Is Wi-Fi 6 obsolete, and will Wi-Fi 7 be the next big step?

Every technological advancement raises the question of whether and when it should be implemented in a company. This also applies to Wi-Fi. Wi-Fi 6 promises greater bandwidth, Wi-Fi 6E is an additional, so far little-used frequency band, and Wi-Fi 7 is supposed to improve everything. However, questions remain as to when existing infrastructures should be changed and whether it is sufficient to simply replace routers and access points, which it usually isn't! PAC compares current Wi-Fi technologies and examines when upgrades make sense.

Wi-Fi 5 vs. Wi-Fi 6 vs. Wi-Fi 6E vs. Wi-Fi 7

Wi-Fi 5 is now outdated but is still widely used in SMBs. With Wi-Fi 6, security and bandwidth increased thanks to QAM-1024 (quadrature amplitude modulation with 1024 symbols), and more devices (multi-user, multiple input, multiple output (MU-MIMO), 8 instead of 4) can communicate with an access point at the same time. In addition to the 5 GHz spectrum, Wi-Fi 6 also supports 2.4 GHz native – with Wi-Fi 5, the 2.4 GHz channel was an additional Wi-Fi 4 module. This makes Wi-Fi 6 a real asset, especially for larger offices or buildings with many simultaneous users.

Wi-Fi 6E added another frequency spectrum, 6 GHz. 6 GHz deals with several challenges. There should be less overlap with other Wi-Fi networks, at least at the beginning of the life cycle, because fewer companies and private individuals rely on this technology so far, and there is no interference with household electronics (2.4 GHz) or weather radar (5 GHz). On the other hand, attenuation by walls or other objects increases, which may reduce the range.

Wi-Fi 7, launched in January 2024, promises further improved security through WPA 4, even greater bandwidths, lower latency, and even more (16) parallel devices per access point. This makes Wi-Fi 7 attractive for large offices and the manufacturing sector, airports, trade fairs, and the like; it is also emerging as an alternative to campus networks based on 5G.

The real-world issues

There are three main issues:

• The 6 GHz spectrum – It is nice to have a new frequency band for Wi-Fi that is not also used by other technologies. On the other hand, with the same transmission power, attenuation increases with the frequency, and the range decreases as a consequence. Just replacing access points can lead to gaps in coverage, at least in the 6 GHz spectrum. When introducing Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7, it is therefore necessary to re-plan the access points and optimize the coverage by taking appropriate measurements. The effort involved should not be underestimated.
• Access point connectivity – For Wi-Fi 5 networks, it was perfectly sufficient to install 1 Gbit LAN connections and cables (Cat 5/6/7) in the backbone. With Wi-Fi 6, and especially Wi-Fi 7, the backbone would eliminate most of the advantages over Wi-Fi 5. This means that the LAN cabling, and possibly the switches, would also have to be replaced in addition to new access points and a new layout of the access points. It is obvious that a conversion from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6(E) or Wi-Fi 7 is neither trivial nor cheap.
• Older devices and backward compatibility – According to the standard, Wi-Fi is always fully downward compatible. In reality, however, this will not be the case as it would affect the network performance, i.e., lower speeds will be switched off by administrators or, in the worst case, by the manufacturer. This does not play a significant role in an office environment, as very few computers or smartphones are used that long. The situation is different in production environments, where computers are sometimes used for decades and are not necessarily state-of-the-art when purchased. The same applies to Wi-Fi interfaces of IoT devices or production machines, which usually do not need to transmit large amounts of data. In these areas, upgrading from Wi-Fi 5 to newer standards may provide hardly any increase in speed, and individual devices in the network may no longer work. The same is true for security: even though Wi-Fi 7 supports WPA 4, older devices only support WPA 2 or 3.

Who should wait? Who should act now?

Organizations should act now under the following circumstances:

• If new rooms or halls are to be used, a network expansion with LAN Cat 8.1 cabling and Wi-Fi 7 makes perfect sense. Even if the end devices currently used do not support this standard, the building infrastructure should be set up to the latest standard.
• If a comprehensive upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 (including LAN expansion) is planned in the next two years, defective access points should be replaced with Wi-Fi 7 access points. Buying outdated technology makes no sense.
• If the existing Wi-Fi infrastructure is not powerful enough because there are many end devices in a relatively small space, for example, in open-plan offices, organizations should modernize not only the Wi-Fi infrastructure but also the backbone. Also, especially small companies must ensure the adequate performance of their Internet access.
• If Wi-Fi is to be used in production environments, lower latency and reduced interference are crucial.

Organizations should wait under the following circumstances:

• If no Cat 8 cabling is available, an upgrade to Wi‑Fi 7 makes no sense because the dedicated backbone would eliminate the advantages over Wi-Fi 6(E) and, in the case of Cat 5/6 LAN cabling, even the advantages over Wi-Fi 5.
• If the 6 GHz spectrum has not yet been released in the relevant region, an upgrade to Wi-Fi 7 makes little sense for performance reasons. The same applies to latency and interference with other networks.