There’s already no scarcity of Wi-Fi 7 routers, and in the event you’re shopping for a flagship cellphone in 2024, there is a good probability that it comes with a Wi-Fi 7 modem as nicely. There’s just one downside; the Wi-Fi 7 customary wasn’t really finalized — till now. The Wi-Fi Alliance is now beginning to certify units that use the newest era of wi-fi connectivity, and the objective is to ensure that these units work with one another seamlessly.
Basically, the certification permits router manufacturers and system producers to assure that their merchandise will work with different Wi-Fi 7 units. Qualcomm, for its half, is asserting that it has a number of designs that leverage Wi-Fi 7, and that it achieved the Wi-Fi Alliance certification — dubbed Wi-Fi Certified 7 — for the FastConnect 7800 module that is baked into the Snapdragon 8 Gen 3 and eight Gen 2, and the Networking Pro portfolio.
Wi-Fi Certified 7 is designed to allow interoperability, and make sure that units from numerous manufacturers work with none points. In addition to Qualcomm, the likes of MediaTek, Intel, Broadcom, CommScope, and MaxLinear are additionally choosing up certifications for his or her newest networking merchandise.
I chatted with Andy Davidson, Sr. Director of Technology Planning at Qualcomm, forward of the announcement to perceive a bit extra about how Wi-Fi 7 is totally different. Wi-Fi 7 makes use of the 6GHz band — related to Wi-Fi 6E — however introduces 320Mhz channels which have the potential to ship considerably better bandwidth. This proved to be the case after I reviewed the Netgear Orbi 970 — it was the quickest router I examined by far.
(*7*)(Image credit score: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)
Wi-Fi 7 additionally makes use of a intelligent new characteristic known as Multi-Link Operation (MLO) that lets units join to two bands on the similar time, main to higher sign power and bandwidth. There are quite a lot of different benefits as nicely — like elevated transmission with 4K QAM — however the swap to 320MHz channels and MLO is the place you will see the most important distinction over earlier variations of the usual.
Davidson famous that Qualcomm’s differentiation on this space comes from the flexibility to create a high-band simultaneous multi-link connection that primarily aggregates two bands — related to how Link Aggregation works over Ethernet. The chip vendor has been working with different producers over the past two years to take a look at the Wi-Fi 7 customary, and all of the learnings from these “take a look at beds” are slated to go into client {hardware} that is launching over the course of 2024.
On that notice, Qualcomm has over 450 merchandise that leverage its Wi-Fi 7 modems, with 200 cell units, notebooks, and XR merchandise slated to launch and one other 250 entry factors and routers that use Qualcomm tech set to debut. While Wi-Fi 7 routers have been accessible for a couple of months now, the truth that the Wi-Fi Alliance is now beginning to certify merchandise means we’ll get a deluge over the approaching months.