WiFi 7 - 2023

Vendors like TP-Link and Netgear are pushing their WiFi 7 home systems HARD. In my opinion you should wait until the WiFi 7 standard is ratified -- in the mean time let's take a look at the proposed differences between WiFi 6 and WiFi 7.

Afflilate Links:

Affiliate Links (I earn a small percentage of the sale if you use these links):

Contact us for network consulting and best practices deployment today! We support all Grandstream, Synology, DrayTek, Obihai, Poly, Ubiquiti, MikroTik, Extreme, Palo Alto, and more!

Come back for the next video!
Twitter - @WillieHowe
TikTok - @whowe82

SUBSCRIBE! THUMBS-UP! Comment and Share!

[Moonraker]

Should have added a column for 6E and went from left to right in order...

[guyot]

And thanks for these updates. Need to keep an eye on the future.

[QuikTechSolutions]

Good video W! The real question here is when does it stop? Lol. When is enough, enough. We just keep feeding the beast.

[StevenLynn]

I typically don't upgrade access points until I have at least a couple devices with the new standard. I still have my Unifi AC-Pro connected to the network and accepting clients. Granted most the clients are IoT devices but even they are still clients.

[davidbopi]

Changing the RF and digital to add 320 MHz and 4k-QAM is largely done. With some fine-tuning IEEE EVM and sensitivity specs can be achieved and surpassed even. It's the MLO that is very challenging. IEEE defines a series of modes STR, NSTR, EMLSR, EMLMR which add A LOT of complexity in firmware both at PHY and MAC level. First, moving all this data around requires faster cores inside the chip, this often leads to substatntial architecture changes. Then, there are quite a few new IEs and frame types, association for multi-link devices (MLD) is much more complex. MLD devices now have traffic flowing in more than one link for the same logical stream which brings complexity to BlockAck logic. For EMLSR, radios have to be reconfigured from SISO+SISO->MIMO and back in tens of microseconds. Host kernel drivers have to support all this stuff so that client sees a single interface regardless of underlying links. These are just a few of the many changes that need to be implemented. In summary, silicon is ready which is why vendors are probably pushing, and then update firmware as features become available.

[LordSaliss]

I personally hate that companies are putting products out that are not the final spec yet. They did this with wifi 5/ac and 6 as well and it just led to multiple product generations of the spec. Manufacturers see this as a way to get more money because they keep releasing iterations, but it sucks for the end consumer that they get products with half-baked specs.

Also wish the starting spec for low end APs was 8x8 MU-MIMO, with high end devices having 12x12 and 16x16. Instead, I'm sure we will end up with the same low end APs having the same 2x2 still 😠

[TirfAlexius]

Good perspective! Will be purchasing some consulting time.

[markloughtonUK]

I love it when there are new spec items. All the fools rush out and buy it and then sell me the "older" spec for cheapness 😅

[Vchat]

Not so much excited for the home side of things (I think 6E kinda hits the sweet spot personally. 7 just feels like it is overkill unless you absolutely cannot run ethernet/MOCA) but I am curious what potential there may be for using this for PtP stuff. Having the multi-link functionality with 3 bands could be a nice alternative where some of the 60Ghz equipment may not be suitable for environmental reasons for example.

[xVertigo]

My phone is WIFI 6E capable, My pS5 is WIfi 5.


Rest of devices are mostly Wifi 5 with some wifi 4.

[Teh-Jones]

Wifi7? lol I just upgraded from 2 AC-HD's, 1 AC-Pro, and 1 AC IW to 4 U6-IW's at my house. Sure Wifi 7 sound cool, just don't see a use case for it in my house at the moment. As for work, we've been migrating to wifi6 Ap's and I could see some clients benefitting from wifi7 but the hardware and support aren't there like you mentioned. We're a while out...

[guyot]

Yup. Exciting news... for the future. Appreciate your caution on early adoption. Adoption of new standards before ratification and device availabilty has been going on since the dial-up modem days.

[timezonewall]

I certainly don't need it, I don't even have a strong use case for Wifi 6 at this time. All my higher BW devices are hardwired. My Wifi is used for home automation IOT (generally on 2.4ghz), smart speakers, phone and tablets, none of which push Wifi 5. The biggest benefit of Wifi 6e is less contention with neighbors by adding another band, but even in late 2023, most of the contention is on 2.4ghz, with 5ghz only seeing moderate usage at most.

I would like to see more done with 2.5gbps Ethernet, the offerings are slow in arriving and too expensive.

[jhippl]

The only thing I could see this being used for is if all you resources are local, unless the isp has the speed to match the wireless connection it’s a moot point. I run into small/med businesses that are saas or all cloud based with a 250meg connection and get sold that their “network” will be faster with new switches and aps but over half of their network comes pre bottlenecked

[Vyraxium]

I hope there's improvements for interference in areas that have too many Wi-Fi routers causing issues and interference for each other. Even with Wi-Fi 6e 6ghz or 5ghz my speeds are getting murdered and I can't benefit from wider channels. New devices new cables new routers new everything different everything nothing is fixing my issues. 🤷

[housesOTR]

I'm a wireless engineer and I see no ise case for this in 99.99% of people's networks.

[hudnix]

Aaaaand I just finished installing my home GrandStream wifi 6...

[Moonraker]

Wi-Fi 7 is supposed to be ratified in early 2024 (not later). It is likely that Wi-Fi 7 will not be widely available until late 2024 or early 2025..

[SteveMosetiAliyebarikiwa]

I remember back in 2021 we couldn't even get a hold of unifi products that were ac... These new standards are just money grabbing as much as we appreciate the benefits of higher speeds... Before we can even take advantage of WiFi 6 as is they're bragging about 7 🤦🏾‍♂️!

[Monsicek]

Me as sensitive person to EMF I am really not looking forward to this. Wider channels, more bands, more power... all wrong. Nobody gives a damn about health and possible side effects to exposure to EMF.