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Wi-Fi 7: What’s New and How It Will Impact Your Network

Wi-Fi 7: What’s New and How It Will Impact Your Network

Wi-Fi 7 is the upcoming Wi-Fi standard that promises faster speeds, lower latency, and better reliability than previous generations. Hot on the heels of Wi-Fi 6E, the Wi-Fi 7 certification has been finalized, and the 802.11be standard is expected to be released as early as the first half of 2024.

What is Wi-Fi 7?

The short answer is that Wi-Fi 7 is the next generation of Wi-Fi, building on the tech currently available in Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. It promises Extremely High Throughput (EHT) and enhanced latency.

The more technical answer is that Wi-Fi 7 is a marketing term for the Wi-Fi Alliance’s compatibility testing certificate, which is based on the drafted 802.11be standard. While the 802.11be standard has not yet been ratified by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), we expect to see the complete standard during the first half of 2024.

To better understand Wi-Fi 7, let’s take a look at the progression of recent Wi-Fi standards:

  • Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax, High Efficiency [HE]): Wi-Fi 6 is the standard that defined Wi-Fi operation in all three frequency bands (2.4, 5, and 6 GHz). However, the Wi-Fi Alliance has only certified interoperability of a subset of devices using 802.11ax in 2.4 and 5 GHz only.
  • Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax, Extended): A few years after Wi-Fi 6 was introduced, regulatory bodies across the globe opened up the 6 GHz band to be used as unlicensed spectrum, meaning Wi-Fi could operate in the 6 GHz band. The Wi-Fi Alliance started interoperability testing of devices using 802.11ax in the 6 GHz band and called it Wi-Fi 6E (E for Extended).
  • Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be, Extremely High Throughput [EHT]): A new Wi-Fi 7 standard is right around the corner, and the Wi-Fi Alliance used a subset of features defined by this standard – which is currently still in draft – and calls the new certification Wi-Fi 7.

Wi-Fi 7 will bring multiple improvements to protocol operations, but this time, instead of the efficiency that Wi-Fi 6 and 6E focused on, Wi-Fi 7 focuses on throughput, latency, and redundancy.

What’s New in Wi-Fi 7?

Think of Wi-Fi 7 as Wi-Fi 6 & 6E “refined.” In many ways, Wi-Fi 7 is largely the same as 6 and 6E. It operates in the same frequency bands, uses slightly faster modulation, and will ideally allow OFDMA to work properly. That said, Wi-Fi 7 promises faster speeds, lower latency, better reliability, and improved performance in general. And while the 6 GHz band is still new for most Wi-Fi users, we expect the arrival of Wi-Fi 7 to motivate larger audiences to finally embrace 6 GHz Wi-Fi globally.

Perhaps the biggest new innovation in Wi-Fi 7 is Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which allows for the aggregation of non-adjacent channels from any available frequency band. MLO enables Wi-Fi devices to utilize multiple channels simultaneously, dynamically switching between them based on network conditions. This allows for faster and more efficient data transmission, especially in dense Wi-Fi environments where traditional single-channel operation may cause congestion. You could bond 5+6 GHz, 6+6 GHz, 5+5 GHz, or, if you are hardcore, even 2.4+2.4 GHz (but please don’t)!

Key benefits of MLO:

  • More speed since we use more frequency.
  • More reliability, as stations can still transmit fine even when a portion of the frequency suffers from interference.
  • Lower latency, as stations can transmit on a less congested frequency instead of using the entire MLO set of channels.
  • Faster modulation.

In practice, and at least in the early stages of the Wi-Fi 7 lifecycle, we expect MLO to benefit mostly from consumer-grade mesh Wi-Fi systems backhauls.

Wi-Fi 7 compatible devices must support MLO to be Wi-Fi 7 certified, but it doesn’t mean that all clients will use it for typical day-to-day Wi-Fi operations. It’s possible that MLO’s impact on battery consumption might prohibit mobile client devices from using it, but that remains to be seen in these early days of Wi-Fi 7.

Faster modulation = faster speeds

Another improvement that Wi-Fi 7 brings is faster modulation. The 802.11ax standard supported 1024 Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM), but 802.11be will support 4096-QAM.

QAM is a way that Wi-Fi signals can change to send information, like changing the color and brightness of a flashlight to send different messages. QAM uses different combinations of RF signal phase (color) and amplitude (brightness) to encode different combinations of 1s and 0s (symbols) at a time. 1024-QAM can carry 10 bits at a time, while 4096-QAM can carry 12 bits at a time. With higher modulation schemes, data rates increase.

For example, switching from 1024-QAM to 4096-QAM will lead to around a 17% improvement in data rates at the expense of four times more complex modulation.

  • To achieve 1024-QAM, you need Line of Sight (LOS), and a typical mobile device should be within 7-11 meters away from a good quality Access Point (AP). Your SNR also must be very good at around 35 dB or greater.
  • To achieve 4096-QAM, we expect that your typical mobile device would need to be a max of 5-7 meters away from the AP with LOS and an SNR of over 40 dB. That might sound insanely high, but it’s not quite as dramatic as one might think.

