this post was submitted on 11 Dec 2023
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Wi-Fi 7 to get the final seal of approval early next year, new standard is up to 4.8 times faster than Wi-Fi 6::There are a lot of 'draft' Wi-Fi 7 devices around, but 'Wi-Fi 7 Certified' devices will only come to market sometime next year.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 11 months ago (4 children)

I am just glad that 6E and 7 have access to 6GHz so that once my devices support it i can disable both 2.4 and 5GHz to lower interference from neighboring networks. The higher it goes in frequency the less interference everyone will get.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Less RF interference, sure, but a lot more wall and physical object interference as the higher frequencies aren't able to go through them nearly as well.

Overall, it's great to have more spectrum available, especially in a less crowded range. More options means more optimal solutions to be had.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just wait until we enter the gamma spectrum, then it should be quite penetrative.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

They already have that, but it's only been a limited release so far. Just a drop in the ocean.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Thats true. And the higher it goes the more money you have to spend to properly network. I have heard 60GHz requires you to be in the same room as the AP but gives fantastic speeds. What i eventually plan on doing is buying say a 24 port PoE switch and running 2 cables to the ceiling in each room (for redundancy) and putting an AP in every room. I know that will cost a good chunk of money, but with an AP in every room that would future proof the network for higher and higher frequencies in the future.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (2 children)

If you're wanting to future proof, run conduit not just wires. For now a setup like that is overkill and probably straight up won't work well, since roaming is a client decision and the clients make really silly choices sometimes.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Yep! once everything runs on fiber or USB C, you can easily pull more wires to that location!

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

I keep seeing this brought up but I can't find information on how they work. How do you actually get new wire through a conduit? Do they not get stuck in corners? Or on the ridges of the tubes? What if you need to send wires upwards?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

A pull string is typically vacuumed though the conduit and left inside for attaching to and pulling wires through.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Pull a pull string in the conduit along with the wires.

When you pull new cable you use the existing pull string and pull a new pull string through the conduit at the same time; this was you still have a pull string.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

This is it. All this speed is theoretical, unless you’re willing to fork out a lot for a grid of APs with LoS.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

60GHz is more of a PTP or PTMP use case spectrum i.e. outdoor, long range, high throughput, but requires line of sight.

I have an enterprise style network stack like you described, albeit a bit more. It allows me to be dedicate a single spectrum per SSID e.g. my IoT network is only 2.4GHz, or use multiple spectrums across multiple access points for a single SSID e.g. guest wifi uses 2.4GHz & 5GHz across several across points for roaming.

I also live in a location where that's required, or at least, warranted do to the coverage area and physical layout.

So with that said, you can't future proof yourself with an AP, as standards evolve and change - but you can somewhat protect yourself by running the right cable (Cat 6a). Regardless, if you're just trying it get wifi in two rooms, you probably only need a single access point, but far be it for me to lecture someone on excessive home IT spending.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I need more than one access point for sure. My house is made of brick and even the internal walls are extremely thick. So signals have real trouble penetrating the walls. That is why i intend to do 1 ap/room.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

Without knowing your floorplan, I can't really provide any additional insight.

I would just add that I'm guessing your doors aren't brick, so a ceiling mounted AP in a hallway, or another central location, would likely be able to provide good coverage through any doors within range.

Regardless, running quality cable conduit, and doing it properly, is the single best and most impactful thing you can do.

Good luck.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I am about 30FT from the router through 2 brick walls ~10 inches thick. 5GHz is to weak to be used at that range and will disconnect. I have to use 2.4 to stay connected.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (3 children)

It'd be real freakin awesome if every IoT device didn't still rely on 2.4Ghz

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Cheaper wi-fi NIC for cheap devices. Won’t change. Those devices use so little bandwidth and often are placed all over the house so 2.4G’s greater ability to pass through walls / floors makes 2.4G ideal for those devices.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

But also prone to interference whenever the microwave is used. My wireless headphones lose their shit when the microwave kicks on

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

I think the more expensive microwave body offers better isolation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Same happened to me.

I bought a new microwave.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Tell me about it. I find that stupid as hell.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

It's a good excuse to use your old router on a separate network for those devices. If you have a smart enough switch, you can even keep them completely off your LAN, which can be good for security. YMMV though, and if you need direct access it won't work that way.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (3 children)

You wont want to disable 2.4 and 5GHz on wifi 7. The reason it gets so much higher speeds than 6e is that it can send data on all 3 spectrum simultaneously. If you turn off 2.4 and 5GHz you would essentially be limiting yourself to 1/2 speed.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Yeah, it can do that. On cellular its called carrier aggrigation. However imo only having access to 320MHz of 6GHz spectum (3.2GBPS) is fine.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 11 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Are the 320mhz wide channels going to be actually usable in the real world though? wider channels increase chance of interference. That’s why nearly everyone recommends 80mhz wide channels on 5ghz even though 160mhz channels have been available for a while. You dont usually see speed increases in the real world with the 160mhz channels except in specific situations.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Some day most people will upgrade their devices and it will become smarter to go back to 5GHz

Would be funny, anyway

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

Maybe, bur doubtful since lower frequency goes farther