San Francisco, USA – The Wi-Fi Alliance has officially begun certifying devices that support Wi-Fi 7, the next generation of wireless home internet. This means that starting in 2024, new tech products such as phones, laptops, and routers will be equipped with the Wi-Fi 7 standard, which promises significant speed and efficiency improvements compared to Wi-Fi 6E.

According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, Wi-Fi 7 will offer better performance for high-bandwidth streaming and low-latency wireless gaming, which is crucial as virtual reality becomes more popular and people continue to work from home. Kevin Robinson, CEO of the Wi-Fi Alliance, explained that Wi-Fi 7 is the “first generation built from the ground up” for the 6GHz band, a faster and broader spectrum first used by Wi-Fi 6E devices.

Despite the availability of Wi-Fi 7 routers from companies like Netgear, TP-Link, and Eero, the Wi-Fi Alliance certification is essential for ensuring interoperability and guaranteeing performance with Wi-Fi 7 devices in the future. Additionally, Wi-Fi 7 promises to offer double the channel bandwidth of previous standards, potentially enabling wireless downloads at over two gigabits per second.

One of the key features of Wi-Fi 7 is Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which essentially allows for wireless link aggregation across different bands, providing more speed and stability. MLO also offers a latency benefit by allowing connections to be spread across multiple bands simultaneously, reducing the time it takes to send packets over the network.

Wi-Fi 7 devices will be backward-compatible with previous versions of Wi-Fi, meaning that older devices will not benefit directly from new features on a Wi-Fi 7 router. However, as new laptops and phones are released, they will be able to take advantage of the improved efficiency, throughput, and stability offered by Wi-Fi 7.

In conclusion, the certification of Wi-Fi 7 devices marks a significant step towards the widespread adoption of the next generation of wireless internet technology, promising improved performance and compatibility with future devices.