We bring you the comparison of Wi-Fi 7 vs Wi-Fi 6E in which we will break down the features of each version to see how we can take advantage of them.
Most people do not effectively use beyond Wi-Fi 6, and are “thankful” that we are still on the 2.4 or 5G bands at home. Although many tablets, phones, laptops or smart TVs that you have at home are compatible with Wi-Fi 6, you don’t really use it. Beyond this version is 6E and Wi-Fi 7, so you’ll be interested in this battle.
Index of contents
- Wi-Fi 7 vs 6E, know all the differences
- Standards
- Available bands
- Channel bandwidth
- Maximum data transmission rate
- Modulation
- MU-MIMO
- Multiple link operation (MLO)
- Releases and dates of each one
- Conclusions of Wi-Fi 7 vs 6E, which is better and which is worth it?
Wi-Fi 7 vs 6E, know all the differences
We are going to relate all their differences one by one, but if you want to go straight to the core you can find a comparison table at the end.
Standards
We start with Wi-Fi 6E framed under the 802.11ax standard (the same as Wi-Fi 6), while Wi-Fi 7 is behind 802.11be . Keep this in mind when viewing the technical data sheet of devices that use any of these Wi-Fi technologies because, sometimes, they do not detail that they use Wi-Fi 6, 6E or 7.
Below we will talk about Extremely High Throughput (EHT), the great novelty of Wi-Fi 7 that translates as “extremely high performance.”
Available bands
When I said before that most of you have a router at home with 2.4 or 5 GHz , it is because when the operators “give” us the router it is usually very basic. Why don’t they give us one with at least Wi-Fi 6? Because it is more than enough for the contracted speed in many cases (100, 300, 600 Mbps or 1 Gb), so they cut costs.
In both Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 we have 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz with the warning that the devices must support the 6 GHz band for the “magic” to work. Although both versions share the same bands, you will see that the maximum data speed available differs quite a bit.
Channel bandwidth
The first big difference we find is in the channels. Wi-Fi 6E shares with Wi-Fi 6 a configuration of 20, 40, 80, 80+80 and 160 MHz . However, Wi-Fi 7l goes up to 320 MHz when it comes to channel size. We are talking about Wi-Fi 7 supporting contiguous 240 MHz, non-contiguous 160+80 MHz or non-contiguous 160+160 MHz.
Therefore, we have a greater deployment in the case of the latest Wi-Fi.
Maximum data transmission rate
Wi-Fi 6E equals the figure of Wi-Fi 6, which amounts to 9.6 Gbps : at the user level, this figure is more than enough in Spain. Keep in mind that it is rare to see connections of more than 1 Gb speed, so here we are talking about a standard whose maximum data transmission rate is almost 10 times higher.
Well, Wi-Fi 7 reaches 46 Gbps , in effect, more than quadruple the maximum supported speed. I suspect that countries like Japan, the US or those that offer crazy contracted speed will benefit from this. And I say this because it will be very rare for you to go to a data center where the servers are connected by Wi-Fi.
Modulation
We came from a 1024-QAM OFDMA signal modulation in Wi-Fi 6E to move to a 4096-QAM modulation in the case of Wi-Fi 7 . This data for what? It indicates that we can achieve a maximum data rate of 575 Mbps on a 56 MHz channel , and before we have said that it supports up to 320 MHz… draw your conclusions.
When the order of the QAM scheme is increased, the link capacity is also increased. Taking 1024-QAM as a reference, the gain has been increased by 11% . The counterpart is the transmission power, which reduces the intensity of the radio frequency signal.
MU-MIMO
MIMO is the technology that uses multiple antennas to transmit and receive wireless signals , resulting in:
- Better system capacity.
- More coverage range.
- Signal-to-noise ratio.
Going to the routers and devices, having 2 before on the transmitter and receiver means that we can double the speeds when transmitting and receiving the 2 signals. The next level is MU-MIMO (Multiple-User MIMO), which means it is available in the 2.4 or 5 GHz bands and allows data to be transmitted to multiple devices simultaneously with a single router or access point .
MU-MIMO is key in those homes where we have a router and several devices constantly accessing it (laptops, smart TVs, smartphones, etc.).
With Wi-Fi 6E we can enjoy 8×8 UL/DL MU-MIMO , while with Wi-Fi 7 we jump to 16×16 UL/DL MU-MIMO . Removing 2-3 aspects, this Wi-Fi 7 vs 6E comparison stands out for surpassing previous or less recent technology in numbers.
Multiple link operation (MLO)
This is one of the great new features of Wi-Fi 7 , and that is that Multi-Link Operation improves performance, latency and reliability . In practice, MLO allows customers to use different links in frequency bands, aggregating traffic in different bands for more throughput and less latency.
All of this is done by automatically and dynamically switching traffic between bands to avoid network saturation. If we combine MLO with the 320 MHz band, it can be said that Wi-Fi 7 has 5 times more network capacity with 4 times lower latency .
Releases and dates of each one
Wi-Fi 6E has been on the market since 2021 , while Wi-Fi 7 has been launched in 2024 . They are 3 years apart, and in the world of networks this is noticeable.
We must also say that Wi-Fi 6E is present in more devices than Wi-Fi 7, but as always happens, it will end up prevailing in the coming years.
Conclusions of Wi-Fi 7 vs 6E, which is better and which is worth it?
Wi-Fi 7 is better, and for homes in Spain the one that is most worth it is Wi-Fi 6E. We are always behind in the technological world, especially when it comes to networks.
I highly doubt that most of you have Wi-Fi 6E working 100% in your home, another matter is your company’s office. At most, you will work with Wi-Fi 6, which is practically the same as WiFi 6E.
With Wi-Fi 7, almost all aspects have been improved, especially those related to bands, maximum speed, latency and MU-MIMO. It is the change to highlight, but the evolution has stalled quite a bit because many devices are still anchored to Wi-Fi 6E.
The summary of this Wi-Fi 7 vs 6E is as follows:
| Wi-Fi 6E | Wi-Fi 7 | |
| Standard | 802.11ax | 802.11be |
| Channels | 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz | |
| Maximum data rate | 9.6Gbps | 46Gbps |
| Bands | 20, 40, 80, 80+80 and 160 MHz | Up to 320 MHz |
| Modulation | 1024-QAM SOFDMA | 4096-QAM OFDMA |
| MIME | 8×8 UL/DL MU-MIMO | 16×16 UL/DL MU-MIMO |
| MAC | N/A | M.L.O. |
| UK | UK | Multiple RUs |
| Departure date | 2021 | 2024 |