What is Wi-Fi 7?

The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) announced in November 2020 that Wi-Fi 6 is ready for a global rollout after five successful trial deployments. In these tests, Wi-Fi 6 delivered nearly three times the multi-gigabit speeds of its predecessor, Wi-Fi 5, with up to 9.6Gb/sec versus 3.5Gb/sec. Wi-Fi 6 was also found to be more reliable, with lower latency and improved network efficiency.

This year, Wi-Fi 6 chipsets are expected to reach 1.5 billion, and the technology is also widely adopted by major smartphone brands such as Samsung, Huawei and Apple.

As homes and businesses begin to adopt Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, we decided to take a look at what the wireless industry has in store for the next generation of wireless technology.

Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi 7, also known as IEEE 802.11be, is the next generation of wireless technology standard; it is an extremely high throughput wireless network that uses the 2.4Ghz, 5Ghz, and 6Ghz frequency bands. It is designed to reduce latency, increase speeds for all devices, and support large numbers of users.

Wi-Fi 7 will finally deliver faster speeds to more devices, for longer. It will operate on three frequency bands, up from just two in Wi-Fi 6, and support transfer rates of up to 30Gb/sec, a huge leap from the current target bit rate of 9.6Gb/sec for Wi-Fi 6E.

Proposed features for Wi-Fi 7 include the ability to support 320MHz transmissions, double what Wi-Fi 6 supports. This will improve speeds and throughput for many devices, and users should also find less interference between gadgets, which is important when multiple nearby devices are trying to connect to the same network.

The technology also hopes to take on latency and will ensure that more data requests can be made without delay. One technology it is looking to develop is multi-link operation (MLO), which allows devices to maintain a large number of online connections across different frequency bands at the same time.

Wi-Fi 7 also increases the number of spatial streams from 8 to 16, doubling the theoretical transfer rate. With more data streams, it can also support distributed multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology, which helps provide a high-quality indoor 5G experience.

16 data streams can be transmitted simultaneously by different access points, so multiple access points can coordinate with each other. Currently, there is not much access point coordination. However, according to Huawei, this feature is designed to optimize channel selection and adjust the load between access points to achieve efficient use and balanced distribution of wireless resources.

Wi-Fi 7 itself won’t change your broadband speeds, though, so the fullest benefits will be on hold until your internet service provider (ISP) offers a better plan. There’s also not much demand in homes across the country for the top speeds that Wi-Fi 7 is likely to offer. You’re likely to notice a difference with Wi-Fi 7 in the workplace or while traveling, as offices are more likely to need faster speeds for business purposes, like streaming and processing large amounts of data.

What are the key use cases for Wi-Fi 7?

Thanks to its massive speed increase and lower latency, there are a lot of use cases for Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 7 routers. Streaming will get a big boost, with 8K content likely to gain more traction, as will fast and seamless 4K video conferencing. Online gaming will also see less latency, while greater bandwidth will facilitate advances in cloud gaming.

Wi-Fi 7 will also benefit from integration with cloud and edge computing networks, industrial Internet of Things (IoT) systems, immersive augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR), and real-time collaboration.

When is the release date for Wi-Fi 7?

The IEEE is expected to release the 802.11ebe amendment in 2024, at which point we may see commercial deployments. After that, the Wi-Fi Alliance should release its Wi-Fi 7 certification program to outline security standards and ensure interoperability. Meanwhile, semiconductor company MediaTek claims that Wi-Fi 7 hardware is expected to be available as early as 2023.

Does Wi-Fi 7 mean the end of Wi-Fi 6?

Wi-Fi 6 is still being rolled out, so it won’t be abandoned anytime soon, just as Wi-Fi 5 devices will remain common for months and years to come. Wi-Fi 7 is still in the early stages of development, and many of its purported innovations still need refinement. While there’s no clear-cut description of what we can expect from Wi-Fi 7, we more or less know what researchers are aiming to develop.

As for Wi-Fi 6, it will likely be around for a while. Internet speeds will need to be pretty fast to accommodate the new technology, and since Wi-Fi 6 is ahead in development and implementation, it has a clear advantage.