1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:06,240 7 is the luckiest number, so maybe it's fitting that Wi-Fi 7 claims to solve the age-old issue 2 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:11,040 of your signal becoming unreliable when you're too far from your router or access point. 3 00:00:11,040 --> 00:00:16,800 But isn't Wi-Fi 6E still super new and super awesome? Well, it is, and it turns out that the 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:24,000 Wi-Fi 7 spec isn't even finalized yet. That'll most likely happen in late 2023 or early 2024. 5 00:00:24,000 --> 00:00:28,800 But a handful of phones that support it are already out, and a few routers are available for 6 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:34,160 pre-order for shipping this year. And even if you don't want to shell out $700 for one, 7 00:00:34,160 --> 00:00:38,720 cheaper models are certainly coming. So let's have a look at what they're promising. 8 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:44,160 The biggest features to be excited about aren't raw speed improvements, but range and reliability. 9 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:52,160 A huge part of this is a trick that Wi-Fi 7 uses called multi-link operation, or MLO, or MLO. 10 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:56,560 All previous versions of Wi-Fi involved an access point connecting to a client device 11 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:01,200 on one channel using one frequency band. Think about how when you connect your phone to a Wi-Fi 12 00:01:01,200 --> 00:01:07,440 network, you're often asked to choose between a 2.4 or a 5GHz signal. With MLO, though, one 13 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:13,040 router can connect and send data to your device on multiple channels using multiple bands at the 14 00:01:13,040 --> 00:01:20,000 same time, including, yes, the new 6GHz band that was introduced with Wi-Fi 6E. The obvious benefit 15 00:01:20,000 --> 00:01:25,360 of this is a faster connection, since more data can be moved around at once. But for most folks, 16 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:30,400 the bigger advantage is going to be how far you can get from the router and still have a connection 17 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:35,200 that's at least good enough without having to switch to a different network. You see, 18 00:01:35,200 --> 00:01:39,040 the higher frequency you use, the faster your connection is, but unfortunately, 19 00:01:39,040 --> 00:01:45,040 the shorter range it'll be. 5GHz Wi-Fi is already notorious for having a relatively short range, 20 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:50,320 and this is even more of a problem with the new 6GHz connections. However, MLO lets you continue 21 00:01:50,320 --> 00:01:54,720 using a lower frequency if you're far away from the router, so while your connection might not have 22 00:01:54,720 --> 00:01:59,280 as much raw speed, it'll still allow you to keep doing what you're doing, unless what you're doing 23 00:01:59,280 --> 00:02:04,240 is some seriously high bandwidth stuff. One way that you can make up for the short range of faster 24 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:09,520 high frequency signals is to add more power to them. Sounds simple, but there are actually legal 25 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:14,240 limits on how much power you can give a Wi-Fi signal, that's to prevent interference with other 26 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:18,960 broadcasts flying through the air. Wi-Fi 7, though, has a couple of nifty ways to get around this kind 27 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:24,640 of interference. One is called automated frequency coordination, or AFC. Basically, it checks the 28 00:02:24,640 --> 00:02:29,440 database of registered broadcasters, such as radar or satellite, to ensure that increasing 29 00:02:29,440 --> 00:02:36,000 power won't have adverse effects on anyone else's activity. Another is called puncturing, where if 30 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:41,360 a portion of a channel is already in use for some other purpose other than Wi-Fi, the router can 31 00:02:41,360 --> 00:02:47,120 still use the rest of that channel to talk to client devices. And as the standard evolves, 32 00:02:47,120 --> 00:02:51,840 we may see even more ways to keep your connections strong. If you're somewhere like an airport or 33 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:56,320 hotel, you might have experienced a signal drop as you move around, even though there might be an 34 00:02:56,320 --> 00:03:01,600 access point right there. They're all over the place in those buildings. But this is because 35 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:06,560 clients like phones have a really nasty habit of holding on to their existing connection as long as 36 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:11,920 they can, and roaming over to a closer access point only when it's absolutely necessary. This has 37 00:03:11,920 --> 00:03:16,880 been a common frustration for many generations, but it's possible that a future revision of the 38 00:03:16,880 --> 00:03:23,200 Wi-Fi 7 spec may allow for more robust automatic coordination between access points. Again, 39 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:28,160 though, the spec is not yet finalized, so time will tell. But we've talked a lot about keeping 40 00:03:28,160 --> 00:03:33,280 the connection from dropping. What about the actual performance if you're very close to the router? 41 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:40,320 Well, Wi-Fi 7 is faster. But as with any new revision of Wi-Fi, you can't go by the maximum 42 00:03:40,320 --> 00:03:48,400 speed it says on the box. Although Wi-Fi 7 can use insanely huge 320MHz wide channels on that 43 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:56,880 6G band, most devices will still likely use 160MHz channels on a 2x2 connection. So realistically, 44 00:03:56,880 --> 00:04:03,120 I'd expect close to 3Gbps optimistically, but that's still much faster than the vast majority 45 00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:08,080 of internet connections out there. And there are a suite of tools within the Wi-Fi 7 spec to reduce 46 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:13,440 latency as well. So we might finally have a version of Wi-Fi that you can game on without 47 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:16,960 getting fragged by someone that uses an Ethernet cable for absolutely everything. 48 00:04:16,960 --> 00:04:20,240 A girl can dream. Thanks for watching guys. If you liked this video, hit like, hit subscribe, 49 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,720 and hit us up in the comments section with your ideas of topics we should cover in the future.