According to a leaked document, it appears that Windows 10 users will not be able to access the best features of the latest Wi-Fi standard. Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) brings a number of improvements over its predecessor (802.11ax), most notably a doubling of bandwidth channels, and modulation. The leak via X user “chi11eddog” (via WccfTech) shows an Intel document that clearly indicates that only Windows 11, ChromeOS, and Linux users are getting support for Wi-Fi 7.
A document reveals Windows 10 doesn’t support Wi-Fi 7, due to lack of Windows 10 driver certified by Microsoft.
— chi11eddog (@g01d3nm4ng0) August 23, 2023
Qualcomm and MediaTek Wi-Fi 7 don’t support Windows 10 either. Microsoft limits Wi-Fi 7 to Windows 11 only? 🧐🧐🧐
GaP2/MtP2: Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200/BE202 pic.twitter.com/m5tIJoOI4O
Wi-Fi 7 looks to be a significant step up from Wi-Fi 6 so this could be a major blow for Windows 10 users. Perhaps a signed driver is in the works but so far it’s not looking good as major manufacturers have not announced anything on their side yet either. Meanwhile, Microsoft and Intel are working together to implement it in Windows 11 and Intel’s next Core Ultra platforms and Z790 chipset motherboards. Below are the official specifications (via Intel) versus the previous past two generations.
Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) Features
| Wi-Fi 5 ( 802.11ac) | Wi-Fi 6 ( 802.11ax) | Wi-Fi 6E ( 802.11ax) | Wi-Fi 7 ( 802.11be) | |
| Frequency | 5GHz | Dual-band (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz) | Tri-band (2.4, 5, 6 GHz) | Tri-band (2.4, 5, 6 GHz) |
| Bandwidth (Channels) | 20, 40 , 80, 80+80, 160MHz | 20, 40 , 80, 80+80, 160MHz | 20, 40 , 80, 80+80, 160MHz | 20, 40 , 80, 80+80, 160, 320MHz |
| Access (Multiplexing) | OFDM | OFDMA | OFDMA | OFDMA |
| Modulation | 254QAM | 1024QAM | 1024QAM | 4096 (4K) QAM |
| Antenna | DL MU-MIMO (4 x 4) | DL + UL MU-MIMO (8 x 8) | DL + UL MU-MIMO (8 x 8) | DL + UL MU-MIMO (8 x 8) |
| Security | WPA2 | WPA3 | WPA3 | WPA4 (TBD) |
| Key Innovations | 40MHz mandatory | TWT, BSS coloring, Beamforming | TWT, BSS coloring, Beamforming | Multi Link Operation (MLO), Multi-RU, Puncturing |
Intel is also said to be providing support for Wi-Fi 7 with its Gale Peak 2 BE200 discreet card and will be featured in its Killer 1750X controller that will also add Bluetooth 5.4.
Discussion (17 replies)
Join Discussion →Well windows 10 users won't give a crap because it's not like they will suddenly be running on hardware that supports Wi-Fi 7.
Unless I'm WAY off base and it's a software/firmware update.
Not hard to add USB WiFi adapters.
I'll honestly be a little surprised if someone doesn't manage to shoehorn the driver in somehow.
How many people actually need WiFi 7? Very few ISP's offer speeds that would utilize it. Even fewer people are going to have local network equipment to support making it useful. Outside of very niche enterprise environments where it would be useful.
I feel like we've gotten to the point where faster WiFi doesn't make sense.
While faster components that put the bottleneck someplace else is how we leapfrog our way into overall improvement - I do more or less agree with this.
I'd like to see the focus on range, power efficiency, channel depth, security, etc. over speed.
7 is up to 46 gbps. No one is going to be able to take advantage of that.
And, yeah, range is the concern. As they go up in frequency and bands you get less and less range and/or ability to pass through walls. Old B/C/G 2.4 Ghz is still the king of range.
I don't think we have any idea what the leaked image means about future driver support, especially without any additional context. Any one of us could probably make a better guess about it than WccfTech.
This is all about device density. Wifi hotspots are a hub. Bandwidth is divided by number of clients and their demand. So having more overall abdwidth is not about raw throughout but the user experience per client.
A 46gigbit pipe can feed 92 people 500megsbit of bandwidth. In an enterprise that's meaningful. Especially for big meetings or conference centers.
Agreed. And while it may be that Intel is only planning on making Windows 11 drivers, but there are a lot more chipset providers and third-party integrators out there than just Intel.
No one is going to take advantage of that... today. Give it 5+ years when devices have had a chance to permeate and other things advance, and we may all be laughing at how no one could ever possibly use more than 640k of RAM. Grim makes a good point about it being more about device density than top speed - and that is entirely true and I didn't think of it.
What drives me nuts about networking is the terminology — everything from the naming of communication standards to the insane number of abbreviations, acronyms, and initialisms. I bet that every word in the English language also exists as a networking acronym (or "initialism" for the nitpickers) if case sensitivity is ignored.
I just finished reading a network-related document — if anyone is wondering where that came from.
I totally get it. I remember being frustrated with how many came up every single week (more specifically acronyms) in every class I had. I used to tell my professors that was probably the hardest part of my classes and they laughed. To this day when I hear people complain about them I tell them that they have no idea what exists once you get past the first layer of IT networking.
Agreed but MS is well known for keeping features off an older OS when it's readying for a full switchover and we're about to enter the two-year countdown for 10.
[URL unfurl="true"]https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/lifecycle/products/windows-10-home-and-pro[/URL]
However, I do expect somebody to make some sort of patchwork driver to get it to work in the meantime. It'll probably be lacking something but give the majority of the functionality.
It will require some security override to install would be my guess - if Windows doesn't want to sign the driver as legit. That would be a pain in the rear but within the scope of possibility.
It would also be one more reason to finally jump ship to Linux.
I utterly DREAD the mass market embracing Linux. Good lord can you imagine being in IT security and responsible for patching BYOL setups running Linux... so many branched variants. Does Patch A apply to branch x?
Nightmare fuel.
To be honest, I think the same, if not worse, about Windows right now... so, yeah.