Wi-Fi 7 to get the final seal of approval early next year, new standard is up to 4.8 times faster than Wi-Fi 6

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Better later than never?

Wi-Fi 7
Wi-Fi 7 (Image credit: Shutterstock)

The Wi-Fi Alliance has announced that the Wi-Fi 7 specification will be finalized by the end of the first quarter, opening the doors to adopting standardized hardware by businesses and enterprises. 

"Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7, based on IEEE 802.11be technology, will be available before the end of Q1 2024," the Wi-Fi Alliance states. "Wi-Fi 7 devices are entering the market today, and Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 will facilitate worldwide interoperability and bring advanced Wi-Fi performance to the next era of connected devices."

Wi-Fi 7 is shaping up to be a big deal in wireless connections, offering speeds up to 40 Gbit/s. This could make it a strong alternative to traditional wired Ethernet for most people. It achieves these speeds using three frequency bands: 2.40 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz, using a channel width of 320 MHz and 4096-QAM. Furthermore, Wi-Fi 7 builds on what Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E started, including features like MU-MIMO and OFDMA to speed up connections. All told, this delivers up to a 4.8X improvement over Wi-Fi 6.

While numerous Wi-Fi 7-badged adapters for PCs and routers are on the market today, they follow the so-called 'draft' Wi-Fi 7 specification. This does not make them any worse on the consumer level, and most existing 'draft' devices will support the full standard after a firmware update. But for enterprises residing in fully crowded office buildings, fully ratified devices are a must because they must work over very specific frequencies. 

One of the wrinkles about the new technology is that the Wi-Fi Alliance is positioning them for AR/VR, which means direct wireless connections, which are hard to get in modern environments.

"Wi-Fi 7 supports superior connectivity for emerging use cases with high levels of interactivity and immersion," another statement by the Alliance reads. "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."

Anton Shilov
Anton Shilov
Contributing Writer

Anton Shilov is a contributing writer at Tom’s Hardware. Over the past couple of decades, he has covered everything from CPUs and GPUs to supercomputers and from modern process technologies and latest fab tools to high-tech industry trends.

29 Comments Comment from the forums
  • hotaru251
    So wi-fi-6 gonna be like 5g & get blocked by a piece of paper or your hand?
    Reply
  • jp7189
    hotaru251 said:
    So wi-fi-6 gonna be like 5g & get blocked by a piece of paper or your hand?
    From a penetration point of view, wifi7 isn't going to be any worse than previous generations as it can still make use of the 2.4GHz band. Even 5 and 6GHz bands aren't awful compared to 5G range 2 (24-52GHz) and wigig (60GHz) which pretty much require line of sight or close to it.
    Reply
  • SCP2000
    Isn't latency still a major deterrent for gamers? Or has the sentiment changed over the years? There's no logical reason for any desktop user who is serious about competitive gaming to use anything other than a hardwired connection. Maybe I'm in the minority here?
    Reply
  • usertests
    SCP2000 said:
    Isn't latency still a major deterrent for gamers? Or has the sentiment changed over the years? There's no logical reason for any desktop user who is serious about competitive gaming to use anything other than a hardwired connection. Maybe I'm in the minority here?
    The speed and latency improvements most obviously benefit wireless VR between a system and headset. For the PC gamer, if you're using a desktop on a desk, I don't see why you wouldn't use Ethernet for Internet connectivity. Even if this offers higher peak speeds, you will likely never see them.

    It sounds like it can use bands simultaneously and switch between them seamlessly. It will be much more reliable if implemented properly. Especially for things that move around a house like phones and laptops.
    Reply
  • JeffreyP55
    Admin said:
    There are a lot of 'draft' Wi-Fi 7 devices around, but 'Wi-Fi 7 Certified' devices will only come to market sometime next year.

    Wi-Fi 7 to get the final seal of approval early next year, new standard is up to 4.8 times faster than Wi-Fi 6 : Read more
    Thought 7 was due in 2024. I still prefer Ethernet for security and constant speeds. Wifi is a just in case. Smartphones? Don't care for them, meh. So you will have to upgrade yet once again to get the latest communications upgrade that I only use when I have to? Not bloody likely.
    Reply
  • Dementoss
    I live in rural England, it would be nice to able to have an internet connection fast enough, to make it worthwhile investing in WiFi 6. So, WiFi 7? Meh, whatever...
    Reply
  • Order 66
    SCP2000 said:
    Isn't latency still a major deterrent for gamers? Or has the sentiment changed over the years? There's no logical reason for any desktop user who is serious about competitive gaming to use anything other than a hardwired connection. Maybe I'm in the minority here?
    You are right, however, in my case, it is impractical for me to use ethernet as my router is across the room from my PC, so the lower the latency of WIFI the better. Even though for 99% of people, this means zero as WIFI 5 is still fast enough for the vast majority of people.
    Reply
  • helper800
    Order 66 said:
    You are right, however, in my case, it is impractical for me to use ethernet as my router is across the room from my PC, so the lower the latency of WIFI the better. Even though for 99% of people, this means zero as WIFI 5 is still fast enough for the vast majority of people.
    Get a long cable and either run it along the wall or through the walls. You can even buy the cable and terminate them yourself with a crimping tool to make the cable exactly the length that you need and in whatever kind of cable you want.
    Reply
  • DougMcC
    SCP2000 said:
    Isn't latency still a major deterrent for gamers? Or has the sentiment changed over the years? There's no logical reason for any desktop user who is serious about competitive gaming to use anything other than a hardwired connection. Maybe I'm in the minority here?
    I wouldn't expect latency to be a concern any more. The overhead of wifi has dropped dramatically, and wifi holds a speed of light advantage over wired connections. I just tested and direct connection (computer directly plugged into router with an 0.5m cable) is a whopping 1ms lower ping unloaded and 9ms lower with the connection fully saturated. And that's on wifi 6, not even 6e or 7. I would guess that this means it's pretty much a draw, depending on whether you have to add an extra hop for your wired connection (e.g. do you have an extra switch if you connect that way, which would make the outcome worse for wired).
    Reply
  • helper800
    DougMcC said:
    I wouldn't expect latency to be a concern any more. The overhead of wifi has dropped dramatically, and wifi holds a speed of light advantage over wired connections. I just tested and direct connection (computer directly plugged into router with an 0.5m cable) is a whopping 1ms lower ping unloaded and 9ms lower with the connection fully saturated. And that's on wifi 6, not even 6e or 7. I would guess that this means it's pretty much a draw, depending on whether you have to add an extra hop for your wired connection (e.g. do you have an extra switch if you connect that way, which would make the outcome worse for wired).
    There is little if not zero "advantage" as you say wifi has over a wired connection. He is a couple videos that goes into the nature of electricity and how it works on a much deeper level. This one here and then here in that order.
    Reply