We hope that everyone is enjoying the event so far, there have been many new and exciting features announced so far that the team was not fully expecting;

Such as Thread Dongle Compatibility, Multiple Simultaneous Backhauls for Deco, and Designated IoT Bands for both Deco and Archer Routers.

What features have caught your eye so far, what are you most excited for?

With all the new additions, I am sure that everyone will have plenty of questions regarding the benefits and features of Wi-Fi 7.

  @Riley_S 

WOW -   Thoroughly enjoyed the Launch Event presentation.   Looks like a lot of new and exciting devices coming down the pipe.

It is amazing to see how things have changed over the decades!  I still remember upgrading my 1200 baud (bps) dial up modem to a 2400 baud (bps) and thinking how fast it was!

Looking forward to getting my hands on some of the new devices!   

  @TC_In_Montana,

Glad to hear that you enjoyed the launch event; there were so many new features and capabilities that even the team was surprised by a few of the capabilities of the devices.

TP-Link is making it a goal to bring the newest technologies and benefits to our users as soon as possible, as can be seen by the anticipated launch dates. The next year should prove to be especially exciting for both TP-Link and our users.

We have definitely moved a long way since dial-up connections. When I first saw some of the speeds and bandwidths listed, it was hard for my brain to make sense of how large the throughput speeds were. 

As you are already a beta tester and looking to test one of these devices(as is probably every other beta tester), I would recommend keeping an eye on the beta portal for any new betas that are posted. Given the high-end status of the Wi-Fi 7 devices, there will likely only be a few betas, if any at all; and the users for these will be very carefully selected. Also, as this is our first series of Wi-Fi 7 devices, I would assume that a great deal of testing already went into these devices, so as to make sure that Wi-Fi 7 is ready for deployment in households. Make sure to check your beta portal often for upcoming opportunities.

  @MzRoxs68,

What are your concerns with the Wi-Fi 7 launch?

Wi-Fi 7 is revolutionary in the way that it handles network traffic, as it is far better at managing connections between devices. In 2023, we should start seeing devices that support Wi-Fi 7 connections. We have become used to having the same Wi-Fi for years and years, most of us still function with Wi-Fi 5, but are starting to see problems in larger or high bandwidth networks. For other users, Wi-Fi 7 devices will prove to be a future-proof solution as Wi-Fi 7 is the newest form of Wi-Fi that is currently being developed and will be so for the next few years.

I would expect Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers to exist alongside each other until Wi-fi 7 is more widely adopted over the next two years. If you are looking for mesh Wi-Fi 7 systems, the impact of Wi-Fi 7 will be felt immediately as all the technologies that come with Wi-Fi 7 can be used in the backhaul between mesh nodes.

Riley_S wrote

 

I would expect Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 routers to exist alongside each other until Wi-fi 7 is more widely adopted over the next two years. If you are looking for mesh Wi-Fi 7 systems, the impact of Wi-Fi 7 will be felt immediately as all the technologies that come with Wi-Fi 7 can be used in the backhaul between mesh nodes.

  @Riley_S 

I think it is a great idea/concept that mesh systems will be able to use the WiFi 7 technologies, but with each new WiFi release, it seems that the distance it can reliably travel becomes shorter and shorter.  5GHz has a much shorter range than 2.4GHz.   6GHz has an even shorter range.   So, if mesh systems are going to utilize 6GHz band as part of the WiFi 7 standard -  are we going to have to have MORE nodes to support the same coverage area?

Second question - with WiFi 7 being pushed so quickly, what is the future of WiFI 6E - or is there any future for WiFi 6E?   It seems like there are few devices that are available to take advantage of 6E - and the manufacturers of those devices are already pushing forward to WiFi 7.   Is WiFi 6E just going to fall to the wayside as a "dipping the toes into the water" of the 6GHz band, but not really anything else?

  @TC_In_Montana,

So the main thing to consider with Wi-Fi 7 is that the technology is backwards compatible with previous generations. With previous iterations of Wi-Fi this just meant that you would be able to connect to the other bands on the router. Wi-fi 7 takes this a step further and optimizes the existing 2.4 and 5Ghz bands to handle traffic far more efficiently. So if you would like to potentially have whole home 6ghz coverage, you would need additional nodes, as the technology is more prone to interference at higher frequencies.

For example, Wi-Fi 7 has MLO (Mult-Link Operation)

With MLO, a Wi-Fi 7 Device will be able to communicate with the router using the 2.4,5 and 6Ghz bands simultaneously.

Wi-Fi 7 also includes features that allow less of the frequency bandwidth to be used for a single packet. All of these will improve the connectivity that is received from both the newest frequencies and from the frequencies of previous generations. I believe that Wi-fi 7 improves the range of connectivity for the 6Ghz band, however, I am not positive.

I would expect Wi-Fi 6E to stick around for quite a while, as the large jump in technology also means a larger jump in price. My personal plan for a Wi-Fi 7 home will be to have two Wi-Fi 7 Routers or Mesh Nodes in the main areas of my house while branching a few Wi-Fi 6E nodes off those to the furthermost corners of my home and to offices, as these satellite nodes will not have enough traffic passing through them to justify the upgrade to Wi-fi 7.

Wi-Fi 7 is officially listed as a 2024 technology, so consumer devices should start seeing devices supporting the protocol through 2023. Another thing to consider with Wi-fi 6E was that there was not too much incentive for companies to upgrade their network cards. With Wi-Fi 7, there are enough improvements made to the technology that most companies will be looking at upgrading their cards.

  @RHQ,

Would you mind sharing a picture of the QR code with our team so we know what you are talking about? Our team cannot think of any QR codes present on the box that ask for this kind of information.

If you were talking about the payment option for the Homeshield Service, know that the service is not required and simply adds additional monitoring and parental control features to your network. Every router has a 30-day trial for the premium service so that you can test out the features.

In regards to your password, make sure that you have finished verifying the TP-Link ID that you are going to set the devices up with, and that you do not need to log in with your default credentials.