Everyone expects instant access to the internet, and that’s partly because Wi-Fi standards have advanced so far in the last few years. Wi-Fi 8 is up next, but it’s a little different from its predecessors. No speed bump has been deemed necessary this time around, but what you can expect is increased reliability, seamless hand-offs between different devices and routers, and lower latency.
With Wi-Fi woes on the decline, many folks are still making do with Wi-Fi 6, though most homes will have Wi-Fi 6E or Wi-Fi 7 devices in them by now. If you’re in the market to upgrade, all the best routers or mesh systems I recommend now support Wi-Fi 7. You don’t need to consider Wi-Fi 8 for quite a while yet (the standard hasn’t even been finalized), but we can still take a peek at what Wi-Fi 8 has in store to see what’s coming.
What Is Wi-Fi 8?
The eighth generation of Wi-Fi represents a change in focus. While previous incarnations of the Wi-Fi standard have promised higher connection speeds, Wi-Fi 8 seems to be more about improving the basics: reliability, stability, and lower latency. Wi-Fi 8 also promises seamless roaming, keeping devices connected as you move and cutting down on dropped connections and dead zones.
Photograph: Simon Hill
For those keeping score at home, Wi-Fi 8 is IEEE 802.11bn using the old naming convention, where Wi-Fi 7 was IEEE 802.11be and Wi-Fi 6 was IEEE 802.11ax. In case you’re wondering, the IEEE is the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the folks responsible for these new standards (and yes, they love acronyms). As with all the previous standards, Wi-Fi 8 will be backward compatible, meaning if you buy a Wi-Fi 8 router, it’ll still function just fine with devices on older standards. But to take advantage of the new features and performance enhancements it promises, you’ll also need to upgrade your devices. That means buying new routers and mesh systems, yes, but also new smartphones, laptops, TVs, and other gadgets.
What Benefits Does Wi-Fi 8 Bring?
There’s a pleasing list of improvements we can expect from Wi-Fi 8, but the headline is Ultra High Reliability (UHR). Wi-Fi 7 was focused on Extremely High Throughput (EHT), but now that speeds are generally great, the focus has shifted to ensuring connections are more reliable. This isn’t a complete list, but here are a few of the features that will enable UHR:
- Multi-Access Point Coordination (MAPC): There’s a bundle of features designed to help access points cooperate instead of interfering with each other. This should improve performance, extend coverage, and reduce power requirements.
- Seamless Roaming Domain (SRD): Many Wi-Fi drops, which may translate as videos buffering or calls dropping out, are caused by your device switching its connection from one access point to another. SRD is designed to minimize the latency and packet loss that occurs during handoffs.
- Low Latency Indication (LLI): This allows devices to share their latency requirements, so a gaming stream (where latency is crucial) can cut in line and take priority. Combined with things like TXOP Preemption and High Priority EDCA, we can expect much better prioritization and more effective Quality of Service (QoS) functionality, so you can ensure the kids streaming Netflix doesn’t interrupt your work video call.
- In-Device Coexistence (IDC): While it’s not talked about much, it’s disturbingly common for other connectivity features like Bluetooth, Thread, or Zigbee to impact Wi-Fi performance in devices like smartphones. This feature reduces interference between the different radios and helps them coordinate.
- Extended Long Range (ELR): This feature allows devices to connect and stay connected more reliably at a distance without you having to add more access points. Combined with Distributed-Tone Resource Unit (DRU), which spreads a device’s signal across a wider band, your Wi-Fi signal should be more reliable at the extremities of your home.
How Does Wi-Fi 8 Compare to Wi-Fi 7?
Photograph: Simon Hill
With the same theoretical maximum speed of 46 Gbps and Wi-Fi on the same three bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz) with a maximum 320-MHz channel width, Wi-Fi 8 may not feel like a substantial improvement over Wi-Fi 7 for most folks.
Some of the features I mention in the benefits of Wi-Fi 8 section above could bring tangible improvements, especially for anyone living in a high-interference area like an apartment building in a city, but just how much better reliability will be remains to be seen. Chances are, if Wi-Fi 7 is working well for you now, Wi-Fi 8 will be a tough sell.
When Does Wi-Fi 8 Arrive?
It usually takes four or five years for a new Wi-Fi standard to completely roll out. That might sound like a long time, but it requires time for chip, router, and device manufacturers to implement them in new products. Since the Wi-Fi Alliance certification for Wi-Fi 7 was officially released in January 2024, we can reasonably expect Wi-Fi 8 certification some time in 2028. But chip makers are already producing Wi-Fi 8 chipsets, and router manufacturers like TP-Link have already announced Wi-Fi 8 routers and mesh systems, with the first release slated for before the end of 2026.
The same thing happened with Wi-Fi 7, and this is because the IEEE already has a working draft that allows manufacturers to take an educated guess about what certification will require. Early adopters of Wi-Fi 8 systems can expect to pay a premium, as always, and the benefits probably won’t be as compelling as the jump from Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 7. That’s why I recommend to wait for the official certification and maybe even longer for prices to come down.
For anyone in the US, the FCC’s foreign-made router ban is another complication that’s likely to limit your options.
