I already have Wi-Fi 7 device and tested at least 5 different Wi-Fi 7 routers. Here's some of my key TLDR findings

Wi-Fi 7 is not just about 6GHz. It enhanced the spectrum efficiency on 5GHz and 2.4GHz device as well.

There are Wi-Fi 7 devices without 6GHz band support in the market (Honor Magic 5 Pro). Similarly, you will see Wi-Fi 7 routers without 6GHz coming soon.

On a Wi-Fi 7 supported device used with a flagship Wi-Fi 7 router on the 5GHz band, you will get around 20-30% faster speed than a flagship Wi-Fi 6/6e router.

However, a flagship Wi-Fi 6/6e router will still outperform a mid-tier Wi-Fi 7 router on 2.4GHz and 5GHz.

Wi-Fi 7 on 6GHz is ridiculously fast at around 3000Mbps if it's within 5m line of sight, doubling performance on WiFi 6e.

Backwards compatibility is great, never had any issue even with my old IoT devices.

The best thing for now is probably the CPU upgrade. TP-Link Archer BE800 comes with 2.2GHz Qualcomm, ASUS is even ridiculous going all the way up to 2.6GHz Broadcom. Warn: All of them are hot.

Edit: All Wi-Fi 7 routers I tested currently are really stable, benefits older devices as well. All of them have the consistency of enterprise grade Wi-Fi access points, even on iPhone 12 Pro.

This post has been edited by blacktubi: Jan 20 2024, 08:59 PM

I host my own Speedtest server with a 10G Interface

If you’re upgrading from a free WiFi 6 router from ISP to even an entry level WiFi 7 router, even your old WiFi 6 device will experience a 20-30% speed improvement

That’s because of a new router comes with better WiFi components and all of them benefit older devices as well

Yup, works well.

Cross model compatibility is great on their Broadcom CPU based models.

I will wait for the ZenWiFi series

My XT12 been serving me well

I think the general issue with WiFi 7 is the 6GHz range as even the mid range WiFi 7 routers struggle horribly on 6GHz range.

Fun fact, the range of WiFi 6E routers on 6GHz will beat most WiFi 7 routers. In order to perform well on 6GHz, the manufacturers have to use really expensive RF components hence they are only used on the flagship lineup.

That's because Wi-Fi 7 works up to MCS13 (4096QAM) with 320MHz wide channel. Wi-Fi 6E is only MCS11 (1024QAM) with 160MHz wide channel.

The 6GHz MCS11 power output on a flagship WiFi 6E router is around +18dDm. is One of the engineers share with me that WiFi RF component that can output +18dBM at 6GHz MCS13 is ridiculously expensive. Hence they are opting for cheaper alternative that only do +14dBM unless on their flagship model.

Don't be surprised when 5GHz outperforms 6GHz on a mid-range or entry level 6GHz WiFi 7 routers after a wall if they can even penetrate a wall.

I tested the BQ16, I manage to get over 2Gbps on the 10G LAN port at the mesh node via wireless backhaul MLO. Crazy stuff.

Don't think that's possible with tri-band.