Wi-Fi generations
Generation IEEE
standard 		Adopted Maximum
link rate
(Mbit/s) 		Radio
frequency
(GHz)
Wi-Fi 8 802.11bn 2028 100,000 [1] 2.4, 5, 6, 7,
42.5, 71 [2]
Wi-Fi 7 802.11be 2024 1376–46,120 2.4, 5, 6 [3]
Wi-Fi 6E 802.11ax 2020 574–9608 [4] 6 [a]
Wi-Fi 6 2019 2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac 2014 433–6933 5 [b]
Wi-Fi 4 802.11n 2008 72–600 2.4, 5
(Wi-Fi 3)* 802.11g 2003 6–54 2.4
(Wi-Fi 2)* 802.11a 1999 5
(Wi-Fi 1)* 802.11b 1999 1–11 2.4
(Wi-Fi 0)* 802.11 1997 1–2 2.4
*Wi‑Fi 0, 1, 2, and 3 are named by retroactive inference.
They do not exist in the official nomenclature. [5] [6] [7]

IEEE 802.11be, dubbed Extremely High Throughput (EHT), is the latest of the IEEE 802.11 standard,[8][9] which is designated Wi-Fi 7.[10][11][12] It has built upon 802.11ax, focusing on WLAN indoor and outdoor operation with stationary and pedestrian speeds in the 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz frequency bands.[13]

Throughput is believed to reach a theoretical maximum of 46 Gbit/s, although actual results are much lower.[14]

Development of the 802.11be amendment is ongoing, with an initial draft in March 2021, and a final version expected by the end of 2024.[11][15][16] Despite this, numerous products were announced in 2022 based on draft standards, with retail availability in early 2023. On 8 January 2024, the Wi-Fi Alliance introduced its "Wi-Fi Certified 7" program to certify Wi-Fi 7 devices. While final ratification is not expected until the end of 2024, the technical requirements are essentially complete.[14]

The global Wi-Fi 7 market is estimated at US$1 billion in 2023, and is projected to reach US$24.2 billion by 2030.[17]

Core features

The following are core features that have been approved as of Draft 3.0:

Candidate features

The main candidate features mentioned in the 802.11be Project Authorization Request (PAR) are:[19]

Additional features

Apart from the features mentioned in the PAR, there are newly introduced features:[23]

Rate set

Modulation and coding schemes
MCS

index[i]

Modulation

type

Coding

rate

Data rate (Mbit/s)[ii]
20 MHz channels 40 MHz channels 80 MHz channels 160 MHz channels 320 MHz channels
3200 ns GI[iii] 1600 ns GI 800 ns GI 3200 ns GI 1600 ns GI 800 ns GI 3200 ns GI 1600 ns GI 800 ns GI 3200 ns GI 1600 ns GI 800 ns GI 3200 ns GI 1600 ns GI 800 ns GI
0 BPSK 1/2 7 8 9 15 16 17 31 34 36 61 68 72 123 136 144
1 QPSK 1/2 15 16 17 29 33 34 61 68 72 122 136 144 245 272 288
2 QPSK 3/4 22 24 26 44 49 52 92 102 108 184 204 216 368 408 432
3 16-QAM 1/2 29 33 34 59 65 69 123 136 144 245 272 282 490 544 577
4 16-QAM 3/4 44 49 52 88 98 103 184 204 216 368 408 432 735 817 865
5 64-QAM 2/3 59 65 69 117 130 138 245 272 288 490 544 576 980 1089 1153
6 64-QAM 3/4 66 73 77 132 146 155 276 306 324 551 613 649 1103 1225 1297
7 64-QAM 5/6 73 81 86 146 163 172 306 340 360 613 681 721 1225 1361 1441
8 256-QAM 3/4 88 98 103 176 195 207 368 408 432 735 817 865 1470 1633 1729
9 256-QAM 5/6 98 108 115 195 217 229 408 453 480 817 907 961 1633 1815 1922
10 1024-QAM 3/4 110 122 129 219 244 258 459 510 540 919 1021 1081 1838 2042 2162
11 1024-QAM 5/6 122 135 143 244 271 287 510 567 600 1021 1134 1201 2042 2269 2402
12 4096-QAM 3/4 131 146 155 263 293 310 551 613 649 1103 1225 1297 2205 2450 2594
13 4096-QAM 5/6 146 163 172 293 325 344 613 681 721 1225 1361 1441 2450 2722 2882
14 BPSK-DCM-DUP 1/2 7 8 9 15 17 18 31 34 36
15 BPSK-DCM 1/2 4 4 4 7 8 9 15 17 18 31 34 36 61 68 72

