TP-Link Wi-Fi 7 super-speed is coming in 2023 (network)

17/11/2022
By Ray Shaw
In Announcements Featured News

TP-Link Wi-Fi 7 super-speed networking is coming in 2023 and promises up to 4.8 the speed of Wi-Fi 6 and 13x over Wi-fi 5.

Wi-Fi 7 or 802.11BE is backwards compatible with all previous generations of Wi-Fi. It is up to router makers to determine how they implement the 2.4Ghz, 5GHz and 6GHz, tri-or-quad-band, bandwidths, streams and more go-fast stuff like Multi-RU, Preamble Puncturing (lower latency), 4K QAM, Multi-Link aggregation (MLO) and more.

What we do know for sure is that you will need Wi-Fi 6e or 7 devices to use the 6GHz band. But some benefits also flow over to Wi-Fi 5 AC 5GHz devices.

TP-Link says there are currently over 9 billion Wi-Fi networks. It is very crowded, as you will note when you look at available networks on your PC or smartphone. These are all sharing the same resource – bandwidth and channels. At this time, 6Ghz is largely unused.

Wi-Fi 7 (like 6E) opens massive extra bandwidth on the 6GHz channel (potentially 320Mhz instead of 160Mhz now), 16 streams (now 12) and 4K QAM (120% more data transmission). The result is a potential 46Gbps versus 9.6Gbps for Wi-Fi 6.

What this means

Frankly, it is evolution, not revolution – the next step after Wi-Fi 6 and 6E. It makes more use of the 6GHz band.

Technically it makes every part of the bandwidth available for use – so you get better throughput with 5Ghz and 6Ghz devices.

TP-Link Wi-Fi 7 products

While it will have a full range of products to cover all areas, its focus at launch will be high-end Archer routes and Deco Mesh. TP-Link adds that, unlike many brands that use OEM/ODM (third-party) designs, it has self-developed the hardware and software – full stack development and manufacturing in-house.

But there is a caveat for Australia. Wi-Fi 7 use is regulated by the ACMA approval in Australia (Australian Communications and Media Authority). Its use is subject to future legislation, which has, so far, hobbled Wi-Fi 6E bandwidth and signal strength compared to the US and Europe. It is a fair bet that Wi-Fi 7 won’t be seen here until the standard is ratified, and that could be sometime in 2024. The figures used in this post assume maximum bandwidth use.

Deco BE95 Mesh

Quad Band 33GBps (BE 33,000)
11,520Mhz 6GHz 1 (can be Wi-Fi backhaul)
11,520 6GHz 2
8,640Mhz 5GHz
1,148Mbps 2.4Ghz
2 x 10GBps WAN/LAN and 2 x 2.5GBps WAN/LAN (Wired FTTP or Ethernet backhaul)
12 Antenna and 16 streams
New Multi-band Wi-Fi and Ethernet backhaul to aggregate backhaul
AI roaming technology – seamless handoff
IoT hub and Matter support and able to add Thread
New Powerline Ethernet over Power Solutions
Indoor and outdoor solutions
Matter approved

Also, in BE22000 (BE85), and BE11000 (BE65) and interoperable with Deco Wi-Fi 6/6E products

Router Archer BE900

Quad Band 24Gbps (BE24,000)
11520Mbps 6Ghz
5760Mbps 5Ghz 1
5760Mbps 5Ghz 2
1367Mbps 2.4Ghz
12 antennae and 16 steams – better 3D coverage (multi-directional)
2 x 10GBps Lan and wan ports, 4 x 2.5Gbps

Also in BE22000 Triband (BE900) and BE9300 Tri-band (BE550)

Gaming router – Archer GE800

Tri-band 19Gbps (BE19,000)
2 x 10Gbps WAN/LAN
2 x 2.5Gbps WAN/LAN
4 x Gigabit LAN
Game panel – low latency, high reliability, new tools, Game QoS, Game Server access
WTFast in-built and support for popular games
Mobile game one-click acceleration
Dedicated Mobile gaming band
Lighting

CyberShack’s view – TP-Link Wi-Fi 7 super-speed networking is coming – someday

While it is nice to know about this stuff, the question remains what should I buy today?

The answer now is Should I buy a 6 or 6E Wi-Fi router? (network guide).

I can only speak from my experience as a long-term Wi-Fi user. There is only one rule – you can never have too much speed. See the Mesh heat map examples below.