What's next for Wi-Fi, and should enterprises wait to upgrade?
IEEE plans to publish the WI-Fi 7 amendment sometime in 2024
According to Wi-Fi Alliance’s VP of Marketing Kevin Robinson, the Alliance is already working on the definition of Wi-Fi 7 (or 802.11be). While the majority of its features are not yet finalized, there are a few direct enhancements over Wi-Fi 6 that can be expected when you upgrade to the seventh generation of wireless technology, including support of 320 megahertz channels, which is double the 160 megahertz of 802.11ax, the use of higher modulation orders, optionally supporting 4096-QAM — up from 1024-QAM in 802.11ax; and the allocation of multiple resource units, such as groups of OFMDA tones.
“Potential capabilities include low latency and more determinism,” said Robinson. “With Wi-Fi 7, we’re getting to the point of very high probability determinism. And, of course, it would not be a new generation of Wi-Fi without higher speeds, as well.”
Robinson also shared that regardless of which features end up in the WI-Fi 7 standard, it is going to leverage the 6 GHz band “extensively.”
“In order to really use Wi-Fi 7,” he continued, “it is imperative that Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technology get access to the 6 GHz band.”
Wi-Fi 7: More efficient, higher throughput
Like Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 will also use multi-band/multi-channel aggregation and operation and deliver higher spectrum and power efficiency, better interference mitigations, higher capacity density and higher cost efficiency. The seventh generation of Wi-Fi is also referred to as Wi-Fi Extremely High Throughput as result of its projected ability to support up to 30 Gbps throughput, roughly three times faster than Wi-Fi 6.
IEEE plans to publish the 802.11be amendment sometime in 2024, with commercial deployment occurring around the same time. Then, just like Wi-Fi 6 and 6E, the Alliance will release its Wi-Fi 7 certification program to ensure interoperability and security standards, which will help enterprise feel confident as they upgrade.
With Wi-Fi 7 already in the works, many end users might be wondering if they should wait to upgrade their Wi-Fi 5 devices. However, Robinson cautioned this approach: “Wi-Fi 6 is today’s generation of Wi-Fi. For many applications, the capabilities that it delivers will be perfectly adequate. People should be very comfortable going out and purchasing Wi-Fi 6 and they should feel future-proofed. We have a very strong foundation right now in 6 and 6E.”
