Everything you need to know about Wi-Fi 7

Over the past few decades, Wi-Fi has become the wireless networking technology of choice for small connected spaces around the world. Whether you want to set up a stable and fast wireless network in your home, office, coffee shop, or educational institution, Wi-Fi is the default best option. Previous generations of Wi-Fi still have some serious limitations compared to wired connections, but the technology has continued to evolve over time. The latest generations of Wi-Fi have been a huge step forward, expanding the capabilities, reliability, security, and speed levels of the connection standard.

As the next major version of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 7 will also bring a lot of practical improvements, including lower latency, faster data transmission speeds, better smart home compatibility, and an increase in the number of devices connected at the same time. So like every previous round of upgrades, let's sort out a few related questions: What is Wi-Fi 7? What new features does it bring? When will it be available? Should we upgrade?

What is Wi-Fi?

Let’s start with a basic definition. Wi-Fi stands for Wireless Fidelity, a brand name for a communications standard developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). This organization is responsible for deciding what will be included in each generation of Wi-Fi technology. As a consumer-facing brand name, Wi-Fi actually corresponds to the IEEE 802.11 communications standard. Each major revision of IEEE 802.11 is indicated by adding a suffix to the official name, and ordinary consumers just need to know that the upgraded result is still called "Wi-Fi". Only Wi-Fi 7 is a bit of an exception this time, and the IEEE added an adjective: IEEE 802.11be Extremely High Throughput (EHT, extremely high throughput).

Wi-Fi is usually used as a local area network, and is mainly connected to the Internet through a fixed network, with the connection channel allocated to each device. The data transmission is realized by an access point, and the most common solution is the router that everyone knows. In order to access Wi-Fi and access the Internet, each networked device needs to have its own built-in Wi-Fi receiver.

Wi-Fi can provide two operating frequency bands: 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. 2.4 GHz is the default frequency band, which supports a wider range and covers a larger area, but has a lower transmission speed. 5 GHz has a smaller coverage range but a faster transmission speed. Starting with Wi-Fi 6E, the 6 GHz band has also been included in the scope of Wi-Fi use.

The Evolution of Wi-Fi

Wi-Fi has evolved over the years to the version we use today. There have been many generations of Wi-Fi technology standards since it was first standardized in the 1990s. The first official version of Wi-Fi was released in 1997 and was named IEEE 802.11-1997. This version was very basic and had many interoperability issues. The maximum theoretical transmission speed was only 2 Mbps, and the actual performance was even lower.

In 1999, Wi-Fi received a new revision with two new standards. IEEE 802.11b was still based on the 2.4 GHz band and had a maximum transfer rate of 11 Mbps; IEEE 802.11a used the 5 GHz band and had a maximum transfer rate of 54 Mbps. Modern Wi-Fi routers and devices still support both 11b and 11a. The next version was 11g in 2003, which brought the data transfer rate of 2.4 GHz to 54 Mbps.

The next version, IEEE 802.11n, now known as Wi-Fi 4m, was a major revision introduced in 2009, also supporting 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, with data rates up to 600 Mbps. It was followed by 11ac, a pure 5 GHz standard, which was named Wi-Fi 5 with data rates up to 6.8 Gbps.

The next step in the evolution is 11ax, which itself corresponds to two revisions. Version one is Wi-Fi 6, which supports both 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz bands at launch, with transmission rates up to 9.6 Gbps. The second is Wi-Fi 6E, which was launched in 2020 and added support for the 6 GHz band to the standard, while also bringing a host of other features that laid the foundation for Wi-Fi 7.

What is Wi-Fi 7? What new features does it have?

The next revision of the 802.11 IEEE standard is IEEE 802.11be EHT, also known as Wi-Fi 7. The EHT here refers to the upcoming ultra-high-speed transmission standard.

The 6 GHz band is a new feature of Wi-Fi 6E, and Wi-Fi 7 will focus on making full use of the new band. Wi-Fi 7 doubles the transmission bandwidth of the 6 GHz band, increasing its potential rate to 46.1 Gbps, which is undoubtedly a huge leap. The implementation principle is actually to use two adjacent 5 GHz and 6 GHz band channels at the same time.

Wi-Fi 6E is a transitional generation, while Wi-Fi 7 is a full-blown generation with improved usability. IEEE also discussed how the next version of Wi-Fi can reduce latency while increasing transmission bandwidth. The Wi-Fi 7 standard has not yet been finalized, so there will definitely be some changes between the current draft and the actual release.

Multi-Link Operation (MLO)

Multi-link operation (MLO) is currently a proposed feature, and if it makes it into the final standard, it will become a key improvement in the next generation of Wi-Fi. As mentioned earlier, Wi-Fi 7 operates on the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands. But so far, devices equipped with Wi-Fi receivers can only access one of these bands at a time. Therefore, when using a dual-band router, we will see two different Wi-Fi networks in the Wi-Fi list.

With multi-link operation, Wi-Fi 7 will allow users to establish multiple connections between their devices and access points (mostly routers) across all frequency bands. As TP-Link pointed out in a blog post, this will give users' devices faster access speeds and lower latency, making the connection quality closer to an online Ethernet connection. This concept of multiple connections is not new to Wi-Fi, but the attempt to access multiple links at the same time is expected to make MLO a game changer.

4K Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (4K-QAM)

Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) is an essential feature of the latest generation of Wi-Fi, which helps convert digital data packets into analog signals that can be converted by the access point. Wi-Fi uses radio waves to transmit data, and QAM changes the phase (timing) and amplitude of these waves, thereby making transmission more efficient.

