The crucial day has arrived, the day when Wi-Fi networks take a significant leap forward after several years of stagnation. Humanity requires ever-increasing speed for wireless data transfer, and undoubtedly, 5G and the upcoming 6G technologies, along with Wi-Fi, are the two options to consider. At CES 2024, the Wi-Fi Alliance, the global consortium of companies developing this standard, introduced Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7, or what we will now call Wi-Fi 7.
There are numerous and varied innovations that will undoubtedly mark a before and after, as the changes are more than substantial. The standard will set a truly impressive performance and will promote confidence in data speeds for businesses, institutions, and users.
Wi-Fi 7, the future standard that breaks all present barriers
The association that has created Wi-Fi 7 has summed up the most important points with a single statement: “Wi-Fi 7 will enable innovations based on high performance, deterministic latency, and increased reliability of critical traffic.”
Though it may seem more apocalyptic than anything else, the reality goes far beyond just sending and receiving data securely. The Wi-Fi Alliance has highlighted the following advanced features as the most relevant:
– 320 MHz Channels: Available in countries that make the 6 GHz band accessible for Wi-Fi, and where ultra-wide channels double the current widest channel size to enable multigigabit device speeds and high-performance.
– Multi-Link Operation (MLO): Allows devices to transmit and receive data simultaneously across multiple links to increase performance, reduce latency, and improve reliability.
– 4K QAM: Achieves 20% higher transmission speeds than 1024 QAM.
– 512 Compressed Block-Ack: Enhances efficiency and reduces overhead.
– Multiple RUs to a Single STA: Improves flexibility for spectrum resource scheduling to increase spectrum efficiency.
– Triggered Uplink Access: Optimizes the uplink access initiated by Wi-Fi 6 to accommodate latency-sensitive transmissions and meet QoS requirements.
– Emergency Preparedness Communication Services (EPCS): Provides smooth national security and emergency preparedness (NSEP) service experiences for users while maintaining priority and service quality on Wi-Fi access networks.
How much speed can Wi-Fi 7 achieve compared to Wi-Fi 6E?
Considering that the Wi-Fi 7 uses the IEEE 802.11be standard with 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands, as well as 320 MHz bandwidths, its capabilities are truly amazing.
We are talking about up to 2,400 Mbps per unit system (the so-called Single Link) as the maximum possible speed (2.4 Gbps), while in dual mode (Multi-Link), it doubles that figure to reach 5.8 Gbps. Finally, the Maximum Access Point Data Rates, which essentially add up all the available systems, reach a staggering 46 Gbps in the best-case scenario.
Of course, these speeds will vary depending on factors such as the provider, network card, SoC, range, and other variables, but in the best case, we are talking about 4.7 times the speed of today’s network hardware with Wi-Fi 6E.
In other words, all current mobile phones, routers, network cards, mesh nodes, etc., are now officially outdated. After four years of research and development, Wi-Fi 7 is a reality and will bring a new era of connectivity, speed, and latency to businesses, governments, and users.