In the real world, most Wi-Fi clients in a well-designed high-density Wi-Fi network (with APs generally placed every 10-12m in open space) will already be located within that 5-7m distance from the AP anyway, so we expect that most typical clients can benefit from 4096-QAM.

There are more changes coming in 802.11be, especially on the Medium Access Control (MAC) layer level, and we’ll dive into those changes in another blog. Stay tuned!

An incremental change in Wi-Fi 7: 320 MHz wide channel support

While Wi-Fi 7 promises some major feature changes to the Wi-Fi experience, some of those features might not be what many would consider “groundbreaking.” One of those incremental changes is the support of 320 MHz wide channels with Wi-Fi 7.

In reality, however, only domestic users might use 320 MHz channels, and even that isn’t recommended if you can “hear” your neighbors. We don’t expect enterprises to use 320 MHz channels due to the impossibility of efficient frequency re-use and potentially high co-channel interference (CCI).

CCI happens when multiple Wi-Fi stations and APs operate in the same area on the same channel. All those Wi-Fi transmitters will contend for airtime and aim to transmit to one device at a time, making Wi-Fi slow for everyone. In general, the higher the density and airtime activity in a Wi-Fi network, the greater the negative impact that CCI can have. Our goal, especially in high-density and high-capacity networks, should be to minimize CCI, and that means avoiding the use of 320 MHz channels.

There is just one non-overlapping 320 MHz wide channel available outside of the U.S. and three non-overlapping 320 MHz wide channels available in the U.S. Realistically, with such wide channels, we will always suffer from high CCI, hence the recommendation to not use it at all in enterprise. 🙂

So what’s the primary strength of Wi-Fi 7?

Wi-Fi 7 has many clear benefits, but it’s fair to say that not all of them qualify as “game changers” in enterprise networks. But there is one addition in Wi-Fi 7 that might fit the bill, and that’s 6 GHz Wi-Fi.

In a 2023 Ekahau webinar on Wi-Fi 7, David Coleman, Director of Wireless Networking, Office of the CTO at Extreme Networks, stated:

“The main strength of Wi-Fi 7 will be 6 GHz.”

We wholeheartedly agree. While Wi-Fi 7 will improve Wi-Fi networks around the globe in the future, it’s important to start thinking about how the tech available today (Wi-Fi 6E) can satisfy your business goals by making your existing Wi-Fi as spotless as it can be, paving the way for the future migration to Wi-Fi 7.

Prepare for the future, but do it today!

The 802.11be standard will likely be ratified at some point in the first half of 2024, and consumer devices have already started to become available. However, it typically takes anywhere between 3 to 5 years from the ratification of a new Wi-Fi standard for it to reach major global market adoption.

Look no further than Wi-Fi 6E. The first 6 GHz devices were available around three years ago when 802.11ax was still a draft. The standard was ratified a year later, and we still can’t say that most devices on the market today are 6 GHz capable. More and more devices and networks support Wi-Fi 6E, but it took roughly three years before we saw a major uptake of Wi-Fi 6E.

In fact, when looking at shipped devices, it will likely take another two years for Wi-Fi 6E to catch up with Wi-Fi 6, and we expect Wi-Fi 7 to catch up with Wi-Fi 6E in 2026 or 2027.

Should I wait, or should I go all-in on Wi-Fi 7 now?

If you need better Wi-Fi now, you likely don’t have to wait for the new standard. Device support for Wi-Fi 7 is currently limited, and Wi-Fi 6E should be more than sufficient to handle any enterprise’s needs. While Wi-Fi 7 is still in its infancy, we ultimately don’t think users will notice a massive practical difference between a well-designed and optimized Wi-Fi 6E network compared to a Wi-Fi 7 network.

If you already have a Wi-Fi 6E capable network, consider optimizing it. How? It’s simple. The Ekahau Sidekick 2 and Ekahau Optimizer can help you do just that.

If you have a Wi-Fi 6 network or older and need to improve it ASAP, consider getting Wi-Fi 6E instead of waiting a few more years for Wi-Fi 7 adoption. After all, spotless Wi-Fi design with the correct number of APs, correct antenna types, and correct configuration are the most important factors in your network’s performance. You can leverage the power of Ekahau AI Pro to design your new Wi-Fi network effortlessly today.

Check out our recent L’Oréal case study where we helped “Design the Warehouse Wi‑Fi Network of the Future” using 6 GHz capable Wi-Fi 6E access points.

Will Ekahau Tools Support Wi-Fi 7?

Yes! All Ekahau tools, both software and hardware, support all Wi-Fi frequency bands, including 6 GHz. This means that Wi-Fi 7 and beyond will be fully supported, so you can improve your existing Wi-Fi network easily, design your new Wi-Fi network today, and ensure your Wi-Fi stays amazing in the future.