If you’ve lately been mulling over whether to upgrade your home network to Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be), the simple answer is: unless you urgently need a new router, you shouldn’t.
Wi-Fi 7 is blazing fast, and we’re slowly getting relatively affordable routers, but Wi-Fi 8 is just around the corner, and current standards like Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E still offer more than enough bandwidth and features for most people.
Tri-band Wi-Fi 7 routers are still very expensive
And most lack a defining Wi-Fi 7 feature
The biggest, or better to say, most expensive issue with Wi-Fi 7 is the price of admission. You can get affordable Wi-Fi 7 routers, but the kicker is that most budget models don’t support the 6GHz band, which defeats the point of upgrading to Wi-Fi 7. If you don’t need 6GHz connectivity, there’s little reason to switch to Wi-Fi 7 in the first place.
Routers that do include 6GHz are still pricey. The cheapest ones go for around $200, while Wi-Fi 7 mesh systems with 6GHz start closer to $300. Step up to better-equipped models, and you’re looking at $250+ for a regular router or $400+ for a mesh setup.
Quiz
Home networking & Wi-Fi
Think you know your routers from your repeaters — put your home networking know-how to the ultimate test.
Wi-FiRoutersSecurityHardwareProtocols
What does the ‘5 GHz’ band in Wi-Fi offer compared to the ‘2.4 GHz’ band?
That’s right! The 5 GHz band delivers faster data rates but loses signal strength more quickly over distance and through walls. It’s ideal for devices close to the router that need maximum throughput, like streaming 4K video.
Not quite — the 5 GHz band actually offers faster speeds at the cost of range. The 2.4 GHz band travels farther and penetrates obstacles better, which is why smart home devices and older gadgets often prefer it.
Which Wi-Fi standard, introduced in 2021, is also known as Wi-Fi 6E and extends into a new frequency band?
Correct! 802.11ax is the technical name for Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. The ‘E’ variant extends the standard into the 6 GHz band, offering a massive swath of new, less-congested spectrum for faster and more reliable connections.
The answer is 802.11ax — that’s Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E. Wi-Fi 6E adds support for the 6 GHz band, giving it far less congestion than the crowded 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. 802.11be is actually the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 standard.
What is the default IP address most commonly used to access a home router’s admin interface?
Spot on! The vast majority of consumer routers use either 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1 as the default gateway address. Typing either into your browser’s address bar will bring up the router’s login page — just make sure you’ve changed the default password!
The correct answer is 192.168.0.1 or 192.168.1.1. These are the most common default gateway addresses for home routers. The 255.x.x.x addresses are subnet masks, and 127.0.0.1 is your own machine’s loopback address, not a router.
Which Wi-Fi security protocol is considered most secure for home networks as of 2024?
Excellent! WPA3 is the latest and most robust Wi-Fi security protocol, introduced in 2018. It uses Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE) to replace the older Pre-Shared Key handshake, making it far more resistant to brute-force attacks.
The answer is WPA3. WEP is completely broken and should never be used, WPA is outdated, and WPA2 with TKIP has known vulnerabilities. WPA3 offers the strongest protection, and if your router supports it, you should enable it right away.
What is the primary difference between a mesh Wi-Fi system and a traditional Wi-Fi range extender?
Exactly right! Mesh systems use multiple nodes that talk to each other intelligently, handing off your device seamlessly as you move around your home under one SSID. Traditional range extenders typically broadcast a separate network and can cut bandwidth in half as they relay the signal.
The correct answer is that mesh nodes form one intelligent, seamless network. Range extenders are actually the ones that often create separate SSIDs (like ‘MyNetwork_EXT’) and can significantly reduce speeds. Mesh systems are far superior for large homes with many devices.
What does DHCP stand for, and what is its main function on a home network?
Perfect! DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) is the unsung hero of home networking. Every time a device joins your network, your router’s DHCP server automatically hands it a unique IP address, subnet mask, and gateway info so it can communicate without manual configuration.
DHCP stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, and its job is to automatically assign IP addresses to devices on your network. Without it, you’d have to manually configure a unique IP address on every single phone, laptop, and smart device — a tedious nightmare!
What is ‘QoS’ (Quality of Service) used for in a home router?
That’s correct! QoS lets you tell your router which traffic gets priority. For example, you can prioritize video calls or gaming over a family member’s file download, ensuring your Zoom meeting doesn’t freeze just because someone is downloading a large update.
QoS — Quality of Service — is actually about traffic prioritization. By tagging certain data types (like VoIP calls or gaming packets) as high priority, your router ensures latency-sensitive applications get bandwidth first, even when the network is congested.
What does the ‘WAN’ port on a home router connect to?
Correct! WAN stands for Wide Area Network, and the WAN port is where your router connects to the outside world — typically to your cable modem, DSL modem, or ISP gateway. The LAN ports on the other side connect to devices inside your home network.
The WAN (Wide Area Network) port connects your router to your ISP’s modem or gateway — essentially your entry point to the internet. The LAN (Local Area Network) ports are for connecting devices inside your home. Mixing them up can cause your network to not function at all!
