Wi-Fi 7 is a Wi-Fi standard that is notable for its support of several features that provide notable improvements to wireless speed and connectivity. These features include the expansion of available wireless channels, as well as new features like Multi Link Operation (MLO).
Technology
While Wi-Fi 6 and 6E opened the use of the 160 MHz band for more wireless network traffic, Wi-Fi 7 expands on this by providing access to the 240 MHz and 320 MHz channels as well. These channels are significantly wider than those of previous generations, allowing for much higher speed as a result.
Wi-Fi 7 features improvements designed to address congestion and interference, providing tangible benefits to areas with multiple connected devices, or overlapping networks.
- Flexible Channel Utilization enables the eero network to utilize part of a wireless channel even if other parts of the channel are unavailable due to interference.
- Multi-RU through OFDMA allows wireless channels to be dissected into smaller segments to service multiple clients simultaneously, reducing lag.
- Multi-Link Operation (MLO) enables the combining of several frequencies across multiple bands to enable devices to connect to multiple bands simultaneously. Link to MLO article
Wi-Fi 7 eeros like the eero 7, eero Pro 7, eero Max 7 and eero Outdoor 7 can communicate with one another using Wi-Fi 7 technology, freeing up bandwidth on other channels for client devices while ensuring that TrueMesh works with maximum efficiency.
Compatibility
Wi-Fi 7 is a recently-introduced Wi-Fi standard with specific hardware requirements. While certain client devices are Wi-Fi 7 capable, older client devices built for Wi-Fi 6 or other previous Wi-Fi standards will not be compatible with Wi-Fi 7. This means that features such as MLO and other Wi-Fi 7 enhancements will not provide any tangible benefits to these older devices.
Devices that are designed for Wi-Fi 6 or older will connect to an eero 7 network using their existing Wi-Fi standards, and are compatible with eero 7 networks.
Additionally, Wi-Fi 7 backhaul is only supported for Wi-Fi 7 eeros. Wi-Fi 6 eeros or older will mesh with Wi-Fi 7 eeros, but will not utilize the newer Wi-Fi 7 enhancements.