Comparison

802.11 network standards
Frequency
range,
or type 		PHY Protocol Release
date [24] 		Frequency Bandwidth Stream
data rate [25] 		Allowable
MIMO streams 		Modulation Approximate
range
Indoor Outdoor
(GHz) (MHz) (Mbit/s)
1–7 GHz DSSS[26], FHSS[A] 802.11-1997 June 1997 2.4 22 1, 2 — DSSS, FHSS[A] 20 m (66 ft) 100 m (330 ft)
HR/DSSS [26] 802.11b September 1999 2.4 22 1, 2, 5.5, 11 — CCK, DSSS 35 m (115 ft) 140 m (460 ft)
OFDM 802.11a September 1999 5 5, 10, 20 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 36, 48, 54
(for 20 MHz bandwidth,
divide by 2 and 4 for 10 and 5 MHz) 		— OFDM 35 m (115 ft) 120 m (390 ft)
802.11j November 2004 4.9, 5.0
[B][27] 		? ?
802.11y November 2008 3.7 [C] ? 5,000 m (16,000 ft)[C]
802.11p July 2010 5.9 200 m 1,000 m (3,300 ft)[28]
802.11bd December 2022 5.9, 60 500 m 1,000 m (3,300 ft)
ERP-OFDM[29] 802.11g June 2003 2.4 38 m (125 ft) 140 m (460 ft)
HT-OFDM [30] 802.11n
(Wi-Fi 4) 		October 2009 2.4, 5 20 Up to 288.8[D] 4 MIMO-OFDM
(64-QAM) 		70 m (230 ft) 250 m (820 ft)[31]
40 Up to 600[D]
VHT-OFDM [30] 802.11ac
(Wi-Fi 5) 		December 2013 5 20 Up to 693[D] 8 DL
MU-MIMO OFDM
(256-QAM) 		35 m (115 ft)[32] ?
40 Up to 1600[D]
80 Up to 3467[D]
160 Up to 6933[D]
HE-OFDMA 802.11ax
(Wi-Fi 6,
Wi-Fi 6E) 		May 2021 2.4, 5, 6 20 Up to 1147[E] 8 UL/DL
MU-MIMO OFDMA
(1024-QAM) 		30 m (98 ft) 120 m (390 ft) [F]
40 Up to 2294[E]
80 Up to 4804[E]
80+80 Up to 9608[E]
EHT-OFDMA 802.11be
(Wi-Fi 7) 		Dec 2024
(est.) 		2.4, 5, 6 80 Up to 11.5 Gbit/s[E] 16 UL/DL
MU-MIMO OFDMA
(4096-QAM) 		30 m (98 ft) 120 m (390 ft) [F]
160
(80+80) 		Up to 23 Gbit/s[E]
240
(160+80) 		Up to 35 Gbit/s[E]
320
(160+160) 		Up to 46.1 Gbit/s[E]
UHR 802.11bn
(Wi-Fi 8) 		May 2028
(est.) 		2.4, 5, 6,
42, 60, 71 		320 Up to
100000
(100 Gbit/s) 		16 Multi-link
MU-MIMO OFDM
(8192-QAM) 		? ?
WUR [G] 802.11ba October 2021 2.4, 5 4, 20 0.0625, 0.25
(62.5 kbit/s, 250 kbit/s) 		— OOK (multi-carrier OOK) ? ?
mmWave
(WiGig) 		DMG [33] 802.11ad December 2012 60 2160
(2.16 GHz) 		Up to 8085[34]
(8 Gbit/s) 		— OFDM[A], single carrier, low-power single carrier[A] 3.3 m (11 ft)[35] ?
802.11aj April 2018 60 [H] 1080[36] Up to 3754
(3.75 Gbit/s) 		— single carrier, low-power single carrier[A] ? ?
CMMG 802.11aj April 2018 45 [H] 540,
1080 		Up to 15015[37]
(15 Gbit/s) 		4 [38] OFDM, single carrier ? ?
EDMG [39] 802.11ay July 2021 60 Up to 8640
(8.64 GHz) 		Up to 303336[40]
(303 Gbit/s) 		8 OFDM, single carrier 10 m (33 ft) 100 m (328 ft)
Sub 1 GHz (IoT) TVHT [41] 802.11af February 2014 0.054–
0.79 		6, 7, 8 Up to 568.9[42] 4 MIMO-OFDM ? ?
S1G [41] 802.11ah May 2017 0.7, 0.8,
0.9 		1–16 Up to 8.67[43]
(@2 MHz) 		4 ? ?
Light
(Li-Fi) 		LC
(VLC/OWC) 		802.11bb December 2023
(est.) 		800–1000 nm 20 Up to 9.6 Gbit/s — O-OFDM ? ?
IR[A]
(IrDA) 		802.11-1997 June 1997 850–900 nm ? 1, 2 — PPM[A] ? ?
802.11 Standard rollups
  802.11-2007 (802.11ma) March 2007 2.4, 5 Up to 54 DSSS, OFDM
802.11-2012 (802.11mb) March 2012 2.4, 5 Up to 150[D] DSSS, OFDM
802.11-2016 (802.11mc) December 2016 2.4, 5, 60 Up to 866.7 or 6757[D] DSSS, OFDM
802.11-2020 (802.11md) December 2020 2.4, 5, 60 Up to 866.7 or 6757[D] DSSS, OFDM
802.11me September 2024
(est.) 		2.4, 5, 6, 60 Up to 9608 or 303336 DSSS, OFDM
  1. ^ a b c d e f g This is obsolete, and support for this might be subject to removal in a future revision of the standard
  2. ^ For Japanese regulation.
  3. ^ a b IEEE 802.11y-2008 extended operation of 802.11a to the licensed 3.7 GHz band. Increased power limits allow a range up to 5,000 m. As of 2009, it is only being licensed in the United States by the FCC.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Based on short guard interval; standard guard interval is ~10% slower. Rates vary widely based on distance, obstructions, and interference.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h For single-user cases only, based on default guard interval which is 0.8 microseconds. Since multi-user via OFDMA has become available for 802.11ax, these may decrease. Also, these theoretical values depend on the link distance, whether the link is line-of-sight or not, interferences and the multi-path components in the environment.
  6. ^ a b The default guard interval is 0.8 microseconds. However, 802.11ax extended the maximum available guard interval to 3.2 microseconds, in order to support Outdoor communications, where the maximum possible propagation delay is larger compared to Indoor environments.
  7. ^ Wake-up Radio (WUR) Operation.
  8. ^ a b For Chinese regulation.

