The latest rumors from those “in the know” is that next year’s Apple iPhone will gain Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. That would be a significant – and smart – move for Apple, given that Wi-Fi 6E has only just appeared on the 2023 iPhone 15. Not to mention that, at the time of writing (October 2023), the final Wi-Fi 7 specification has not been released by the IEEE and the Wi-Fi Alliance has not started a certification program.
But it’s also testament to the increasing appetite for Wi-Fi 7. You can already find consumer-grade Wi-Fi 7 routers from retailers, and Wi-Fi 7 compatible smartphones from the likes of Xiaomi and Google, even if they’ve not been promoted as such. So what’s Wi-Fi 7 all about?
Well, there’s speed, obviously. To get technical for a moment, through a doubling of channel width, an improved QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) and leveraging multi-link operation (MLO), Wi-Fi 7 boasts a 3.75 times higher data rate compared to Wi-Fi 6 (or Wi-Fi 6E), resulting in a theoretical maximum data rate of 36 Gbps.
Even though there are few Wi-Fi 7 end-user devices out there, a Wi-Fi standard that’s still in progress, and certification yet to come, Nokia is nevertheless bringing Wi-Fi 7 to the latest additions in our Nokia WiFi portfolio. Why? Because the groundbreaking performance and technical advances of Wi-Fi 7 have enabled us to create truly carrier-grade Wi-Fi routers and gateways that can already benefit operators and users.
We will have a dual-band 5G FWA gateway, a tri-band fiber ONT gateway, and the flagship quad-band Beacon 24. Quad-band, you ask? There are only three bands in Wi-Fi 7. Well, the 5 GHz band can actually be split into low and high frequency ranges. More bands mean more usable spectrum, which translates into greater capacity and speeds: the Beacon 24, as its name suggests, provides a total Wi-Fi capacity of up to 24 Gbps.
The ability to use different bands flexibly allows us to address various regulatory constraints and meet market demands. It’s also how we’ve given our solutions their carrier-grade performance. Wi-Fi 7 introduces some new, disruptive techniques, including something called multi-link operation (MLO). MLO allows spectrum to be concatenated from various bands. This can be used in various ways: for multi-band link aggregation to reach a higher throughput; to select the best link (using the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, or 6 GHz band) for lowest latency; to enable simultaneous downlink and uplink transmission; to balance traffic across bands; or to reach a higher efficiency, which is especially beneficial if one link has a large amount of traffic or interference. Our Wi-Fi 7 devices also have advances that mitigate interference, improve signal performance, and much more.
You may still be wondering why all this is an advantage when there are few user devices capable of connecting to Wi-Fi 7. Firstly, capacity: all devices within a home environment, regardless of which Wi-Fi flavor they use, benefit from the increased capacity of Wi-Fi 7, meaning more simultaneous connections and less traffic congestion. Secondly, multiple Nokia WiFi points will speak to each other in Wi-Fi 7, meaning that the backhaul links in the mesh network take full advantage of the enhancements in Wi-Fi 7 to create a more robust, more performant whole-home network.
Our Wi-Fi 7 portfolio is powered by Corteca, our end-to-end software suite running through applications embedded in our devices, through the home, and into the cloud. Corteca brings advanced Wi-Fi and device management, is based on open industry standards (TR-369, EasyMesh) and offers a marketplace with value-add applications that run on our ONT gateways, FWA gateways, and mesh Wi-Fi beacons.
We have a close working relationship with the Wi-Fi Alliance and so our new solutions will be fully certified and compliant with the standard expected to be finalized in early 2024. They’ll then be ready for market.
With Gigabit broadband moving into the mainstream, and more homes becoming increasingly connected, it’s imperative that Wi-Fi keeps up, if not ahead of the game, so that broadband providers can ensure the quality of service they provide to the home can be extended to every device within the home. Wi-Fi 7 does just that.
Learn More: Nokia Home Wi-Fi Portfolio, Nokia Corteca