In recent months, when it comes to fast internet connection, everyone thinks of 5G, a technology that is coming to Brazil and promises much higher speeds. But despite all the noise related to this new technology, Wi-Fi still has a long way to go, coexisting for many years with the new generations of mobile telephony in a complementary way. That is, it will continue to be the standard for wireless networks, both at home and in the office, while 5G will continue as the standard for mobility.
According to forecasts by the consultancy Market Intelligence & Consulting, the sales volume of Wi-Fi devices was 3.1 billion in 2021, with 50% of them already compatible with the new Wi-Fi 6 standard, which will bring several advantages. For starters, instead of having those long and complicated names, the new version of Wi-Fi 802.11.ax will just be called Wi-Fi 6. And in this spirit of making our lives easier, it is already born with the promise of allowing a greater number of devices connected to our networks, whether at home or in the office.
In addition to supporting more connected devices than the previous version (Wi-Fi 5), the new technology is also capable of supporting a greater number of devices connected to the network simultaneously. This functionality is essential for a world with a growing number of “things” connected to our networks, especially with the popularization of the internet of things. According to the estimate of consultancy Juniper Research, we will have more than 80 billion IoT connections in 2024, against 35 billion registered in 2020.
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While version 6 gains space in the market, the new Wi-Fi standard is already starting to be tested. In January of this year, for example, MediaTek held the world’s first live demonstration of Wi-Fi 7 technology. The initiative included two Wi-Fi 7 presentations to highlight the technology’s high speeds and low latency transmission.
What to expect from Wi-Fi 7?
The launch of Wi-Fi 7 will mark the first time that Wi-Fi can be a true fixed-line (Ethernet) replacement for ultra-high-bandwidth applications. Its technology will be the backbone of home, office and industrial networks and provide connectivity for everything from augmented reality applications, multiplayer virtual reality, cloud gaming or 8K streaming calls.
Wi-Fi 7 offers completely new features across all spectrums available for using Wi-Fi, including 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz. It will deliver speeds 2.4 times faster than Wi-Fi 6 — even with the same number of antennas — as Wi-Fi 7 can utilize 320 Mhz channels and support 4K Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) technology. . Other features of Wi-Fi 7 will allow you to reduce latency by transmitting Wi-Fi on multiple bands, as well as including a multi-user capability unit (MRU) to avoid and reduce strong interference.
And whoever thinks that it’s still too early to talk about this technology, know that the future is right there… After all, products with Wi-Fi 7 are expected to start hitting the market in 2023, with greater use in 2024. Welcome!