4 causes I am not upgrading to Wi-Fi 7 (not less than 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 actually convey. As soon as you have 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 reality, I typically assume I ought to’ve gone with the bottom iPhone 16 as an alternative — however I do make full use of its always-on show and 5x telephoto lens.

One space the place I am persistently sluggish to improve is my Wi-Fi community. Whereas I would encourage you to leap to Wi-Fi 6 or 6E for those who’re nonetheless utilizing a Wi-Fi 5/802.11ac router — it could actually make an enormous distinction, notably for those who’ve obtained plenty of

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

1

Most ISPs do not supply almost sufficient bandwidth

Like driving a Geo down the Autobahn

Pocketlint / Google Retailer / TP-Hyperlink

In idea, 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 prone to high 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 a superb day. So even the 9.6Gbps community capability of Wi-Fi 6 and 6E is greater than sufficient, regardless of if somebody is streaming a film from our

Plex server
concurrently I am updating my iPhone.

You may 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 most likely is not price it even when everybody in your house is streaming 4K video concurrently. At 1Gbps, 4K streams aren’t a difficulty, and lots of smaller file downloads are instantaneous, even with the lowered bandwidth accessible to particular person units.

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2

Most units do not help Wi-Fi 7

First, you want an on-ramp to the Autobahn

A rising variety of telephones, laptops, and different units do help 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 respectable likelihood that you have quite a few 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 may be not less than a 12 months or two earlier than Wi-Fi 7 turns into de facto in most shopper electronics. And with out compatibility, units merely cannot reap the benefits of Wi-Fi 7’s bandwidth. Even for those who do wait till then to improve, you may nearly actually be working a mixture of Wi-Fi 7 and 6/6E merchandise. That is high-quality — it isn’t like a Wi-Fi 6E laptop computer goes to develop into outdated anytime quickly.

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3

Complete-home Wi-Fi 7 techniques are nonetheless costly

Endurance will repay

For those who reside in an residence or bungalow, and you are not particularly choosy, you could find a mediocre-to-decent Wi-Fi 7 router for below $150. However if you would like one that may help many units concurrently throughout a number of flooring, count on to pay a superb 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, typically nicely 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 12 months or two, Wi-Fi 7 routers must be commoditized sufficient that you would be able to 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 elements might conspire to maintain costs inflated. In any case, I simply can’t see any purpose 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 private home community

No have to lay our a fortune

Pocket-lint / Canva

It is a straightforward mistake to assume the one answer to enhancing your private home community is to improve your router(s). Like I stated, it is most likely price shopping for into Wi-Fi 6 or 6E for those who’re nonetheless utilizing Wi-Fi 5, however as soon as you have reached that threshold, there are issues you are able to do to reinforce speeds with out making a pricey funding.

For those who’re utilizing a mesh system like my Eero Professional, as an illustration, you could possibly enhance efficiency by positioning your routers nearer to connecting units, and shopping for add-on routers (or extenders) if some units are nonetheless too far-off. With any router, you may get a sooner, extra dependable connection for units for those who 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 most likely overkill except you demand most Wi-Fi speeds in every single place in your house.

Typically, there are answers that do not value any cash in any respect. You may be capable of throttle units that do not actually need the bandwidth they’re consuming, or disconnect ones you are not utilizing that a lot. In your pc, just remember to have no pointless background apps operating — seeding a bunch of torrents goes to sap any community.