Wi-Fi7 promises more speed, less latency over Wi-Fi6: industry showcase

With the world still trying to update hardware to Wi-Fi6e, the next iteration of wireless connectivity standards is already under development

In January this year, MediaTek announced the world’s first live demonstrations of Wi-Fi7 (aka 802.11be EHT) technology to key customers and industry collaborators.

Recently, on 9 September, 2022, Intel Corporation and Broadcom Inc. followed up by showcasing the industry’s first cross-vendor Wi-Fi 7 demonstration, with over-the-air speeds greater than 5Gbps.

As the successor to current Wi-Fi 6(e) platform (maximum theoretical throughput: 9.6Gbps), Wi-Fi 7 is almost four times faster in theory, capable of delivering over 36Gbps. New features called Multi-Link Operation (MLO) and Multi-User Resource Units (MRU) can reduce single user latency by 80% and throughput by up to 300%, and improve reduction and mitigation of signal interference.

Wi-Fi 7 is designed for the next 10 years of wireless experiences that require higher speeds, lower latency, improved reliability and greater capacity. This opens up new product classes, including those for augmented and virtual reality, ultra-high-definition 16K media streaming, and super-responsive and reliable gaming.

With Wi-Fi 7’s greatly increased attainable speeds, broadband subscribers will get full value from their multi-gigabit internet plans. 

Said Carlos Cordeiro, Intel Fellow and Wireless CTO, Client Computing Group: “We are proud to highlight how next-generation Wi-Fi 7 can make new mobile PC experiences possible. Industry collaboration is essential to ensure we deliver on the promises of this new wireless technology.”

Vijay Nagarajan, Vice President, Wireless Connectivity Division, Broadcom, concurred: “Industry collaboration is key to making this unprecedented connectivity a reality and we were delighted to work with Intel to achieve another industry first.”

According to Tiago Rodrigues, CEO, Wireless Broadband Alliance: “Their successful trial is a milestone toward bringing Wi-Fi 7’s double-digit gigabit speeds, ultra-low latency, carrier-grade resilience and other next-generation capabilities to consumers and businesses worldwide. Enterprise and residential networks will also greatly benefit from the advanced capabilities of Wi-Fi 7.”