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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

#101

Post by namibj »

bjackman wrote: post #41

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…

For your brick wall home situation; polarization duplex combined with some amount of beam forming/spatial-multiplexing plus importantly directional antennas on both sides of the wall would give you substantial gains even without increasing EIRP. Without EIRP increases it's the receiving side that needs the antenna to improve speed.

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

#102

Post by rr808 »

bjackman wrote: post #41

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…

Powerline networking is worth trying for this too.

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

#104

Post by rr808 »

robertlagrant wrote: post #40
blfr wrote: post #33

It's the first because we finally caught up on speed. We have it better than I imagined possible. Last year, I saw 1600 Mbit/s from the Internet at a normie's place with an ISP-provided router. Still have a cat 6 cable around the living room but haven't used it in the last 2 years. Not exactly wifi but I routinely get 600-800 Mbit on 5g networks in crowded areas.

It's 2026 and I'm running more cat-6 in my home to all my static devices. My theory is using wires lowers wireless contention, leaving more WiFi for the mobile devices.

Incidentally I ran cat6 to a few locations but its so thick and stiff I kinda regret it. The internet seems to think 5a is more than enough and 6 was a waste.

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

#106

Post by beAbU »

rr808 wrote: post #102
bjackman wrote: post #41

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…

Powerline networking is worth trying for this too.

Do you have personal success using powerline ethernet? I tried it once and it was utter shit.

A very expensive "up to 1000mbps" kit maxed out at ~200 when both devices were plugged into the same outlet. It just got worse with distance.

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

#107

Post by tatersolid »

fragmede wrote: post #89
blfr wrote: post #33

It's the first because we finally caught up on speed. We have it better than I imagined possible. Last year, I saw 1600 Mbit/s from the Internet at a normie's place with an ISP-provided router. Still have a cat 6 cable around the living room but haven't used it in the last 2 years. Not exactly wifi but I routinely get 600-800 Mbit on 5g networks in crowded areas.

I wired up my office, and thr speed test after was slower than on wifi. haven't had a chance to debug it yet, but it's something to consider.

USB Ethernet dongles generally suck. Even “name brand” dongles are cheap crap from contract manufacturers.

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

#108

Post by snicky »

fmajid wrote: post #83
JoshTriplett wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ethernet isn't just about speed, it's about reliability. Before I wired my office, I regularly experienced latency spikes and hangs on video calls. After upgrading, I essentially never do.

If you're using a Mac, it could be from the brain-dead way Apple OSes implement WiFi based geolocation. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31356730

Or from keeping AirDrop enabled all the time.

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

#109

Post by teleforce »

avhception wrote: post #23

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…

Perhaps you can try DECT NR+ the new reincarnation of DECT and also backward compatible with the original DECT [1]. It can also do roaming.

It's under 5G standard but for non-cellular connectivity that means you can use it without base-station like Wi-Fi direct. It's geared toward IoT but its data rates are from 1 Mbps up to 1.3 Gbps depending on the operating frequency and the type of modulation being used [2].

[1] DECT NR+: A technical dive into non-cellular 5G (30 comnents):

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39905644

[2] Technology: DECT NR+ [pdf]:

https://www.vdma.eu/documents/d/group-34568/technology_dect-...

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

#110

Post by theshrike79 »

beAbU wrote: post #106
rr808 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Powerline networking is worth trying for this too.

Do you have personal success using powerline ethernet? I tried it once and it was utter shit. A very expensive "up to 1000mbps" kit maxed out at ~200 when both devices were plugged into the same outlet. It just got worse with distance.

I tried this once too and instead bought a big-ass SRS bit and went through a concrete wall instead.

Rock solid and reliable networking =)

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