Wi-Fi 8 Trades Speed For a More Reliable Experience (pcworld.com)
- Reference: 0175466509
- News link: https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/24/11/14/0042254/wi-fi-8-trades-speed-for-a-more-reliable-experience
- Source link: https://www.pcworld.com/article/2518469/meet-wi-fi-8-which-will-trade-speed-for-a-more-reliable-experience.html
> As of Nov. 2024, MediaTek believes that Wi-Fi 8 will look virtually identical to Wi-Fi 7 in several key areas: The maximum physical layer (PHY) rate will be the same at 2,880Mbps x 8, or 23Gbits/s. It will also use the same four frequency bands (2, 4, 5, and 6GHz) and the same 4096 QAM modulation across a maximum channel bandwidth of 320MHz. (A Wi-Fi 8 router won't get 23Gbps of bandwidth, of course. According to MediaTek, the actual peak throughput in a "clean," or laboratory, environment is just 80 percent or so of the hypothetical peak throughput, and actual, real-world results can be far less.)
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> Still, put simply, Wi-Fi 8 should deliver the same wireless bandwidth as Wi-Fi 7, using the same channels and the same modulation. Every Wi-Fi standard has also been backwards-compatible with its predecessors, too. What Wi-Fi 8 will do, though, is change how your client device, such as a PC or a phone, interacts with multiple access points. Think of this as an evolution of how your laptop talks to your home's networking equipment. Over time, Wi-Fi has evolved from communications between one laptop and a router, across a single channel. Channel hopping routed different clients to different bands. When Wi-Fi 6 was developed, a dedicated 6GHz channel was added, sometimes as a dedicated "backhaul" between your home's access points. Now, mesh networks are more common, giving your laptop a variety of access points, channels, and frequencies to select between.
For a detailed breakdown of the upcoming advancements coming to Wi-Fi 8, including Coordinated Spatial Reuse, Coordinated Beamforming, and Dynamic Sub-Channel Operation, read the [2]full article .
[1] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2518469/meet-wi-fi-8-which-will-trade-speed-for-a-more-reliable-experience.html
[2] https://www.pcworld.com/article/2518469/meet-wi-fi-8-which-will-trade-speed-for-a-more-reliable-experience.html
what about range? (Score:2)
what about range?
Re: (Score:2)
As with most version numbers, it's marketing. Version 8 *sounds* a lot more attractive of an upgrade from Version 7, than 7.1. Software guys always look for meaning in the version numbers. There is no meaning, it's just marketing.
Browsing Facebook will never be the same (Score:2)
On my smartphone every image can now be in 8K @ 1600dpi or maybe even better.
Re: (Score:2)
My thought was that I could get to the bottom of my feed in 2 seconds flat. That's enough time to do devote an appropriate amount of attention to what's in that feed. Well, if I ever actually logged into facebook, it would be enough.
You know what made my Wi-Fi more reliable? (Score:2)
Three Ubiquity access points paired with their switch. I haven't had to mess with any of this in 6 years.
Re: (Score:2)
Same here. Access points show up cheap on ebay when official support ends. I like how they default to bridge mode so all my devices are on the same subnet.
Re: You know what made my Wi-Fi more reliable? (Score:2)
Details, please. I see several AP models on eBay for around $25 each, and a switch for $50. Sounds like a deal if itâ(TM)s that reliable. I presume you wire the APs so thereâ(TM)s a little elbow grease in the home - or do they backhaul wirelessly? Thank you
Re: (Score:2)
The APs are U6 pro's and I don't recall the exact model of the switch. But yes, the AP's are hard-wired to the switch (POE).
I bought the HW through them, but I don't think there's any issue with buying the stuff second-hand.
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Just to provide some additional detail. Their APs do support meshing, but not dedicated wireless backhaul.
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Same, been quite happy with Ubiquiti gear (UDMP and 2 APs). I did have one AP die but otherwise they've been rock solid.
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Google Wifi mesh network did it for me. I used to buy a new router about every year, because they just wouldn't provide the coverage I needed. Some of those were hundreds of dollars. But ever since I bought a three-node mesh, I've never had any trouble.
Too expensive (Score:2)
But with 20% tariff on everything, nobody can afford new hardware.
Re: (Score:2)
I know right! People were so upset about inflation, that they voted for tariffs.
backwards compatible (Score:4, Interesting)
I have to admit, the IEEE has been doing great work with the WiFi standards. For the most part, I don't even notice when a new version comes out, it just works even with some of my older devices. Compare that to USB where upgrades kind of work but also cause some problems.
Compare it to a software framework like React that has breaking changes at will. or worse, Express.js which has catastrophically bad backwards-compatibility breaks (like silently allowing a user to authenticate with the wrong password, because JS allows you to assign to a non-existent variable). Programmers don't appreciate the value of backwards compatibility when they are paid to upgrade.
Re: (Score:2)
> Consider and contrast these points with another poster in the frameworks thread who said essentially that frameworks free up the programmer from tediously reinventing the wheel and allow them to focus on business logic and instead spend time pleasing their customers. Just, lol.
If you have a good framework, that's true, but a bad framework can screw you over. You should know what you are getting yourself into beforehand.
A framework without a commitment to backwards compatibility means that you will spend extra time (ie, money) to stay up to date. A framework without a good upgrade mechanism (ie, a way to recognize that breaking changes have happened. A compiler can be helpful here, but it's not perfect) means you will have security bugs randomly added to your code. That should b
Re: (Score:2)
Wait, WiFi 8 ? Is Microsoft running the standards process now?
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> Compare it to a software framework like React that has breaking changes at will. or worse, Express.js which has catastrophically bad backwards-compatibility breaks
Meh, React and Express.js are just for practice, that's breakage with training wheels. If you can master those, you get to play Home Assistant.
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If you think USB "kind of works but also causes some problems" and WiFi doesn't, then you don't use either.
"Compare it to a software framework like React that has breaking changes at will. or worse, Express.js which has catastrophically bad backwards-compatibility breaks (like silently allowing a user to authenticate with the wrong password, because JS allows you to assign to a non-existent variable). Programmers don't appreciate the value of backwards compatibility when they are paid to upgrade."
Software t