In comparison to earlier Wi-Fi generations, Wi-Fi 7 offers multi-gigabit speeds as well as enhanced throughput, latency, and stability. Microsoft has begun testing support for Wi-Fi 7 in Windows 11.
Wi-Fi 7, which debuted last month, offers significant improvements over Wi-Fi 6. In particular, its 320 MHz superwide channels, which are only available in the 6 GHz spectrum, offer twice the throughput of Wi-Fi 6, allowing Wi-Fi-capable devices to operate at multigigabit speeds.
Moreover, support for Multi-Link Operation (MLO) improves traffic distribution across links, resulting in increased dependability and throughput.
In addition to providing a 20% boost in transmission rates over Wi-Fi 6’s 1024 QAM, the recently implemented 4K QAM (Quadrature Amplitude Modulation) sophisticated modulation technique also improves overall data transfer efficiency.
“Wi-Fi 7, also known as IEEE 802.11be Extremely High Throughput (EHT), is a revolutionary technology that offers unprecedented speed, reliability, and efficiency for your wireless devices,” Microsoft stated today.
“With Wi-Fi 7, you can enjoy multi-gigabit speeds on your Windows PC and experience up to 4x faster speeds than Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, and close to 6x faster than Wi-Fi 5.”
To benefit from the performance gain, users will need an access point and a computer that are compatible with Wi-Fi 7, both of which have already been released by a number of vendors.
It’s also crucial to remember that Wi-Fi 7 systems’ performance can differ based on the manufacturer and the hardware specifications of the device.
With the release of Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 26063 today in the Canary Channel, testing has begun on compatibility for WiFi 7.
As Redmond is testing the maintenance pipeline for Windows 11 24H2, the upcoming feature release, Windows Insiders on the Dev Channel will not receive this build today.
Microsoft said in January that Windows 11 will support the USB4 Version 2.0 protocol, enabling faster USB transfers of up to 80 Gbps when using USB Type-C connectors.
Additionally, the business has begun testing a contentious new feature that, on PCs with 27-inch displays and pixel widths of at least 1920 pixels, launches the AI-powered Copilot assistant instantly upon Windows 11 startup.
