Have you ever tried to clutch a 1v5 in Counter-Strike only to lag out because your room mate is
torrenting over 1,000 episodes of One Piece?
Well, Wi-Fi 7 is supposed to fix this with a feature called Multi-Link Operation, or MLO.
It promises a massive speed upgrade and an end to lag spikes.
But before you run out and buy a shiny new Wi-Fi 7 router, you should know that the Wi-Fi
7 label doesn't guarantee you actually get MLO.
Let's get into why that is, why your devices probably can't even fully use MLO yet,
and whether upgrading your Wi-Fi is even worth it.
Think of Wi-Fi like a highway. Your router and device are connected by multiple lanes, 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz.
In prior Wi-Fi generations, your data could travel in one lane at a time.
And that's fine until you hit traffic. Maybe your neighbor's smart fridge or your roommate's massive downloads are hogging the lane.
That's fine, you know, you can switch to a different lane. Or can you?
In theory, your devices should switch to the best band automatically,
but band steering in practice is a bit of a mess.
So your options are stay in the slow lane and deal with it,
or manually switch and hope your device cooperates.
Regardless, that gap where you're in between lanes, or fighting to get into one at all,
is what causes a lag spike. MLO changes the rules by allowing your data to drive in every lane simultaneously.
It's no longer bound by the laws of time and space.
No more picking between 5 or 6 GHz. You can use both at once for massive wireless speeds and zero handoff delay.
For cloud gaming and VR, that's the difference between a buttery smooth experience
and explaining a fist-shaped hole in the drywall to your landlord.
Don't worry though, he'll forget all about the property damage
once you tell him about our sponsor. Now here's where it gets messy.
Not all routers that claim to be Wi-Fi 7 are actually Wi-Fi certified 7.
To make sure a laptop from brand A works with a router from brand B,
companies rely on standards. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, or simply IEEE,
writes the rulebook, outlining the technical specs of each new generation of Wi-Fi.
Then a coalition of over 900 major tech companies called the Wi-Fi Alliance acts as the referee,
certifying that devices actually follow those rules and have the specified required features.
Only devices that pass certification can earn the official trademarked Wi-Fi 7 logo.
Unfortunately, if you're not paying attention, you could accidentally buy a
pretty sus quote-unquote Wi-Fi 7 router where the most important feature,
MLO, is either incomplete, broken, or missing entirely.
And even among certified routers, features like 320MHz channels and 4KQAM,
the stuff responsible for those massive advertised speed numbers,
aren't a requirement for certification. And that's just the router.
Your personal devices have their own problems stemming from how Wi-Fi fundamentally works.
Unlike cellular networks, where the network actively guides your phone,
instructing it which band to use, when to hand off, and how to manage interference,
Wi-Fi puts your devices in charge. Personal devices have to balance networking with cramped antenna space, thermal constraints,
not to mention interference from everything else that's trying to use the 2.4GHz band,
baby monitors, microwaves, garage door openers, your neighbor's security cameras,
and basically anything else that's using Bluetooth. Come on! Because their manufacturers prioritize battery life over raw power,
most client devices only support a light mode of MLO called MLSR,
or Enhanced Multilink Single Radio. It can listen on two bands, but it only talks on one at a time.
So while it does switch lanes fast enough to dodge lag,
it won't actually give you that massive speed boost you see advertised on router boxes.
The full power mode, STR, or simultaneous transmit and receive,
is what actually delivers those multi-band speeds.
And while your certified router will almost certainly support STR,
almost no client device on the market right now has the hardware to actually use it.
So between the label traps, the limited base features, and the device bottleneck,
the whole Wi-Fi 7 ecosystem is a bit of a mess right now.
That shiny new Wi-Fi certified 7 router is selling you a promise it can't keep,
because your devices just aren't ready for it. If your Wi-Fi 6 or 6e setup is working,
the best upgrade you can make right now is you being a little more patient.
But if you do need a router today, check the Wi-Fi Alliance certification list before you buy.
And no, you won't be getting the full MLO experience just yet.
That's a promise Wi-Fi 8 will have to keep.
And if you want to know if mesh Wi-Fi is actually the answer to your coverage woes,
check out this video here. I think it's pretty good.