"QAM" is also connected with a number, usually a multiple of 2, indicating how many signals it can superimpose. Wi-Fi 6 introduced 1024QAM, which means that QAM can superimpose 1024 signals at a time, thereby transmitting more data. The goal of Wi-Fi 7 is to superimpose 4096 signals at a time through 4KQAM, reaching 4 times the number of available signals in Wi-Fi 6. The TP-Link article pointed out that this will make the data transmission rate of Wi-Fi 7 20% higher than that of Wi-Fi 6.

Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC)

Since the 6 GHz band is still new to the Wi-FI standard, there are still many parts to be solved. 6 GHz is not exclusive to Wi-Fi, but has many other uses, including for federal agencies such as NASA. Considering the existence of "natives", 6 GHz is likely to be interfered with in Wi-Fi, which will affect the end-user experience. Therefore, automatic frequency adjustment (AFC) technology came into being.

AFC is a dedicated 6 GHz frequency modulation system. It first analyzes existing 6 GHz signals and antenna patterns, creates a shared database based on this, and then uses the information in it to avoid interference. According to RCSWireless, Wi-Fi will use low-power access points indoors and standard-power access points outdoors, the latter of which are more susceptible to interference. To this end, AFC uses algorithms to help Wi-Fi 7 obtain higher power to avoid interference, which also makes it a key technology to simplify the use of 6 GHz.

Wi-Fi 7 performance demonstrations and real-world speeds

We have discussed the features of Wi-Fi 7 from a purely theoretical perspective, but in the end, it is the performance in real life that matters the most. Wi-Fi 7 is still in its early stages of development, but we have already seen relevant performance demonstrations. Not long ago, Intel and Broadcom brought us a live Wi-Fi demonstration scene.

From the demonstration, a laptop equipped with an Intel Core processor achieved a stable transmission rate of 5 Gbps after connecting to a Broadcom access point, which is 5 times the transmission capacity of the previous Wi-Fi 6. Since Wi-Fi 7 is still in the early stages of development, we are not sure whether the final rate can be maintained at this level. But as mentioned above, its maximum theoretical limit is as high as 46.1 Gbps. Although the transmission effect in the real world is bound to be discounted, it is still very likely that the full version will achieve a throughput of 30 to 40 Gbps.

Wi-Fi 7 vs Wi-Fi 6E vs Wi-Fi 6

Although both Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 use the 6 GHz frequency band, there are still many significant differences between the two. First of all, Wi-Fi 6E is actually a transitional generation, while Wi-Fi 7 is a brand new generation with a comprehensive leap. Compared with the theoretical transmission rate limit of Wi-Fi 6E of only 9.6 Gbps, Wi-Fi 7's 46.1 Gbps is a complete crush. In addition, Wi-Fi 6E only supports 1024QAM, while Wi-Fi 7 supports 4KQAM, which is 4 times the former.

There are many similarities between Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, the most obvious of which is that both have a maximum transmission bandwidth of 9.6 Gbps. Wi-Fi 6E uses the 6 GHz frequency band, but due to the lack of supporting functions, it cannot increase the bandwidth further. Wi-Fi 7 can significantly improve the transmission level through multi-link operation.

Wi-Fi 7 also increases the channel bandwidth from 160 MHz in Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E to 320 MHz. To explain, the Wi-Fi standard supports multiple frequency bands, such as the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz mentioned above, and different frequency bands have multiple bandwidths, such as 20 MHz in the 2.4 GHz band and 40/80 MHz in the 5 GHz band. Wi-Fi 7 expands the channel bandwidth to 320 MHz, which means more data can be transmitted.

These features of Wi-Fi 7 not only achieve all-round improvements in speed, latency and device support, bringing a better wireless Internet experience, but also make Wi-Fi 7 a more powerful smart home local network that surpasses Wi-Fi 6/6E.

When will Wi-Fi 7 be available?

Wi-Fi 7 is still under development, so different sources give different release dates. However, considering that there are only a limited number of devices on the market that support Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, I'm afraid Wi-Fi 7 will not and does not need to come too early.

The Times of India reported that Eric McLaughlin, vice president of Intel's wireless solutions, once said that the company will support Wi-Fi 7 in its products from 2024, so the actual market launch time may be in 2025. As for the earliest devices, they may be launched in 2023, but the first batch of products may not be able to fully realize the potential promised by Wi-Fi 7, after all, they have been launched before the official release of the standard. Qualcomm has already announced the FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 platform, and it is expected that more Wi-Fi 7 devices will be available before the official standard is implemented.

Of course, these devices won’t work until the IEEE finalizes the Wi-Fi 7 standard, which is slated for 2024, so reasonably priced and usable Wi-Fi 7 hardware won’t be available in most major markets until late 2025 to early 2026.

Should we upgrade to Wi-Fi 7?

There is still some time before the release of Wi-Fi 7, but the news has already caused a sensation in the market. You may want to know whether or when you need to upgrade your hardware. In fact, most users are already very satisfied with the existing Wi-Fi facilities, so there is no need to rush to upgrade. And when Wi-Fi 7 arrives, the upgrade fee must be high. Therefore, it is not meaningful to rush to try it out, unless you have industrial-scale operation scenarios, smart home usage conditions, or the real demand for ultra-high-speed Internet access experience.

For the rest of you, you may as well let it go and wait for Wi-Fi 7 to gradually become the current standard in the market. By then, all kinds of devices will naturally upgrade to the Wi-Fi 7 standard. At that time, it will be more scientific and wise to fully update Wi-Fi devices.

Therefore, unless there is a clear and urgent need, there is no need to upgrade existing wireless devices before Wi-Fi 7 is officially released. For the time being, Wi-Fi 6 and 6E are obviously more stable and reliable upgrade directions. Let us wait for the arrival of Wi-Fi 7 and enjoy the wonderful experience brought by another round of technological iteration.