By: Ian Barker BA, FIAP, MBCS.

Most people don’t think too much about Wi-Fi. For home users it’s a case of plugging in a box that allows you to access the internet, the standard that it uses and how it works are not a consideration.

Of course those of us in the technical field know that Wi-Fi has evolved over the years to deliver ever faster speeds, greater bandwidth, improved security features and more. While the latest systems are backwards compatible, meaning that they’ll work with earlier kit, you only get the full benefit of the available features with the newest technology across the board.

For the last few years that’s meant Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax using the older naming system of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers) or Wi-Fi 5 (IEEE 802.11ac), though it’s likely many networks will still be using Wi-Fi 4 (IEEE 802.11n introduced in 2009). What all of these have in common is that they use two transmission frequencies 2.4-GHz and 5-GHz to optimise performance.

Now though we have a new kid on the wireless block in the form of Wi-Fi 7 or IEEE 802.11be. Devices began rolling out in 2023, delivering major improvements over Wi-Fi 6 and potentially up to four times quicker performance. It also offers technical changes to reduce latency, increase capacity, and improve stability and efficiency.

What’s different?

Something we didn’t mention above was Wi-Fi 6E – an interim standard that added an extra 6-GHz frequency band. Wi-Fi 7 builds on this three-band approach to offer extra and wider data channels meaning that it can transmit more data – a bit like adding extra lanes to a motorway. Where the 2.4-GHz band has 11 channels of 20 MHz and the 5-GHz has 45 20 MHz channels that can be combined to form 40 or 80 MHz, the 6-GHz band has 60 channels. With Wi-Fi 7 these can be up to 320 MHz wide which means it can handle a lot more data at once.

More significant though is that Wi-Fi 7 uses Multi-Link Operation (MLO). Where earlier standards meant that a connection to a device was made on just one band, MLO allows a device to connect in channels on different bands at the same time. Returning to the motorway example, this is like sending traffic down two roads to the same destination at once. A Wi-Fi 7 router will uses this ability to take account of interference and congestion to always use the best channel to connect.

The other major technical change in Wi-Fi 7 is that it allows for higher Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM). Wi-Fi 7 supports 4K-QAM, while Wi-Fi 6 only allowed 1,024-QAM, and Wi-Fi 5 just 256-QAM. What this means in practice is that you can transmit more data – to stretch the motorway analogy a bit tighter, it’s like allowing bigger lorries. 4K-QAM delivers a peak performance update of around 20 percent over Wi-Fi 6.

Why does this matter?

Data is the lifeblood of the world today and thanks to fast fibre internet connections and a proliferation of Internet of Things devices it’s easier than ever to collect it. This means that organizations are dealing with massive amounts of information and it’s only going to grow faster.

In order to get meaningful insights from this data and use it to drive commercial decisions you need to be able to access it effectively and in a timely manner. If you struggle to access the information because your wireless network is slow then you’ll be losing out to the competition.

It’s also the case that we now have much higher levels of hybrid and remote working, so even the performance of humble domestic Wi-Fi is important in allowing employees access to business data.

So should you rush out and upgrade to Wi-Fi 7? If you’re about to buy a new router anyway there’s no harm in doing so as it’ll work with your old devices you’ll be getting a degree of future proofing. However, bear in mind that you won’t get the full benefits of the new standard unless your devices are also Wi-Fi 7 capable. That means investing in new network cards or ensuring that you buy Wi-Fi 7 compatible devices when you next upgrade your machines.

All of the major network hardware vendors are now offering Wi-Fi 7 devices and the latest high-end smartphones now support it too. Chipset makers like Qualcomm and Intel are also offering Wi-Fi 7 certified chipsets that are appearing on PC motherboards.

At the end of the day when to upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 is your call but it’s something you won’t be able to afford to ignore in the long term.