Wi-Fi 7 vs. Wi-Fi 6: What’s New and What It Means for Your Network

What Is Wi-Fi 7?

Wi-Fi 7 is the seventh generation in the IEEE 802.11 set of wireless networking standards, operating in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands. Building upon many technologies adopted in the existing Wi-Fi 6/6E 802.11ax standard, the new Wi-Fi 7 802.11be standard delivers speeds as much as three times faster than 6/6E, with a maximum theoretical speed of 46 GB/s and preliminary typical speeds of 18 GB/s. It also offers more flexible use of frequencies, reduced interference, and greater capacity to handle more devices in congested environments.

Wi-Fi 7 leverages several innovative technologies to achieve these advancements:

• • Advanced MIMO Spatial Streams — Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) antenna technology introduced with the Wi-Fi 4 802.11n standard in 2009 allows data transmission via multiple spatial streams from each antenna. Over the years, the maximum data rate per stream and the number of streams have increased. Wi-Fi 7 uses up to 16 streams at a maximum data rate of 2.9 GB/s per stream.


• • 4K-QAM — Quadrature Amplitude Modulate (QAM) is an 802.11 wireless transmission modulation scheme that consolidates more data into each transmission by varying the phase and amplitude of radio waves. The amount of information encoded depends on the number of phase/amplitude combinations (referred to as symbols or constellation points) and the number of bits encoded per symbol. Wi-Fi 7 is the first Wi-Fi version to use 4096QAM, or 4K-QAM, consisting of 4096 symbols that can each carry 12 bits.


• • Multi-Link Operation — Wi-Fi 7 is the first to use multi-link operation, which allows a device to aggregate multiple channels across the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequencies concurrently. The result is greater throughput, lower latency, and more opportunities to balance loads and mitigate interference.


• • Wider Channel Width — Wi-Fi increases bandwidth through channel bonding, where multiple narrow channels within the 2.5 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz spectrum aggregate into wider channels. Within the 5 GHz and 6 GHz spectrum, aggregation of smaller 20 MHz channels enables wider 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and 160 MHz channels. Wi-Fi 7 is the first to allow the aggregation of sixteen 20 MHz channels within the 6 GHz frequency to enable 320 MHz channel widths.


• • Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) — By encoding digital data on multiple subcarriers within frequencies, OFDMA enables simultaneous transmission to and from multiple devices, along with more efficient bandwidth allocation to resolve congestion issues. OFDMA divides channels into small frequency allocations called resource units (RUs). Wi-Fi 7 is the first generation to allocate multiple RUs to a single user for more flexible use of frequencies and reduced interference.

What Are the Differences Between Wi-Fi 6/6E and Wi-Fi 7?

transmission technology, with 8 spatial streams and a maximum data rate of 1.2 GB/s per stream to achieve a maximum theoretical data rate of 9.61 GB/s. But there is one major difference. In addition to operating in the 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, Wi-Fi 6E also takes advantage of the wider 6 GHz frequency band opened by the FCC for Wi-Fi use in April 2020.

Compared to the 5 GHz spectrum with 29 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels, the 6 GHz frequency band has 59 channels to support more connected devices, providing better coverage for crowded areas like stadiums and arenas. With more 20 MHz channels, the 6 GHz frequency also allows a greater number of wider aggregated channels via channel bonding. For example, the 29 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels in the 5 GHz spectrum can aggregate into fourteen 40 MHz, seven 80 MHz, or three 160 MHz channels. The 59 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels in the 6 GHz spectrum enable twenty-nine 40 MHz, fourteen 80 MHz, and seven 160 MHz channels to support more high-bandwidth users.

Wi-Fi 6E vs Wi-Fi 7 At a Glance

Additional features of Wi-Fi 7 include enhancing the Target Wake Time (TWT) introduced with Wi-Fi 6, which reduces power consumption and improves battery life by allowing devices to negotiate when and how frequently they wake up to send and receive data. This is especially ideal for wireless smart device sensors, which need to send data only at specific intervals. Wi-Fi 7 uses Restricted TWT (R-TWT), which reserves bandwidth for scheduled transmission times. Wi-Fi 7 also permits offloading 5G cellular to Wi-Fi for seamless emergency communications.

