Wireless priesthood begins blessing Wi-Fi 7 hardware

Just in time for CES this year, the Wi-Fi Alliance has begun certifying hardware for Wi-Fi 7, the latest update to the global wireless networking specification. Wi-Fi 7, the successor of Wi-Fi 6E, has been in the works for several years. The wireless protocol, known officially as 802.11be Extremely High Throughput, showed up …

[Sampler]

Thanks for this.

I thought WiFi 7 was already certified with TP-Link selling the Deco BE85 (I was looking for a new WiFi mesh recently as my current is slower than my new fibre connection).

[Spazturtle]

Re: Thanks for this.

IEEE 802.11be is not yet ratified so none of these devices may end up working with the final version. Remember the Wi-Fi alliance is just a marketing organisation, they have no involvement in the actual specification.

[Pascal Monett]

40Gbps

5,8Gbps might indeed be more reasonable, especially when you take into account that the current data transfer maxes out at several hundred Mbps (which is not shabby at all, not by a long shot - I can watch TV now, when I had an ADSL line, it was almost impossible).

WiFi delivering >5Gbps means over 700MBps. That will be as good as my gigabit Ethernet. So, since we're talking WiFi and not mobile data, that means my Orange box connecting me to them thar intartubes will be upholding that speed and that means that I will be able to use it.

Good news overall.

[Quando]

Re: 40Gbps

Your Gigabit Ethernet will only ever get 120MBs (ish) max.

Using a WiFi 6 mesh I can already get 920mbs download from my ISP - mesh connects one floor of the house to the one with the ISP connection, with various wired links in the way. The big issue is that so little consumer level kit comes with anything better than 1 gigabit wired connections right now, so regardless of the internal WiFi connection the distribution to kit (desktops, NAS boxes, routers) is limited.

[Sir Sham Cad]

Re: 40Gbps

Absolutely what I was thinking re: end user kit, especially a large mix of equipment type, capability and age, at which point the users ask why the WiFi is "still shit" and "why have we spent all that money upgrading it?"

Which I'm waiting for sometime around Q3 FY24/25

[Roland6]

Re: 40Gbps

> Using a WiFi 6 mesh I can already get 920mbs download from my ISP

Assuming that’s 920Mbps from a 1Gbps Ethernet interfaced ISP line (ISP router?)

The big issue isn’t so much the wired interface, but the WiFi interface and its connection and throughput capabilities. From what I have seen and read expect throughput to be sub 100Mbps, with 50~60Mbps typical from a 1Gbps connection, an if the WiFi adaptor is USB2 attached lower still. Plus the older stuff may have problems reliably interfacing with the new APs.

[DS999]

Re: 40Gbps

Heck I only have 50 Mbps from my ISP but my wifi (which is now ancient 802.11ac) gives me a couple hundred Mbits between my laptop and my PC, which is plugged into the wireless router. When fiber gets here (someday) and I get faster speeds to the internet I probably still won't upgrade my wifi. I mean, what difference would getting 1000 Mbps make over getting 250 Mbps? Faster iOS updates?

If you are only getting 50-60 Mbps from your wifi there's something wrong with your router or you have some interference in your area from other wifi users.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: 40Gbps

I came to say essentially the same thing.

*looks at 2.4 GHz router*

*looks at 30 Mbps internet access*

I don't think my wifi is the problem.

[NoneSuch]

Re: 40Gbps

But, but, 7 is bigger than 6!!! Who cares about actual performance out-stripping the Internet connection it relies on. Sell moar units!

[RAMChYLD]

Re: 40Gbps

I won't say watching TV over ADSL is impossible, but it's like watching your neighbor's TV through a foggy window from your own house with a low-powered telescope and trying to listen to the TV via a tin-can phone.

I tried to watch Kimba The White Lion off off a US cable channel that streamed to the internet via Realplayer back in the early 2000s. Those were the days, when IP geolocking wasn't a thing. I wish that would still hold true, I'd rather watch a blurry 160x120 15fps mess than not get to watch a show at all.

[munnoch]

I came here for the dick waving competition and I wasn't disappointed...

[Julian 8]

I'd prefer GTAW - get through any wall

Speed is fine, but if you cannot get it through to where you need it, it is a pain.

the MiL has reinforced concrete in her flat and a signal kind of gets through to one of the rooms, but more luck than anything else - wish it was stronger

in my house, for whatever reason, a couple of rooms suffer with poor signal and the garden is nearly non existent. Only looking at standard walls and flooring - nothing like reinforced concrete or walls made of stone with high metal content (as one of previous houses had)* combination of a Deco and Ethernet over mains help, but MORE kit that needs to be maintained

[Anonymous Coward]

Ughh....Did I Miss Something Here?

The snoops can't get at my Gigabit wired ethernet.

Gigabit wired ethernet is faster than ANYTHING we need here at Linux Mansions.

And anyway the broadband speed here is somewhere around 50MBits.

So.....what's the fuss about this ALLEGED WiFi speed?

Sure...some geek types here can explain why I'm a moron!

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Ughh....Did I Miss Something Here?

> The snoops can't get at my Gigabit wired ethernet.

If they're really interested in you, "The snoops" will probably find it easier to slurp your traffic somewhere upstream compared to getting close enough to sniff WiFi.

Yea, wired infrastructure is always going to have better bandwidth than over the air, but there are advantages to wireless, even if just for convenience.