Is Wi-Fi 6 fast enough? Apparently not, as the Wi-Fi Alliance has updated its official page for Wi-Fi Certified 7 (IEEE 802.11be), confirming that the next generation of wireless technology will be debuting very, very soon.
Here’s the word from the worldwide network of organizers behind Wi-Fi, which has promised Wi-Fi 7 will be available “before the end of Q1 2024,” with Wi-Fi 7 devices already entering the market today:
…Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 will facilitate worldwide interoperability and bring advanced Wi-Fi performance to the next era of connected devices. Enhancing wireless local-area network (WLAN) performance in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz bands, Wi-Fi 7 brings cutting-edge capabilities to enable innovations that require high throughput, lower latency, and greater reliability across home, enterprise, and industrial environments, including key applications like augmented, virtual, and extended reality (AR/VR/XR), immersive 3D training, and ultra-high definition video streaming.
The Wi-Fi Alliance goes on to show five key benefits that Wi-Fi 7 will introduce, including, not surprisingly, faster speeds:
- Higher throughput
- Improved support for deterministic latency
- Enhanced efficiency, even in dense networks
- Increased robustness and reliability
- Reduced power consumption
And here are the advanced features of Wi-Fi 7, per the Wi-Fi Alliance:
- 320 MHz superwide channels that are only available in 6 GHz provide twice the throughput of Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 6, enabling multigigabit Wi-Fi device speeds
- Multi-Link Operation (MLO) supports more efficient load balancing of traffic among links for increased throughput, lower latency, and enhanced reliability in AR/VR/XR and cloud computing
- 4K QAM achieves 20% higher transmission rates than Wi-Fi 6’s 1024 QAM for greater efficiency, enabling flawless high-definition video streaming and social cloud-based gaming without lag
“Wi-Fi 7 supports superior connectivity for emerging use cases with high levels of interactivity and immersion,” the group added. “As user demand for high capacity, low latency technologies like AR/VR/XR, cloud computing, and Industrial IoT grows across market segments, Wi-Fi 7 devices will deliver optimized performance, even in dense environments in the 2.4 and 5 GHz band. Countries with access to 6 GHz will experience the full scope of Wi-Fi 7’s unparalleled performance.”
Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax), which was standardized back in 2020, features a maximum link rate of up to 9,608 Mbits/s.