Wi–Fi 7
The new wireless standard looks forward to the future of the internet
HOW IT WORKS
YOU WILL LEARN How Wi–Fi 7 works, and how it differs from previous versions of Wi–Fi
JARGON BUSTER
The term “Wi–Fi” is really just a marketing label, but all versions of Wi–Fi are based on an international technology standard known as 802.11, which is continually under development. Wi–Fi 5 was based on 802.11ac, while Wi–Fi 6 and 6E use the newer 802.11ax. However, Wi–Fi 7 is such a big step forward that the 802.11 tech adopts a new “b” suffix, with the full title of 802.11be.
LIKE MANY PEOPLE, you may still be using home broadband with an old router provided by your ISP that runs Wi–Fi 5 — originally known as IEEE 802.11ac until the tech industry marketing people decided that Wi–Fi 5 looked better on the box. Your Apple gear may be similar — the last generation of Intel Macs, many older iPads, and even iPhones made before the introduction of the iPhone 11 in 2018 also use Wi–Fi 5.
Luckily, more recent Macs, iPhones and iPads have had the newer Wi–Fi 6 for a couple of years now. So if you have a device that supports Wi–Fi 6, then it’s worth buying a new router that also supports it, as it provides higher performance and greater reliability for homes and businesses that have a lot of devices connected to the network all at the same time.