The seventh generation of wireless technology – WiFi 7 – offers faster speeds, lower latency and smarter multiband connectivity, with its value cemented in reliable connections for many users, while remaining backward-compatible and future-proof, says Vox WiFi product manager Craig Blignaut.

“There have been six generations of WiFi, until now. The new, seventh generation has been labelled a revolution and is a response to the bandwidth-hungry modern world.”

Marking a “generational leap” in wireless technology, WiFi 7’s official standard, IEE 802.11be, delivers extremely high throughput and brings capabilities that move wireless connectivity from speed to “intelligent orchestration”.

“WiFi 7 combines multiple technologies that, together, redefine performance,” Blignaut says.

He highlights a multi-link operation, which allows a device to transmit and receive data simultaneously over several frequency bands, reducing latency and congestion.

Further, the 4096-Quadrature Amplitude Modulation, or 4k0-QAM modulation, increases data density by about 20%, compared with WiFi 6.

With channel bandwidths of up to 320 MHz – double that of its predecessor – the theoretical throughput rises to nearly 30 Gb/s under ideal conditions.

“However, in practical terms, WiFi 7 needs to do more than draw a long list of features. It needs to deliver on connectivity. It needs to connect hundreds of people in one office and ensure they all have a good experience because that is the metric that matters,” says Blignaut.

However, WiFi 7 can handle demand, and introduces the ability to send and receive data across multiple frequency bands at the same time, compared with earlier versions of WiFi, which were built around single connections and sequential traffic.

The technology allows devices to travel between the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and new 6 GHz bands, depending on congestion, creating a simultaneous conversation between devices and the router.

“The result is faster data transfer and fewer interruptions within an invisible layer of intelligence that keeps connections alive, even when one channel falters.”

In addition, while every generation since WiFi 4 has improved on energy use, WiFi 7 uses even less power, with the new modulation systems amplifying the signal more efficiently while consuming less energy.

“It is a detail that matters in a country where loadshedding and voltage dips are part of everyday connectivity,” he says.

From a consumer perspective, he explains that the upgrade will be largely invisible, with modern laptops and smartphones already shipping with WiFi 7 capability and most new routers already supporting the standard.

“Backward-compatible by design, WiFi 7 sidesteps many of the issues that have affected moving from one standard to another in the past. It ensures older devices still function optimally while new ones extract more value from the same network,” Blignaut points out.

WiFi 7 makes it possible to sustain 8K streaming, real-time virtual reality gaming and enterprise-grade videoconferencing on wireless alone.

“It is also, for gamers and technology enthusiasts, the first real step towards a wireless experience that can compete with Local Area Network.”

WiFi 7 is capable of automatically selecting cleaner channels, balancing connections across frequencies and self-correcting interference, and, while the impact of the intelligent architecture is subtle, this means that users will experience fewer glitches, steadier calls and smoother video.