What Are The Highlights Of The Upcoming WiFi 7?

In the technology, digital and electrical appliance industries, there are always “unknown” organizations. You may not know who they are or what they discuss at each meeting. However, the results of their discussions will affect your digital life in another way, such as the USB Developer Forum, which is responsible for giving the USB standard an awkward name, the HDMI Alliance, which adds water to the HDMI 2.1 standard and allows TV brands to make up for it, and the HDMI Alliance, which will The Wi-Fi Alliance that affects your future Wi-Fi speed. Some time ago, the Wi-Fi Alliance issued an announcement stating that it would participate in the CES 2024 Consumer Electronics Show and confirmed that the Wi-Fi 7 certification standard based on IEEE 802.11.BE will be officially launched before the end of the first quarter. So what exactly is this Wi-Fi 7?

As the latest Wi-Fi standard, one of the most notable features of Wi-Fi 7 is its high-speed transmission capability. The technology is expected to support a maximum speed of 30Gbps, which is more than three times the speed of Wi-Fi 6. This is due to more efficient data encoding technology and wider spectrum bandwidth. Wi-Fi 7 supports 320MHz frequency band width, which is significantly improved compared to Wi-Fi 6’s 160MHz. This means more data can be transmitted at the same time, greatly reducing network congestion and latency.

Secondly, Wi-Fi 7 introduces multi-link operation (Multi-Link Operation, MLO, DMLO) technology. This technology allows devices to operate on multiple frequency bands (such as 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz) simultaneously, enhancing network reliability and flexibility. For example, if one frequency band is interfered with or congested, wireless devices on that band can seamlessly switch to another band, ensuring a stable and smooth data connection.

In addition, Wi-Fi 7 also includes more advanced modulation technologies, such as 4096-QAM. This technology can transmit more data in the same radio waves, further improving the efficiency and throughput of the network. The low latency characteristics of Wi-Fi 7 can also provide a smoother and more responsive user experience. To put it simply, Wi-Fi 7 not only focuses its technology on speed, but also makes special optimizations for wireless signal anti-interference. Although this does not fundamentally solve the problem of Wi-Fi signal attenuation through walls, in an era of Internet of Everything with more and more wireless devices, Wi-Fi 7 does have its own unique features.

What is the use of MLO? Will there be any negative effects?

MLO can solve the so-called "Wi-Fi congestion" and "Wi-Fi band occupation" problems to a certain extent, but MLO and its "front-end technology" multi-frequency integration do have negative effects in certain circumstances.In the planning of Wi-Fi 7, MLO is mainly used to improve the performance and reliability of wireless networks. It allows devices to operate on multiple frequency bands (such as 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz) simultaneously, increasing the efficiency and speed of data transmission. Through MLO, equipment can handle network congestion or frequency band interference problems more flexibly. If there is a problem with one frequency band, the device can seamlessly switch to another frequency band to maintain a stable connection. But on the other hand, MLO requires a more intelligent network management system to effectively allocate frequency band resources. If the router configuration is too poor, frequent "frequency hopping" may cause network unavailability. In addition, some smart home devices usually only support 2.4GHz networks, and may not be able to match when Wi-Fi is turned on MLO.

Without 6GHz, Wi-Fi 7 speed advantage is no longer available?

Uncertain. Even without the 6GHz band, Wi-Fi 7 still offers significant speed advantages. Wi-Fi 7 doesn't just rely on the 6GHz band, it also improves the performance of the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands by introducing more advanced technologies. First of all, Wi-Fi 7 adopts more efficient data encoding technology, such as the 4096-QAM encoding format just mentioned, which greatly improves the speed and efficiency of data transmission. Secondly, Wi-Fi 7 supports wider channel bandwidth, enabling higher data throughput even in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequency bands.

In addition, the addition of MLO technology means that even without 6GHz support, the router can "clear" a clean, unoccupied channel for Wi-Fi 6 devices, making more efficient use of existing frequency bands to improve network performance. Overall performance. Therefore, although the 6GHz band provides additional channel resources and greater bandwidth for Wi-Fi 7, the speed advantage of Wi-Fi 7 does not entirely rely on this. Even in environments where only 2.4GHz and 5GHz can be used, Wi-Fi 7 can still provide higher speeds and better performance than Wi-Fi 6.

What does Wi-Fi 7 mean for the average consumer and enterprise user?

Compared with Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 network is faster, more stable, and more secure. For ordinary consumers, the high speed and low latency characteristics of Wi-Fi 7 will greatly improve the wireless experience of the home internal network (the part behind the optical modem), including 8K wireless live broadcast, high-speed wireless download and even wireless VR streaming. will become possible. In addition, the high capacity and stability of Wi-Fi 7 can also ensure that the home network can still maintain stability when multiple devices are used at the same time, which is more friendly to smart home users. For enterprise users, Wi-Fi 7's high-speed data transmission capabilities can change the way files are transferred and shared within the company. The low-latency feature also makes real-time collaboration and remote meetings more convenient. In industrial environments, Wi-Fi 7 can support more complex robots and automation systems to improve production efficiency. In addition, for places that require high-density network connections, such as conference centers or stadiums, improvements in Wi-Fi 7 will bring a more reliable network experience.

How to use Wi-Fi 7?

If the hardware supports it, wait for the corresponding system update to enable Wi-Fi 7. If the device does not support Wi-Fi 7, Wi-Fi 6 devices can also "passively" experience some Wi-Fi 7 network features under certain circumstances. Considering that Wi-Fi 7 is a brand new standard, there are not many devices on the market that support the Wi-Fi 7 standard at this stage. In addition to the new Wi-Fi 7 products on sale on the e-commerce platform, Xiaomi said that three products, BE7000, BE6500 Pro, and Xiaomi 10G router, will support Wi-Fi 7 networks. Xiaomi 13 series, Xiaomi 14 series, and Xiaomi MIX Fold 3 Both support Wi-Fi 7 networks. Of course, with Xiaomi's promotion, it is foreseeable that more and more flagship mobile phones produced in China will support Wi-Fi 7 networks. While most Wi-Fi 7 devices actively use technology MLO to "avoid" Wi-Fi 6 devices, even the old standard Wi-Fi 6 can passively enjoy the improvements brought by Wi-Fi 7. This is a blessing among misfortunes for Xiao Lei, who is still using an old iPhone that does not support 160MHz.

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