What is Wi-Fi 7 and Should I Upgrade?

It’s almost a trope of modern electronics announcements, that the newest version of the tech is faster, stronger, brighter, and lasts longer. Before electronics, it was toothpaste and laundry detergent that kept us entertained with the endless implication that if you didn’t upgrade, you were left behind!!

But things do improve, and companies do keep working to make their products faster and stronger. Not only products, though, but the underlying systems that we’ve grown to rely on in our daily lives, from audio protocols that allow better fidelity on the same wire to Internet connection protocols that give us much faster connections than ever before. We don’t plug in to the Internet, though, we’re all accessing it wirelessly, and I know my home router lists over 60 devices (mostly smart home products) as connected!

PROTOCOL COURTESY OF IEEE

The organizations behind these protocols keep pushing forward too, reflecting better software, faster chips that can support more sophisticated algorithms, even the incursion of more “artificial intelligence” to improve the user experience. That’s exactly what the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE, an industry organization founded back in 1963!) has been doing with the 802.11 protocol, known more commonly as “Wi-Fi”. Every few years, a new version has been released that typically is a lot better than the previous.

Wi-Fi 5 was released way back in 2014, and Wi-Fi 6 came out in late 2019. Wi-Fi 7 has been around for a bit too, officially released in January of 2024, but there’s a huge chicken-and-egg problem: The new Wi-Fi isn’t useful unless both your router / Wi-Fi base station and your devices both include the protocol.

Tip: Wi-Fi 5 is known as 802.11ac, Wi-Fi 6 is known as 802.11ax, and Wi-Fi 7 is now known as 802.11be if you want to check the specs of your most recent acquisitions.

It typically takes a year or two for devices to show up that include the newest protocol, so the Google Pixel 9 and Apple iPhone 16 are right on schedule with their latest releases. A close read of the Pixel 9 specs shows:

There it is, Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be). The iPhone 16? Same:

Interestingly, we can see the same adoption timeline with these both having Bluetooth 5.3: The very latest version of Bluetooth is actually 5.4, though that was released in February 2023. Sometimes newer protocols aren’t important in some use cases, so clearly both Google and Apple opted to focus on Wi-Fi 7 but not Bluetooth 5.4.

Remember, though, that even if you get a shiny new iPhone or Pixel phone that supports 802.11be, it won’t do you any good unless the router also supports it, which means you’d probably need one purchased in the last few months. There are some third-party routers offering compatibility, but the router you got from Comcast or Roadrunner? It’s hopefully Wi-Fi 6, but might not even support that. Now you know how to check!

WHAT’S NEW IN WI-Fi 7?

Which brings us to the question of what’s actually new and improved in Wi-Fi 7. Turns out that it’s quite a lot, particularly if you’re still chugging along with Wi-Fi 5 from an old or institutional router.

The biggest change is that throughput has dramatically increased: Wi-Fi 5 has a theoretical max of 6.9 Gbps (gigabits per second), Wi-Fi 6 jumps that up to 9.6 Gbps, but Wi-Fi 7 bursts through the ceiling with 46 Gbps throughput! One way it does this is by utilizing three different communications bands, not just two like older routers. Old school is 2.4 Ghz and 5 Ghz, but WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 add 6 Ghz. It also adds a way to have devices utilize more than one band simultaneously for high-demand throughput (think 4K streaming TV channel).

All in all, Wi-Fi 7 should be 4.8x faster than Wi-Fi 6 and a delightful 13x faster than Wi-Fi 5. Sounds like a good reason to upgrade, right?

Add on much lower latency (the delay in signal transmission and reception; lower is definitely better, especially for gamers), and 5x network capacity. The latter means that if you go wild with your smart home installation, it can easily handle 100+ devices simultaneously.

Want to jump into this exciting new world? Remember, you’ll need an 802.11be compatible router and new, 802.11be compatible devices too. Your beloved three-year-old Samsung HDTV won’t fit the bill nor will the laptop you bought for Christmas, 2023. My recommendation: Upgrade on your normal schedule but keep track of Wi-Fi protocol and when you have at least 2-3 devices with full compatibility, then upgrade your router. Good luck!

You can read more about Wi-Fi 7 at TP-Link (a router manufacturer) or there’s a good Wikipedia entry too: All About Wi-Fi 7.

Pro Tip: I’ve been decoding tech and the consumer electronics industry for many years. Please check out my extensive Tech Decoded Article Library for lots more info to help you maximize your own understanding of this complicated industry.