What is WiFi 7? (The latest WiFi standard)

WiFi 7 is already here and ready for early-adopters. TP-Link has released a line of WiFi 7-enabled routers starting at $600. Currently, these products are on store shelves, but they are largely marketed to hardware enthusiasts. Most devices in homes and available for sale today aren’t WiFi 7-compatible so consumers cannot reap the benefits of this latest technology. 
 
Moreover, although the WiFi 7 standards may be developed, many enterprises are still catching up with the rapid pace of Wi-Fi development. Research shows 41% of the respondents in the WBA Annual Industry Report 2024 plan to deploy “WiFi 6 or WiFi 6e as their next wireless investment.’
 
However, we will see affordable consumer WiFi 7-enabled hardware, as companies like Microsoft, Intel, Apple and other giants build WiFi 7 capabilities into their products and encourage mass adoption. Expect to see more phones, laptops, smart devices and routers supporting WiFi 7 in the near future.

WiFi 7’s specific advancements make it well-suited for modern digital life and both new and developing technology. Here are some of the specific advantages of WiFi 7 compared to previous generations.

WiFi 7 supports channel widths up to 320 MHz, double WiFi 6’s 160 MHz.

WiFi 7’s advanced QAM modulation improves data encoding, increasing throughput by 20% compared to Wi-Fi 6/6e​​​​.

WiFi 7 enables simultaneous data transmission over multiple frequency bands, like 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz.
 

Altogether, the combination of larger channel width, advanced modulation and MLO improve data transmission. This enables applications that demand high throughput and low latency, such as immersive 3D training, HD and 4K video streaming, massive online multiplayer gaming and large-scale virtual and in-person events.

Over previous generations of WiFi – namely WiFi 6e, WiFi 6, and WiFi 5 – WiFi 7 is more powerful overall. Let’s take a closer look at some of WiFi 7’s technical specifications.

WiFi 7 offers speeds up to 46 Gbps, compared to 9.6 Gbps in WiFi 6 and 6e, and 3.5 Gbps in WiFi 5.

WiFi 7 can use different frequency bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz) simultaneously, compared to previous generations like WiFi 5, which only could only use a single frequency band.

WiFi 7 supports channels up to 320 MHz wide, doubling the 160 MHz max of WiFi 6 and 6e. WiFi 6 and WiFi 6e introduced 160 MHz channels, which were a step up from the 80 MHz maximum of WiFi 5.

WiFi 7’s 4096-QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) improves pre-existing QAM technology used in WiFi 6 and 6e, packing more data into each transmission and boosting speeds.

WiFi 7’s enhanced MIMO capabilities (16 spatial streams) can handle more simultaneous connections and higher aggregate data rates. WiFi 6 and WiFi 6e support up to 8×8 MU-MIMO (8 spatial streams), which was an improvement over the 4×4 MIMO configurations of WiFi 5.

WiFi 7 brings new features to enhance wireless network performance, efficiency, and reliability, setting it even further apart from previous WiFi standards.
 
Let’s take a closer look at some of the features.

MLO allows devices to simultaneously send and receive data across different frequency bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz) and switch between them, improving throughput, reducing latency and enhancing reliability.

With WiFi 7, a single user can leverage multiple Resource Units (RUs), depending on their needs. By using multiple RUs, a user can more precisely manage their bandwidth allocation, giving just enough resources to a specific device based on its requirements.

WiFi 7 also includes cross-wake-up signaling to assist in power-saving, which allows devices to monitor links, even in idle mode, and use power more efficiently.

This feature enables WiFi transmission to maximize its use of the spectrum by avoiding highly congested channels, or subchannels with interference. Preamble puncturing maintains high transmission speeds and quality in environments with significant interference.

WiFi 7 is the fastest WiFi standard yet.
 
Theoretically, WiFi 7 enables devices to transmit data over the 2.4, 5, and 6GHz wireless frequency bands at speeds of up to 46 Gbps. However, devices available to the general public are limited by the physical layer (PHY) specifications, which are the standard for modulating and receiving transmissions of WiFi.
 
In an ideal setting, WiFi 7 can reach speeds of about 4.8 Gbps. Early adopters of WiFi 7 have taken to Reddit, showing their speed tests reaching 3.8 Gbps in real time.
 
However, these speeds are dependent on many factors, such as channel configuration, spectrum and range. Your actual speed experience may vary due to network congestion, device performance and the quality of your WiFi connection.

WiFi technology is constantly evolving and the IEEE is already planning for future developments of WiFi 8. Known as 802.11bn, WiFi 8 aims to enhance multi-access point (AP) coordination and build upon the multi-link operations introduced in WiFi 7.
 
Though WiFi as a technology is reaching incredible levels of speed, WiFi 8 will also focus on Ultra High Reliability (UHR), which is crucial for technologies that rely on consistent and dependable wireless communication like robotic-assisted surgeries or autonomous vehicles.
 
While WiFi 7 significantly increased data rates, WiFi 8 is set to revolutionize the stability and efficiency of wireless connections.

Compared to older WiFi standards, WiFi 7 offers the best speed and connectivity developed yet. However, WiFi 7 hardware and software are still in development and adoption of the technology may take some time.

For homes with many users, devices and connected IoT gadgets, WiFi 7 will provide the fastest speed possible.

Because of WiFi 7’s gigabit speeds, simultaneous 4K video streams, online gaming, large file downloads, data transfers, remote work and school all become effortless tasks. With the right ISP, hardware configuration and software access, WiFi 7 is certainly worth it.

However, to be an early adopter of WiFi 7, you will have to pay a high price to reap the rewards. At the moment, the technology is for WiFi enthusiasts or the curious few who want to own the newest WiFi networking systems.

If you’re on an older generation of WiFi and you experience a surge in users and devices, want to expand your network or access Gig+ speeds, consider upgrading to WiFi 6. It’s an established, affordable solution that will improve your home WiFi network overall.

No matter your WiFi version or set up, understand your internet needs first and choose the right ISP.