The final version of Wi-Fi 7, also known as 802.11be, is on track for approval by the IEEE Working Group in 2024. The router and chip maker is already pushing to produce Wi-Fi 7-enabled devices as early as 2023.
Given that Wi-Fi 6E routers have only recently been launched, it’s questionable whether the new standard will survive the hype around Wi-Fi 7 at CES 2023. The device leverages new technology to analyze exactly how Wi-Fi 7 works and whether a Wi-Fi 7 router actually benefits.
What is Wi-Fi7?
Currently, the Wi-Fi 7 standard does not officially exist. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is voting on which features to add to the final standard. But rather than wait for formal 802.11be compliance, most brands have already launched “Wi-Fi 7 products” that meet the association’s proposed candidate features.
This IEEE document (opens in new tab) Get an overview of all the proposed Wi-Fi 7 features. Here are some highlights.
320MHz bandwidth: The 320MHz standard is twice as wide as the 160MHz channels enabled by Wi-FI 6E, doubling the throughput a network can support. Compared to Wi-Fi 6, which is an IEEE estimate, Wi-Fi 7 can offer “4.8 times the nominal data rate.” This is the main advantage of Wi-Fi 7, Huge Boost everyone who is still using a Wi-Fi 5 router.
4K-QAM: Wi-Fi 7 reaches 4096-QAM (short for Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) compared to Wi-Fi 6 which is 1024-QAM. The higher the QAM, the faster the data transfer, but the shorter the range of the signal. So this standard is clearly an option and relies on beamforming to work.
MU-MIMO improvements: Multi-user, multiple-input, multiple-output (MU-MIMO) technology became popular with Wi-Fi 6, but Wi-Fi 7 will support more simultaneous streams. Wi-Fi 6 routers can reach up to 8 streams, while Wi-Fi 7 doubles that capacity to 16.
Multilink support: No matter how fast your router connection is, interference will always hurt your connection because your router and device are only connected on one channel. However, multilink operation allows for duplex connections, which IEEE claims is “beneficial for both tremendous data rates and very low latency.”
How fast is Wi-Fi 7?
By doubling both Wi-Fi 6’s bandwidth and MU-MIMO streams (reaching up to 9.6Gbps), and providing an additional 20% boost from 4K-QAM, Wi-Fi 7 In theory it can provide a speed of 4.8. Twice as high for up to 46Gbps. Even with the QAM factor removed for limits, Wi-Fi 7 routers still have a 40Gbps cap if the network supports it.
It really depends entirely on what routers come on the market and what speeds the chips inside the router can reach.
For example, TP-Link announced a range of Wi-Fi 7 routers coming in 2023, including the 33Gbps Deco BE95, 24Gbps Archer BE900, and 11Gbps Deco BE65-5G mesh routers. We’ll analyze their differences in this TP-Link roundup, which shows how Wi-Fi 7 routers benefit from back-end improvements, but specific ones like 5GHz and 6GHz. Bands vary in the speeds they can hit. To get the best performance, you should buy your most expensive router.
In December, Qualcomm announced its new Wi-Fi 7 platform. Its Networking Pro series hits 33Gbps, while the Immersive Home 3210 platform for routers sticks to 20Gbps and only uses 10 streams instead of maxing out. Supports Wi-Fi 7 for connectivity.
We spoke to Qualcomm about Wi-Fi 7 and they explained how the platform can help with older devices that aren’t compatible with Wi-Fi 7. A wider channel means that the network is less likely to be congested, even when many devices are connected to the router. In fact, according to Qualcomm, its latency is 75% lower than Wi-Fi 6E, a major game-changer for applications such as cloud gaming.
The aforementioned MLO support also plays a big role when using a Wi-Fi 7 mesh system. Qualcomm explained how the multilink mesh system turns the backhaul channel connecting mesh routers into his second high-speed channel. So, in the event of interference between the device and his one router, the network can redirect data to use his second unimpeded channel.
According to Qualcomm, the multilink mesh network will more than triple the capacity of the network and reduce latency on older devices. So you don’t have to start buying next-gen phones or TVs to take advantage of Wi-Fi 7 routers.
When will Wi-Fi 7 be available?
Many of the flagship cell phone and TV lineups will start including Wi-Fi 7 support in 2023, while others will stick with older standards such as Wi-Fi 6E. The question is, when will we be able to buy Wi-Fi 7 routers?
TP-Link is leading the way in this area. Most of the new Wi-Fi 7 routers will be available on March 15, 2023, and we look forward to testing them out. Among today’s best Wi-Fi routers, TP-Link claims some of the top spots. We’ve revealed the ROG Rapture GT-BE98 router, but we don’t know when it will be released.
Qualcomm shared many of its Wi-Fi 7 partners using the Immersive Home 3210 platform, including TP-Link, Linksys and Netgear. The latter two of him may release their own Wi-Fi 7 routers soon.
TP-Link has also partnered with MediaTek, which unveiled its own Wi-Fi 7 platform called Filogic 880 at CES 2023. According to the announcement, AMD, Lenovo, Hisense, and ASUS will also use the chip in their future products.
In other words, we should see an influx of Wi-Fi 7 devices released this year, many of which will be expensive first-generation devices. Some are more affordable, but they don’t take full advantage of Wi-Fi 7’s capabilities. As such, you should carefully check how much bandwidth your router can reach, how much data passes through a given bandwidth, and how many streams it offers.
