WLAN Channel

An 802.11ac device making use of only the mandatory parameters (80 MHz bandwidth, 1 spatial stream, 64 QAM 5/6 with long guard interval) will be capable of a data rate of about 293 Mbps. A device that implements all optional parameters (160 MHz bandwidth, 8 spatial streams, 256QAM 5/6 with short guard interval) will be able to achieve over 6 Gbps.

First of all, 802.11ac includes an approved constellation mapping enhancement, specifically, optional 256QAM (3/4 and 5/6 coding rates) that can be used for both 802.11ac 80 MHz and 160 MHz transmissions.