ongoing device-by-device basis.