Present in smartphones, computers, and routers, WiFi 7 enhances performance and reduces congestion, making it ideal for 8K streaming, gaming, and the metaverse.

Computers, telephones and routers are beginning to appear that already include Wifi 7, whose power and stability is comparable to connecting them by cables. As if it were a movie saga, this year saw the debut of wifi 7, the new wireless connection technology that is almost five times faster than its predecessor, wifi 6.
And, in keeping with the film analogy, if the movie had to have a tagline it would be “faster, more reliable and with greater capacity”.

Wifi is a technology used to connect devices to each other without the need for cables.
It is the basis of wireless networks that distribute the internet connection inside homes and offices.
Each new standard has a long technical name, but for some time now each new generation has a number.

This is how we arrived at wifi 7, which is already present in cell phones, computers and routers (devices that distribute the signal).
One of its advantages, says Hugo Durney, an academic at the Metropolitan Technological University, is the increase in the maximum data transfer speed, reaching up to 46 gigabits per second (46 Gbps).
“This is 4.8 times faster than wifi 6 and 13 times faster than wifi 5. And if we go back to the beginning of wifi, in 1997, the increase in maximum speed is 23 thousand times,” he explains.
The speed of the new Wi-Fi 7 is even slightly faster than the speed achieved using wires, says Durney.
It is already found in cell phones of almost all brands (Motorola, Xiaomi, Samsung, OnePlus, ZTE, among others) and also in computers.
“The great promise of Wi-Fi 7 is that it would no longer be necessary to use cables to obtain the best speeds and latencies (how long it takes for a data packet to get from one place to another),” says Gabriel Bahamondes, Technical Marketing at Asus for Latin America, a company that already has a computer in Chile with this technology.

One of its benefits is that it incorporates a new frequency band, the 6 gigahertz (GHz) band, “which is less saturated than the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands already used by Wi-Fi 6 and earlier,” explains Durney.

Bahamondes comments that this frequency offers better speeds but does not have good propagation, i.e., it is difficult to reach the most remote places in a house.
The good news is that devices with Wi-Fi 7 can use all available frequencies at the same time to obtain the best connectivity conditions.
The adoption of this new technology will result in improved connectivity for end users in shared environments (cafes, restaurants, universities, among other places), in addition to increased security.
“Wifi 7 could improve the security of these networks by offering more advanced protocols and threat detection and prevention capabilities,” says Alejandro Girardotti, senior director of Product, Innovation and Strategic Alliances at Cirion.
Telecommunications companies that offer internet do not yet offer routers with wifi 7, so to get the full benefits of this technology you would have to add your own router in the home.
Companies such as Xiaomi, Netgear, TP-Link, Asus and Linksys already do this.

“This technology makes it possible to work with increasingly faster internet connections, in places where there are more and more devices. It is also ideal for watching video content in 8K quality, enjoying advanced video games and is ideal for experiences in the metaverse,” concludes Bahamondes.

Source: El Mercurio