802.11be Task Group

The 802.11be Task Group is led by individuals affiliated with Qualcomm, Intel, and Broadcom. Those affiliated with Huawei, Maxlinear, NXP, and Apple also have senior positions.[16]

Commercial availability

Qualcomm announced its FastConnect 7800 series on 28 Feb 2022 using 14 nm chips.[44][45] As of March 2023, the company claims 175 devices will be using their Wi-Fi 7 chips, including smartphones, routers, and access points.[46]

Broadcom followed on 12 April 2022 with a series of 5 chips covering home, commercial, and enterprise uses.[47] The company unveiled its second generation Wi-Fi 7 chips on 20 June 2023 featuring tri-band MLO support and lower costs.[48]

The TP-Link Archer BE900 wireless router was available to consumers in April 2023.[49] The company's Deco BE95 mesh networking system was also available that month. Asus, eero, Linksys, and Netgear had Wi-fi 7 wireless routers available by the end of 2023.

The ARRIS SURFboard G54 is a DOCSIS 3.1 cable gateway featuring Wi-Fi 7. It became available in October 2023.

Client devices

The OnePlus 11 smartphone was released in February 2023. It uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with Wi-Fi 7 enabled. The OnePlus Open also features Wi-Fi 7 support.[50]

The ASUS ROG Phone 7 is a gaming smartphone announced in April 2023. It also uses Qualcomm's Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with Wi-Fi 7 enabled.

The Lenovo Legion Slim 7 Gen8 laptop supports Wi-Fi 7 using the MediaTek Filogic 380 Wi-Fi 7 card.[51]

The Google Pixel 8 and Pixel 8 Pro both feature Wi-Fi 7 support and were available globally in October 2023.[52]

Intel launched the BE200 and BE202 wireless adapters for desktop and laptop motherboards in September 2023.[53]

The Asus ROG Strix Z790 E II motherboard is among the first with built-in Wi-Fi 7.[54]

Software

Android 13 and higher provide support for Wi-Fi 7.[55]

The Linux 6.2 kernel provides support for Wi-Fi 7 devices.[56] The 6.4 kernel added Wi-Fi 7 mesh support.[57] Linux 6.5 included significant driver support by Intel engineers, particularly support for MLO.[58]

Support for Wi-Fi 7 was added to Windows 11, as of build 26063.1.[59][60]

Notes

  1. ^ MCS 9 is not applicable to all combinations of channel width and spatial stream count.
  2. ^ Per spatial stream.
  3. ^ GI stands for guard interval.
  1. ^ Wi-Fi 6E is the industry name that identifies Wi-Fi devices that operate in 6 GHz. Wi-Fi 6E offers the features and capabilities of Wi-Fi 6 extended into the 6 GHz band.
  2. ^ 802.11ac only specifies operation in the 5 GHz band. Operation in the 2.4 GHz band is specified by 802.11n.

References

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