Who Will Use Wi-Fi 7 First?

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced their Wi-Fi CERTIFIED 7 program in January, 2024, and some vendors have already released preliminary Wi-Fi 7 devices and routers. However, with Wi-Fi 7 still in its infancy, availability and deployments are limited. Most enterprise organizations are just starting to upgrade from earlier Wi-Fi 4 and Wi-Fi 5 generations to Wi-Fi 6, which easily supports the bulk of enterprise business needs.

While some organizations might opt for more expensive Wi-Fi 6E if they need to support high-density environments and are experiencing significant interference in the 2.5 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands, even Wi-Fi 6E will take a few more years to catch up to Wi-Fi 6. Don’t expect the market share of Wi-Fi 7 to catch up until after 2030.

^{Wi-Fi 6E will likely take more time to catch up to Wi-Fi 6 in the marketplace. Analysts don’t expect Wi-Fi 7 to catch up until after 2030. Source: Grand View Research}

Early adopters of Wi-Fi 7 will likely be large venues like stadiums, arenas, and convention centers that have already deployed Wi-Fi 6E for their 6 GHz operations to support high device densities. Wi-Fi 7 will give these entities greater bandwidth and lower latency to support emerging applications like multi-user augmented and virtual reality, high-definition video streaming, and immersive 3D training and gaming. However, with very few devices currently operating at 6 GHz, congestion at this frequency likely won’t be an issue for quite some time.

How Will Wi-Fi 7 Impact Your Network?

The good news is that with operation at 2.5 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz, Wi-Fi 7 is backward compatible with all previous Wi-Fi generations — it will work with all existing devices on your network. However, Wi-Fi 7 will have some impact on your network cabling infrastructure.

While Wi-Fi 6 and 6E should have at least one Category 6A (or Category 6 if the link is limited to 30 meters) 10 GB/s connection to support the maximum data rate, both TIA-568 and IEEE 802.11ax standards recommend two Category 6A connections to each access point. If your network has already followed this recommendation, it should have no problem supporting initial Wi-Fi 7 capabilities; however, supporting future maximum available throughput will require four Category 6A cables to each access point, or a duplex fiber connection. Learn more about cabling requirements in Cabling for Wi-Fi.

Testing Wi-Fi 7 Networks

Testing plays an essential role in ensuring reliable Wi-Fi performance and coverage. Since the cabling needed to connect Wi-Fi 7 access points (Category 6A or fiber) is well established, compliance testing of the supporting cable plant is easily supported with a copper or fiber certification tester like the Fluke Networks DSX CableAnalyzer™ Series copper cable certifiers or CertiFiber® Pro Optical Loss Test Set.

Most commercial Wi-Fi access points, including Wi-Fi 7 devices, rely on Power over Ethernet (PoE). Wi-Fi 7 access points will likely require more power to support the full range of spatial streams. Given these increasing power demands, PoE testing is crucial. A tester like the LinkIQ Cable+Wi-Fi+Network Tester can verify PoE class compatibility between the power sourcing equipment (PSE) and access point. It can place a load on the circuit to verify that the power is delivered from the switch and across the cabling, as well as give further detail (hardware versus software requests and pairs used).

Testing the coverage and performance of Wi-Fi 7 and identifying rogue devices or interference issues requires an RF-capable tester. Currently, with few Wi-Fi 7 devices available and limited adoption, there is little need for Wi-Fi 7-compliant RF testers. For early adopters, Wi-Fi 6E-compliant testers will do the job in the meantime, since they look at the 2.5 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz frequency bands.

Keep Learning

• • In-Building Wireless: What It Is and Why It’s Important
• • Troubleshooting Common Wi-Fi Issues