What is Wi-Fi 7?
TL;DR*:
- Faster speeds: about 3.6 times faster than Wi-Fi 6 on 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz
- Up to 40Gbps speeds
- Wider bandwidth, across multiple bands (MLO)
- Lower latency, even in congested environments
- Improvements to worst-case latency & jitter
* abbreviation: too long; didn’t read: used by the writer before a summary of lengthy text.
While for most Wi-Fi 6E is the new kid on the block, Wi-Fi 7 is already being designed, built and tested and is expected to make its big wireless debut at Mobile World Congress 2023 (with potentially the first Wi-Fi 7 phones)!
Wireless networking is everywhere. More than ever, Wi-Fi impacts our daily lives, at home, at the office, in schools, hospitals, sports stadiums, train stations, at factories, in cars.
A few Wi-Fi numbers from 20211:
- 4.2 billion devices were shipped
- 18 billion devices were in use, globally
- 2.2 billion Wi-Fi 6 devices were shipped
- 338 million Wi-Fi 6E devices were shipped
- 63% of mobile traffic was offloaded to Wi-Fi
- 540+ million global public access points
Wi-Fi had a projected economic value of over 3.3 trillion USD, expected to grow to 4.9 trillion USD by 2025.
A fair conclusion: we love our wi-fi, and it’s about to get even better, faster, stronger and more secure.
1 Source: Wi-Fi Alliance® and Telecom Advisory Services for Wi-Fi Alliance®
A brief history of Wi-Fi
| Wi-Fi 5 | Wi-Fi 6 | Wi-Fi 6E | Wi-Fi 7 | |
| Launch date | 2013 | 2019 | 2021 | 2024 (expected) |
| IEEE Standard | 802.11ac | 802.11ax | 802.11ax | 802.11be |
| Max data rate | 3.5 Gbps | 9.6 Gbps | 9.6 Gbps | 46 Gbps |
| Bands | 5 GHz | 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz | 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz | 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, 6 GHz |
| Channel size | 20, 40, 80, 80 + 80, 160 MHz | 20, 40, 80, 80 + 80, 160 MHz | 20, 40, 80, 80 + 80, 160 MHz | Up to 320 MHz |
| Spectrum interference mitigation | no | no | Preamble puncturing (optional) | Preamble puncturing (RU-based) |
| Modulation | 256-QAM OFDM | 1024-QAM OFDMA | 1024-QAM OFDMA | 4096-QAM OFDMA (with extensions) |
| MIMO | 4×4 MIMO DL MIMO | 8×8 UL/DL MU-MIMO | 8×8 UL/DL MU-MIMO | 16×16 UL/DL MU-MIMO |
| RU | no | RU (single per STA) | RU (single per STA) | Multi-RUs |
| Multi-link operation | no | no | no | yes |
New in Wi-Fi 7
Increase in speed, responsiveness and the explosion of connected devices demands high performance wireless access. Computing is shifting closer to the user, reshaping end-to-end network performance and latency requirements.
- Faster speeds: about 3.6 times faster than Wi-Fi 6 on 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz
- Up to 40Gbps speeds
- Wider bandwith, across multiple bands (MLO)
- Lower latency, even in congested environments
- Improvements to worst-case latency & jitter
- Enhanced privacy and security
Wi-Fi 7 is designed for general internet usage, live and streaming video, video conferencing, cloud applications, gaming, virtual reality and mixed reality, gaming, businesses, large buildings, factories, smart appliances and much more.
Wi-Fi 6 set the stage with capabilities achieving single-digit millisecond latency, and with the introduction of features like multi-link and 320 MHz channels in Wi-Fi 7, latency will be reduced even more!
Multi-link
Wi-Fi 7 introduces a unified framework to manage multiple links in a way that allows an optimized use of resources across multiple links, which results in:
- Throughput boost
- Latency improvement
- Increased reliability
- Traffic seperation/differentiation
Preamble puncturing
Significantly improves throughput in environment with interference by not transmitting power in occupied bands while still allowing wide channels to be partially used.
While optional and uncommon in Wi-Fi 6 – and limited to blocks of 20, 40 or 80 MHz – Wi-Fi 7 enhances this feature by allowing it at the RU-level. This allows for carving out thin slices of (interfered) spectrum.
Enhanced Qos Management
Wi-Fi 7 will introduce a QoS management framework to enable multiple applications with requirements of low worst case latency, jitter, reliability, priority.
Get ready for Wi-Fi 7!
Wi-Fi 7 Training
We offer comprehensive Wi-Fi 7 training, both virtual and in-person, public or private.
Discover our Wi-Fi 7 training →
Test your Wi-Fi 7 devices
Will your Wi-Fi 7 device deliver as advertised?