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While paying a premium for new, shiny tech has been par for the course since forever, the catch is that most Wi-Fi 7 routers don’t fully deliver on the standard’s defining feature. MLO (Multi-Link Operation) allows Wi-Fi 7-supporting devices connected to a Wi-Fi 7 router to use multiple bands at the same time. In theory, that means higher speeds and better stability, since a device can combine bandwidth across bands or fall back to 2.4GHz when 5GHz and 6GHz signals weaken.
In practice, though, MLO comes in two flavors. You’ve got the version I’ve just mentioned, which is known as simultaneous MLO. But most Wi-Fi 7 routers only support alternating MLO, which rapidly switches between bands instead of using them concurrently. The disappointing truth is that virtually no Wi-Fi 7 router supports simultaneous MLO, as RTINGS discovered in their testing.
While you’ll still get Wi-Fi 7 perks if you purchase a 6GHz-capable router, such as higher speed, wider 320MHz channels, 4096-QAM for increased throughput compared to older standards, and more, you won’t get the flagship Wi-Fi 7 feature that was supposed to justify the upgrade in the first place.
Wi-Fi 8 will bring substantial improvements over Wi-Fi 7
And it’s coming soon
While lightning-fast, with a theoretical max bandwidth of a whopping 46Gbps, Wi-Fi 7 lacks a bunch of features aimed at improving connection quality and stability, as well as significantly enhancing how mesh Wi-Fi systems work. These are largely reserved for Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn).
In a nutshell, Wi-Fi 7 is only half the picture. It has delivered a huge leap in speed over Wi-Fi 6E and introduced MLO, which, as you’ve seen, doesn’t quite work as intended on most current routers. On the flip side, it lacks stability, reliability, and the other improvements that Wi-Fi 8 will bring about. Wi-Fi 8, on the other hand, is shaping up to bring a ton of meaningful upgrades that should make it feel like a complete package rather than the “all gas, no brakes” approach of Wi-Fi 7.
For starters, it’s expected to include Multi-Access Point (Multi-AP) coordination, enabling mesh nodes to coordinate more intelligently rather than behaving like loosely connected, overlapping access points. In practice, that should mean smoother switching between nodes, fewer signal drops as you move around, and overall better stability compared to today’s Wi-Fi 7 mesh systems.
Wi-Fi 8 will also bring other goodies:
- Coordinated beamforming will allow access points (APs) to shape their coverage more intelligently, reducing interference between nearby nodes.
- Seamless Roaming is an MLO improvement that allows devices to connect to multiple APs at once, improving stability and performance, and automatically transitioning devices between APs to maintain the best possible connection.
- Priority EDCA lets networks prioritize certain devices or traffic when things get congested—for example, keeping your laptop’s download speeds high even when multiple devices are connected to the network and actively using its resources.
In a nutshell, Wi-Fi 8 is what Wi-Fi 7 was supposed to be: a next-gen wireless standard that won’t just offer a big jump in bandwidth, but also meaningful upgrades in reliability, stability, and latency, especially for mesh setups.
The cherry on top is that Wi-Fi 8 is coming sooner than you think. We’ve already had a first look at Wi-Fi 8 routers at the 2026 CES, with the first commercial devices arriving sometime in 2027 or 2028. Waiting a year or two for a more mature, better-rounded standard makes sense, especially since Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are still more than capable today.
Why your expensive new router feels slow: 5 next-gen features disabled by default
You paid for Wi-Fi 7, but these 5 next-gen router features are disabled out of the box
Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E routers are still very capable
More than enough for most people
If you already have a Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E router, it’s not really worth upgrading to Wi-Fi 7, especially if you own a Wi-Fi 6E device. Wi-Fi 6E introduced the 6GHz band, which is a godsend for people living in urban areas packed with 2.4GHz and 5GHz networks. With Wi-Fi 6E, you won’t have to worry as much about congestion and can make full use of your internet plan.
On top of that, both Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E are more than fast enough for most people, especially if you don’t have multi-gigabit internet. You can get near-gigabit speeds even with older Wi-Fi 6 routers, which is plenty for most use cases. Unless you’re constantly downloading massive files or games, any decent Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 6E router will deliver a smooth, high-speed experience.
To top it off, while they don’t include some of Wi-Fi 7’s newer features, both standards handle multiple devices very well. Thanks to MU-MIMO and OFDMA (Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access), Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E routers can serve multiple devices simultaneously with lower latency and solid throughput.
- Wi-Fi Bands
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Tri-Band
- Supported standards
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802.11ax
If you want a great Wi-Fi 6e router but don’t want to spend a whole lot of money, check out this one from TP-Link.
Wi-Fi 7 is very fast, but Wi-Fi 8 is worth waiting for
The biggest improvement Wi-Fi 7 brings over Wi-Fi 6E is a gigantic leap in bandwidth, from around 9.6Gbps to a whopping 46Gbps. MLO was supposed to be the second major incentive to upgrade to Wi-Fi 7, but since virtually zero Wi-Fi 7 routers support full (simultaneous) MLO, there’s little reason to switch unless you truly need that extra speed.
On the other hand, Wi-Fi 8 appears to be a feature-complete version of Wi-Fi 7. Not only should it retain blazing-fast speeds, but it should also add major stability and reliability improvements, many of which are tailor-made for mesh Wi-Fi systems. Since the new standard is still a few years out, it’s worth waiting, especially if your next upgrade is going to be a mesh setup.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
