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Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

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Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are not missing too much. One of the core features (MLO) is currently mostly scam. APs/Clients negotiate the protocol (and it shows up in the status) but doesn't it to either increase robustness or bandwidth (by combining/switching between two frequency bands). Also the driver quality is a huge mess. (We tested it using the latest generation Cisco Enterprise gear but also with Prosumer stuff like Ubiquiti or TP-L…

It sounds like you're talking about throughput aggregation, which indeed no device currently supports. Not even Apple's most recent devices have any sign of it, except that M5 Pro/Max MacBook Pro models are tested for simultaneous transmission on 2.4+5GHz and 2.4+6GHz: https://mrncciew.com/2026/03/17/macbook-pro-m5-wi-fi-7-missi...

> which indeed no device currently supports

Aren't devices with Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200/BE202 are supporting that?

As well as latest Samsung phones?

Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#72
post #44

I recently upgraded from a WiFi 5 router to a WiFi 7 one, and my bandwidth increase was a grand 0% (that's ok though I was actually just sick of my old router's shitty UI!) There is about 10m and a brick wall between my AP and my desk so yeah, a fancy new MCS that can theoretically deliver 25Gbps was just never gonna be useful to me. Also I've worked on (other non-WiFi) 802.11 products where our competitive edge was…

How often do you see your router's UI to justify any change?

My router is slightly loadbearing for my homelab so probably much more often than average!

Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Warehouses, factories, etc need private 5G, not Wi-Fi.

Industrial 5G is super expensive. Also almost impossible to find a vendor that offers all the nice protocol features (Low Latency, native Ethernet tunneling, etc.) in their infrastructure.

Most don't want you to setup your own APN ;-)

Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#74
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Industrial 5G is super expensive. Also almost impossible to find a vendor that offers all the nice protocol features (Low Latency, native Ethernet tunneling, etc.) in their infrastructure.

Most don't want you to setup your own APN ;-)

That's a standard IoT usecase almost all telcos offer.

We have industrial SIMs with our own APN and get a IPSec tunnel to the Telco where we have a dedicated network to see our devices.

Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#75
post #44

I recently upgraded from a WiFi 5 router to a WiFi 7 one, and my bandwidth increase was a grand 0% (that's ok though I was actually just sick of my old router's shitty UI!) There is about 10m and a brick wall between my AP and my desk so yeah, a fancy new MCS that can theoretically deliver 25Gbps was just never gonna be useful to me. Also I've worked on (other non-WiFi) 802.11 products where our competitive edge was…

How often do you see your router's UI to justify any change?

I had a TP-Link deco, which while great as mesh, you couldn't limit the speed of certain devices. Which was again fine, except when the PlayStation 5 in a room could literally saturate the whole 250mbs bandwidth of my internet and when it would do an update would make our whole houses internet unusable.

It's seriously impressive how it wasnt possible to set per device speed limits or even QoS which has been a thing since like 2007

Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#76

We need reliable, real-world ~20mbit/s for our warehouse scanners, not 382722 theoretical Gbit/s 5cm from the access point. And roaming that works instead of stupid clients clinging to somewhere or being thrown into a reconnect loop when the AP tries to get them to roam. I know this is theoretically possible today. But in the real world, I have inherited the setup, so AP locations are fixed for now, clients are some…

LoRa is quite nice for this in the lower frequency bands, and the bandwidth should suffice for this sorta thing. And the tech is super cheap to build and maintain, both hardware and software is open source.

Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was recently made aware of WiFi HaLow. Official standard, ranges into the hundreds of meters. Speed suffers at long ranges of course, but still respectable (50-100kbs). Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ah

Difficult within the EU due to ISM limits. Maybe ok for your garden camera where the authorities just don't care. But no go for any industrial usage.

Phew, I looked it up, just by curiosity. What a nightmare :') the rules, regulations, laws are damn strict Oo

Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#78
post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Difficult within the EU due to ISM limits. Maybe ok for your garden camera where the authorities just don't care. But no go for any industrial usage.

Phew, I looked it up, just by curiosity. What a nightmare :') the rules, regulations, laws are damn strict Oo

Usually this rules are for experts who have to implement the limits. They should not be exposed to end-users.

Re: Wi-Fi 8 is the first wireless upgrade in years that isn't chasing speed

#80
post #39

We need reliable, real-world ~20mbit/s for our warehouse scanners, not 382722 theoretical Gbit/s 5cm from the access point. And roaming that works instead of stupid clients clinging to somewhere or being thrown into a reconnect loop when the AP tries to get them to roam. I know this is theoretically possible today. But in the real world, I have inherited the setup, so AP locations are fixed for now, clients are some…

Sounds like your old, random clients might be a problem?

One of many, yes!
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