Finally, the newest iPhone is Wi-Fi 7 enabled. Naturally, many IT teams will have that all-encompassing, nagging feeling: is now the time to rush to upgrade my network? It makes sense–many legacy vendors are starting to advertise Wi-Fi 7 and are pushing the urgency to upgrade as soon as possible.
What if you never had to ask yourself that question again? What if you could pay a predictable monthly subscription and get Wi-Fi 7 for no additional cost when it makes sense for your team, business, and users?
With Meter, you don’t have to worry about these hardware lifecycle questions, and you’ll still benefit from the latest and greatest networking updates. Upgrade based on the data, not hype.
What is Wi-Fi 7?
Wi-Fi 7 will be the latest generation of wireless networking technology, also known as IEEE 802.11be or Extremely High Throughput (EHT). It will offer robust reliability, faster speeds, and improved efficiency, representing a significant advancement over its predecessors, Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. Learn everything you need to know about the Wi-Fi 7 updates here.
Despite all the hype, 802.11be has not actually been ratified yet; it’s still in draft. Although it was certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance in January 2024, IEEE has yet to make those specs official. That should happen in late 2024, which means minor changes to the standard may yet be on the horizon. There may yet be interoperability kinks to troubleshoot and inevitable firmware upgrades that your team will need to stay up-to-date on.
Are enterprises capable of leveraging Wi-Fi 7’s new features today?
Data rates of up to 46.1 Gbps, multi-link operations to connect simultaneously across multiple frequency bands, and ultra-low latency of 5 ms all sound promising in theory, but what are the actual use cases for enterprises? As of now, there aren’t many.
According to the Wi-Fi Alliance, mobile devices such as the ASUS Zenphone, Google Pixel 8, OnePlus 11, Samsung Galaxy S24, Xiaomi 13T Pro, the Windows Surface tablet, and now the iPhone 16 are currently the only popular clients with Wi-Fi 7 compatibility. Looking at adoption curves of past iPhone releases, it took at least four months before adoption even reached 3%.
Intel recently released three chips that support it, and Windows 11 is compatible, but those won’t be incorporated into laptops for some time. Most vendors are waiting for IEEE to officially ratify Wi-Fi 7 before they start building devices that may require changes.
If you’re a 3PL firm operating warehouses with IoT devices, it’s unlikely you’d completely swap out your entire capital investment if your business runs efficiently on Wi-Fi 6 or older. If you run an office, it’s expensive and impractical to completely refresh your laptop line just to take advantage of Wi-Fi 7. Let alone schools that assign laptops to students.
The benefits of new technologies are always enticing. Still, the driving factors for a decision as big as a complete network refresh should prioritize offering our users a reliable experience, device interoperability, and seamless roaming. Currently, there simply aren’t enough client devices to support Wi-Fi 7’s (undeniably) great new features in almost every situation.
Why make this massive investment if your team, business, and users won’t benefit?
Why Meter aims for quality, not speed to market
At Meter, we will never put you in the position to decide when to upgrade. We are happy to make that decision for you: to provide your team, business, and employees with the most performant, secure, and reliable network possible. When achieving that goal requires a Wi-Fi 7 AP, you’ll see those installed at your sites—no time or stress required and at no additional cost.
We believe no IT or Networking team should optimize their enterprise network and spend excessive amounts of capital based on hype. We believe in making data-driven decisions on when to refresh your network. There is no need to upgrade just so a few early adopters can stream TikTok on their iPhone 16 Pro well, while the vast majority of their deployed devices for actual work will not support it until 2025 or beyond.
Meter's goal is never to introduce the first version of new hardware for anything, especially if the technology hasn’t even been ratified yet. We aim to be the best, fully tested and integrated, with clear outcomes for customers.
As of September 2024, we don’t have a Wi-Fi 7 SKU we’re pushing you to purchase. Nevertheless, we are working on a Wi-Fi 7 access point and will automatically roll it out and upgrade our customers in Spring 2025—before or around the same time your company is starting to adopt client devices that can reap the benefits of Wi-Fi 7.
Want to learn more about how your business can get upgrades for life?