4 causes I am not upgrading to Wi-Fi 7 (a minimum of not but)

Usually, I attempt to keep as present with the most recent tech as I can, each for journalistic causes and since I perceive the advantages it could convey. As soon as you’ve got pushed an

electric car
, it is robust to return to one thing as noisy and fuel-hungry as a fuel car. I did not essentially want an

iPhone 16 Pro
— in truth, I generally suppose I ought to’ve gone with the bottom iPhone 16 as a substitute — however I do make full use of its always-on show and 5x telephoto lens.

One space the place I am constantly sluggish to improve is my Wi-Fi community. Whereas I would encourage you to leap to Wi-Fi 6 or 6E when you’re nonetheless utilizing a Wi-Fi 5/802.11ac router — it could make an enormous distinction, significantly when you’ve received lots of

smart home
equipment — there’s actually no motive to improve to Wi-Fi 7 but, so far as I am involved. Certainly when you’re shopping for your first-ever Wi-Fi router, you would possibly nonetheless be higher off getting a Wi-Fi 6E unit.

1

Most ISPs do not supply practically sufficient bandwidth

Like driving a Geo down the Autobahn

Pocketlint / Google Retailer / TP-Hyperlink

In concept, a fully-equipped Wi-Fi 7 router helps speeds as much as 46Gbps throughout its community. Single-band speeds are capped at 23Gbps, with particular person units more likely to prime out at 5.8Gbps — however even that is doubtless far sooner than the web you are paying for. In my own residence, I pay a premium simply to get 1Gbps on an excellent day. So even the 9.6Gbps community capability of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E is greater than sufficient, irrespective of if somebody is streaming a film from our

Plex server
similtaneously I am updating my iPhone.

You would possibly get some profit out of Wi-Fi 7 when you have a multi-gigabit web plan, however even 2Gbps speeds are uncommon, not to mention 5Gbps or increased. And naturally, you may must pay excessive triple-digit ISP payments every month, which in all probability is not price it even when everybody in your house is streaming 4K video concurrently. At 1Gbps, 4K streams aren’t a difficulty, and plenty of smaller file downloads are instantaneous, even with the diminished bandwidth accessible to particular person units.

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2

Most units do not assist Wi-Fi 7

First, you want an on-ramp to the Autobahn

A rising variety of telephones, laptops, and different units do assist Wi-Fi 7, together with my iPhone 16 Professional. However many are nonetheless restricted to Wi-Fi 6 or 6E, such because the MacBook Air or iPhone 16e, and also you’re fortunate if a TV or add-on media streamer helps something increased than Wi-Fi 6. There is a first rate likelihood that you have a variety of Wi-Fi 5 merchandise in your house, nonetheless — like an older video doorbell, or that hand-me-down pill your little one makes use of.

It will be a minimum of a yr or two earlier than Wi-Fi 7 turns into de facto in most client electronics. And with out compatibility, units merely cannot benefit from Wi-Fi 7’s bandwidth. Even when you do wait till then to improve, you may nearly actually be working a mixture of Wi-Fi 7 and 6/6E merchandise. That is advantageous — it is not like a Wi-Fi 6E laptop computer goes to develop into outdated anytime quickly.

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3

Entire-home Wi-Fi 7 techniques are nonetheless costly

Persistence will repay

When you stay in an condominium or bungalow, and you are not particularly choosy, yow will discover a mediocre-to-decent Wi-Fi 7 router for below $150. However if you would like one that may assist many units concurrently throughout a number of flooring, anticipate to pay an excellent chunk of change. Even Amazon’s entry-level Eero 7 mesh system prices $350 for a three-pack, and the higher solo routers from firms like Asus and Ubiquiti value upwards of $200, generally properly past that. Netgear’s top-of-the-line Orbi 970 mesh system begins at $1,500 for a two-pack.

Fortunately, router costs are likely to drop fairly predictably — and the Wi-Fi 7 spec is comparatively new, with certification having solely been opened in January 2024. In a yr or two, Wi-Fi 7 routers ought to be commoditized sufficient which you could get an honest mesh system for below $300, and a stable (if unspectacular) solo router at that $150 worth level. We’ll see — the tariff state of affairs and different financial components may conspire to maintain costs inflated. In any case, I simply can’t see any motive to improve my Eero Professional 6E setup, which I spent a fortune on three years in the past, so I would not have to fret about upgrades for some time.

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4

There are sometimes smarter methods to improve your property community

No must lay our a fortune

Pocket-lint / Canva

It is a simple mistake to suppose the one answer to enhancing your property community is to improve your router(s). Like I stated, it is in all probability price shopping for into Wi-Fi 6 or 6E when you’re nonetheless utilizing Wi-Fi 5, however as soon as you’ve got reached that threshold, there are issues you are able to do to boost speeds with out making a pricey funding.

When you’re utilizing a mesh system like my Eero Professional, as an illustration, you might be able to enhance efficiency by positioning your routers nearer to connecting units, and shopping for add-on routers (or extenders) if some units are nonetheless too distant. With any router, you may get a sooner, extra dependable connection for units when you can join them utilizing Ethernet cables. Some individuals will even go to the difficulty of utilizing an Ethernet backhaul (router-to-router hyperlink) for a mesh system, though that is in all probability overkill except you demand most Wi-Fi speeds all over the place in your house.

Generally, there are answers that do not value any cash in any respect. You would possibly have the ability to throttle units that do not really want the bandwidth they’re consuming, or disconnect ones you are now not utilizing that a lot. In your laptop, just remember to haven’t any pointless background apps working — seeding a bunch of torrents goes to sap any community.