With fast transmission speed and low latency, Wi-Fi 7 promises to appear on many tech devices in 2024.
On 8 Jan 2024, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced certification for Wi-Fi 7 compatible devices, the latest generation of wireless networks, after first introducing it two years ago.
Achieving certification means that Wi-Fi 7 supported devices can operate and interact stably. This means that in 2024, the market will welcome many smartphones, laptops, and routers that support this standard.
The Wi-Fi Alliance says that Wi-Fi 7 brings many benefits when streaming high-bandwidth content and playing low-latency games. According to The Verge, these criteria are very important as virtual reality platforms become more popular, and many people still communicate with friends and colleagues through online meeting apps.
Brands like Netgear, TP-Link, and Eero have introduced and sold Wi-Fi 7 routers in recent months. However, some models may not achieve certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance. This does not mean they are of poor quality, but achieving certification ensures stability and efficiency.
Wi-Fi 7 supports the 6 GHz band from the start. If the 2.4 GHz band can transmit signals further, the 6 GHz band transmits data faster.
In addition, Wi-Fi 7 operates on a 320 Hz frequency channel instead of 160 Hz like Wi-Fi 5, 6, or 6E. The theoretical maximum data rate of Wi-Fi 7 is 40 Gbps, more than three times the 9.6 Gbps of Wi-Fi 6.
This network standard also supports Multi-Link Operation (MLO) technology, flexibly using all bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz) and available channels to speed up connections and avoid high-noise bands.
Previous generations of Wi-Fi could only connect through one band. Users usually connect low-bandwidth devices via the 2.4 GHz band and switch to 5 GHz when using a laptop or smartphone.
With MLO, Wi-Fi 7 can find the best band to transmit data and intelligently switch between bands. This helps to utilize multiple bands simultaneously, reducing network latency.
However, not all Wi-Fi 7 routers support connecting all three bands simultaneously. Some cheaper models can only connect two bands at the same time. However, this is still a notable improvement compared to older Wi-Fi standards.
Wi-Fi 7 also has Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) technology, transmitting and receiving data via radio frequency waves, helping to increase the amount of data transmitted in the network system.
It is expected that more than 233 million Wi-Fi 7 supported devices will be shipped in 2024, and increase to 2.1 billion devices by 2028. Some companies will launch certified hardware such as Broadcom, Intel, MediaTek, and Qualcomm. According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi 7 devices are still backward compatible with previous Wi-Fi generations.