{"id":36747,"date":"2024-01-08T17:34:23","date_gmt":"2024-01-08T17:34:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/?p=36747"},"modified":"2024-01-08T17:42:36","modified_gmt":"2024-01-08T17:42:36","slug":"wi-fi-alliance-officially-certifies-kit-for-new-wi-fi-7-standard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ispreview.co.uk\/index.php\/2024\/01\/wi-fi-alliance-officially-certifies-kit-for-new-wi-fi-7-standard.html","title":{"rendered":"Wi-Fi Alliance Officially Certifies Kit for New Wi-Fi 7 Standard"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Wi-Fi Alliance<\/a> has today official begun certification for the next generation of Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) capable wireless networking devices. The new Wi-Fi 7 standard is expected to “see rapid adoption<\/em>“, with more than 233 million devices predicted to enter the market in 2024 alone. Just don’t expect to see those dizzy speed claims of 46Gbps in the real-world.<\/p>\n

At present most UK consumers have yet to even adopt kit that supports the current Wi-Fi 6E<\/a><\/strong> standard (i.e. 802.11ax with support for the 6GHz band), which is to say nothing of the Wi-Fi 6 Release 2<\/strong><\/a> (some additional enhancements) standard that is even further behind in the adoption cycle. But that hasn\u2019t stopped the rapid development of Wi-Fi 7<\/strong> (802.11be \u2013 Extremely High Throughput) technology (example<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In theory, the new standard might be able to achieve a theoretical peak data speed of around 40-46Gbps (Gigabits per second) in your local network, but history tells us that real-world experiences will probably fall considerably below that level (real-world peaks of 5-6Gbps are more realistic) \u2013 due to various factors like distance from access point, signal obstructions, power levels, spectrum allocations, antenna design and interference from other networks.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, shifting Wi-Fi 7 into certification marks the start of major market adoption (credits to The Wee Bear for spotting<\/a>), with many companies appearing to skip some of Wi-Fi 6’s evolutions in favour of a jump directly to Wi-Fi 7. The new standard naturally includes many useful enhancements, which helps to explain the attraction.<\/p>\n

Key Wi-Fi 7 Advancements<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u27a4 Multi-Link Operation (MLO) that enables devices to both simultaneously transmit and receive across different bands (2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz) and channels. Wi-Fi 6 could already harness several links simultaneously, but these links are usually independent, and MLO seeks to change that in order to make efficient use of the channel resources.<\/p>\n

\u27a4 Channel size of up to 320MHz (up from 160MHz with Wi-Fi 6)<\/p>\n

\u27a4 Support for 4096-QAM (Quadrature amplitude modulation) OFDMA (up from 1024-QAM)<\/p>\n

\u27a4 Support for 16\u00d716 Multi-User, Multiple-input, Multiple-output (MU-MIMO) technology (up from 8xX UL\/DL MU-MIMO).<\/p>\n

\u27a4 512 Compressed block-ack: improves efficiency and reduces overhead<\/p>\n

\u27a4 Multiple RUs to a single STA: improves \ufb02exibility for spectrum resource scheduling to enhance spectrum efficiency<\/p>\n

\u27a4 Triggered Uplink Access: optimizes Wi-Fi 6 defined triggered uplink access to accommodate latency sensitive streams and satisfy QoS requirements<\/p>\n

\u27a4 Emergency Preparedness Communication Services (EPCS): provides a seamless National Security & Emergency Preparedness (NSEP) service experience to users while maintaining the priority and quality of service in Wi-Fi access networks<\/p>\n

NOTE:<\/strong> Wi-Fi 7 could also enable the use of additional spectrum bands between the 1Ghz and 7GHz+ range, but that will very much depend upon future availability and regulation of such bands. For now it’s limited to the same bands as Wi-Fi 6E (2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Companies including Broadcom, CommScope RUCKUS Networks, Intel, MaxLinear, MediaTek, and Qualcomm form the test bed for certification and are home to some of the first Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 devices and chipsets.<\/p>\n

Kevin Robinson, President and CEO, Wi-Fi Alliance, said:<\/strong><\/p>\n

“The introduction of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 marks the emergence of the latest generation of Wi-Fi and will be an accelerant to mass adoption of Wi-Fi 7. This certification underscores our relentless commitment to delivering cutting-edge technology that redefines the way users experience Wi-Fi, providing faster speeds, improved efficiency, and increased reliability which expand the horizons of what is possible through Wi-Fi.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In terms of adoption within the UK, particularly among broadband ISPs, we’re already expecting to see early WiFi<\/a> 7 capable routers from EE<\/a> (BT<\/a>) sometime during the first half of 2024 (here<\/a>) and YouFibre<\/a> (Netomnia<\/a>) have hinted to ISPreview that they may do a WiFi<\/a> 7 router before even that. The latter would make perfect sense given the existence of their 7-8Gbps FTTP<\/a> broadband plans. No doubt other ISPs will follow suit before the year is out.<\/p>\n

However, the usual caveats apply to the new standard, which means that you won’t gain any benefit from Wi-Fi 7 in the home until both your router and any connected devices can harness the new standard. The first generation of Wi-Fi 7 capable routers and devices are also likely to be extremely expensive and power hungry, although over time the chipsets do tend to improve, and it will quickly find its way into more efficient and affordable forms.<\/p>\n