WiFi 7 Compatibility

[fatalXerror]

Hi Guys, just a question, if my laptop wlan driver has been updated to support WiFi6E, does it mean that I can use the same wlan driver to connect to WiFi7 or do I need to update again my wlan driver to support WiFi7?

[Mark Elsen]

   - Your wifi adapter needs that capability and as can be sure ; it won't have it ,

 M.

[Leo Laohoo]

802.11be wireless NIC is only capable of supporting 802.11be (aka WiFi 7) and backward support older protocols.

802.11ax (aka WiFi 6/6E) can only support 802.11ax and backward support older protocols.  

Why is this the reason?  Because 802.11be is a US$25 billion dollar market.  

[fatalXerror]

Hi @Leo Laohoo , but the wifi6e and wifi7 uses the same radio frequency right but why do we still need to update the wlan driver?

[Leo Laohoo]

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@fatalXerror wrote:
but the wifi6e and wifi7 uses the same radio frequency right but why do we still need to update the wlan driver?

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WiFi 6/6E wireless NIC and WiFi 7 wireless NIC are built and designed differently.  WiFi 6/6E wireless NIC cannot support WiFi 7, however, WiFi 7 wireless NIC is backward compatible.  

[fatalXerror]

I see, I just thought it should still work because 6e and 7 uses the same frequency.

Any idea if wifi7 NIC has been stable already to the majority of the endpoints? 

thanks @Leo Laohoo !

[Leo Laohoo]

Frequency has nothing to do with it. 

Intel AX2xx will only support 802.11ax (WiFi 6) and below.  Intel AX2xx will never support 802.11be.  That would be ridiculous.  

If you want a wireless NIC that can support 802.11be (aka WiFi 7), Intel BE200 wireless NIC is one of them. 

[fatalXerror]

Noted on this but does it mean that if i want to use wifi7, i need to change the NIC or just an update for my existing NIC will do?

[Leo Laohoo]

The wireless NIC will need to be WiFi 7 "capable" (and not "ready" or "supported").  

[Flavio Miranda]

@fatalXerror 

 There are Wi-Fi 7 ready network adapter in the market. For example, those Intel on this link

https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/details/wireless/wi-fi-7-series/products.html

Which network adapter do you have?  Model and version. 

[Dustin Anderson]

I think you are getting into the weeds vs your original question. WiFi7 is backwards compatible, so your 6E adapter should be able to connect fine. You would not get any of the benefits of 7, but other than that should connect.

Now, you may need to update the driver if you have issues as 7 may broadcast some info the current 6E may not understand or like. Not usually an issue be we had one at work with Raspberry Pi's having issues on 6E until the drivers were updated.

[Rich R]

Like Dustin says your WiFi 6E adapter should be able to connect to the WiFi 7 network (as long as the driver doesn't get confused by any of the WiFi 7 information elements) but it will still only support WiFi 6E features.
If you want to use WiFi 7 features then you need a WiFi 7 adapter and driver.