Wi-Fi 7 Delivers New Benefits and Opportunities

Wi-Fi has been called the world’s most popular technology — and it’s winning even more admirers with the official launch of the seventh generation of the wireless networking standard.

The Wi-Fi 7 standard, also known as 802.11be Extremely High Throughput, has been finalized by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which began its official certification program for compatible equipment. Impressive improvements in speed, efficiency and capacity will support a variety of new use cases for data-intensive, real-time applications.

Here are eight key benefits of the new standard:

1. More Speed. A theoretical peak data rate of up to 46Gbps makes Wi-Fi 7 almost four times faster than Wi-Fi 6 and 6E and five times faster than Wi-Fi 5. That speed will support various bandwidth-intensive and time-sensitive applications such as augmented reality and virtual reality, 4K and 8K video streaming, telemedicine, financial services and industrial automation.
2. Improved Efficiency. Several enhancements contribute to higher aggregate throughput by improving efficiency. An advanced modulation technique called 4K QAM boosts spectrum utilization by incorporating more data into each transmission. The Multi-Link Operation (MLO) feature allows Wi-Fi devices to simultaneously send and receive data across different frequency bands and channels. Restricted Target Wake Time (rTWT) allows routers to reserve bandwidth for specific types of data traffic, ensuring that real-time data streams receive top priority.
3. Lower Latency. Wi-Fi 7 reduces latency to less than 5 milliseconds — an 86 percent improvement over Wi-Fi 6. The MLO feature contributes to that improvement by allowing simultaneous access across multiple bands. Another technique is the use of orthogonal frequency division multiple access (ODMFA) to reduce congestion and latency by transmitting smaller “resource units” of data to multiple clients simultaneously.
4. Increased Capacity. Spatial multiplexing technologies such as MIMO (multiple in, multiple out) and MU-MIMO (multiple-user MIMO) increase capacity by enabling multiple devices to share network resources. Wi-Fi 7 improves on that capability by supporting both downlink and uplink MU-MIMO. This doubles the MU-MIMO streams from eight to 16 and enables simultaneous transmissions in both directions.
5. Better Range. Wi-Fi 7’s signal range is more than 60 times that of Wi-Fi 6, largely due to advanced beamforming technologies. Beamforming focuses wireless transmissions toward a specific access point antenna instead of broadcasting them in all directions. The concentrated signal allows devices to maintain strong connections at greater distances from access points.
6. Wider Spectrum. Wi-Fi 7 can operate across the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz frequency bands. This enables Wi-Fi 7 devices to support more channels and wider bandwidths, leading to increased capacity, reduced latency and improved network efficiency. Additionally, Wi-Fi 7 devices can take advantage of the unique characteristics of each band — for example, the longer range of the 2.4GHz band or the higher capacity of the 6GHz band — to deliver optimal performance for a wide range of applications and use cases.
7. Enhanced Security. Wi-Fi 7 comes with upgraded security protocols and features. It supports WPA3, the latest version of the wireless security protocol with strong 192-bit encryption, robust authentication mechanisms and intrusion detection capabilities. It will also support WPA4 when that version is eventually ratified.
8. Backward Compatibility. Wi-Fi 7 is backward compatible with earlier versions, ensuring that new routers, access points and other gear will seamlessly integrate into existing networks. It also allows organizations to upgrade devices at their own pace without worrying about compatibility issues.

An upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 will drive increased efficiency and productivity, but you may need to make some network modifications to prepare. SageNet’s certified network consultants can assess your current environment and suggest enhancements to support the new standard. Contact us to learn more.