Wi-Fi 7 quietly took off while everyone was looking at AI

return2ozma@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 370 points –
Wi-Fi 7 quietly took off while everyone was looking at AI
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Isn't wifi good enough for everyone already? I mean, it's great to have upgrades but pretty much nobody needs it

But this one is one better.

Agreed. What tipped me off was the number 7, which is 1 higher than the number 6. I can't believe people can't see how much better it is!

To be fair, we're getting diminishing returns every iteration. 7 is only 1/6th more than the last one. And 8 will be just 1/7th. I don't blame people for being a little fatigued by this.

Most don't need faster internet than 50mbits/s either, doesn't mean you won't like having it. A more reliable and faster wi-fi is always welcome.

The biggest benefit to wifi 7 that I'm excited about is streaming wireless VR headsets without extra equipment to a PC.

Could you elaborate on this? I think you mean wireless PCVR over wifi, but that's achievable lag free on wifi 5

Currently video is being transmitted compressed with up to 50ms of lag, from what I can find. Wifi 7 should be able to fix both those issues.

https://www.roadtovr.com/wifi-7-certified-launch-latency-wireless-vr/

They don't specify how near zero "near-zero" is, but I use an Oculus Quest 2 and VR Desktop and the latency is 4-8ms, which is 0.5-1 frame at 120fps. I know Air Link is bad, but that seems more down to their software than anything else so a higher tech router isn't going to do much

That's Wifi6E already. Though iirc the Quest 3 doesn't fully support it's drivers yet for max speed

Sure, it’s already good enough for everything I use it for. However, I hope and expect to be doing cool new shit with way better wifi in 20 years. So, in the chicken and egg problem of technical capability vs cool applications, I am fine with increasing specs way in advance of killer apps.

No. It's not good enough yet. I'd like to have wifi that doesn't instantly drop speeds if I'm not less than 2ft away from the router. Still waiting on that technology. Wifi will never be "good enough" until it's as good as ethernet.

And Wifi will never be as good as Ethernet assuming both standards continue to evolve.

Oh yeah? Tell me when they make Ethernet wireless /s

Wifi cannot ever be better than ethernet because all APs will use ethernet to connect out to other things.

But wifi 6 on my laptop can reach higher speeds than the ethernet port on my laptop. In that regard it actually is better.

True, but that's just your laptop. Ethernet can reach 25 gigabits far and away faster than any wifi.

That's why I said "pretty much everybody", because I knew there was you

WiFi 7 isn’t gonna make the range issue better. IIRC it makes a mesh network even more necessary.

That's probably fixed by getting a better quality router or adding access points if the issue is the building blocking signals. That's not a problem with the standard, and the new standards are for even higher speeds which actually have lower range at those bandwidths.