TP-Link conducts Wi-Fi 8 trials, promises better reliability and lower latency

> While some draft specifications could be released in 2027, the official Wi-Fi 8 standard is projected to be finalized only in mid-2028. Commercial products that officially support the new standard are not expected to reach the market until late 2028 at the earliest.

I bet companies will release WiFi 8 products even when it's still a draft, just as they did with WiFI 7.

I upgraded my home setup to WiFi 7 a few weeks ago, and after being a WiFi hater for so long, was actually surprised at how much better it was over my previous experiences with WiFi. With MLO clients get 2-3ms latency with 2.5Gbit links, I'm all for WiFi 8 trying to reduce the latency further, I don't need more speed.

>I bet companies will release WiFi 8 products even when it's still a draft, just as they did with WiFI 7.

No need to be left behind. They can already release WiFi 9 products. /s

I have a computer with a 1G Ethernet phy designed before everything was ratified. Not great. I'll make sure to wait

I don't need lower latency, I need better congestion management. WiFi in busy areas (like airports) sucks.

I recently torrented a movie on a airport wifi while waiting for a plane and it worked so well, even when walking around the airport to the plane. I was impressed.

I haven't encountered issues with airports' WiFi in many years, at least not the ones I fly from in Europe.

What airports have you seen issues lately? It's one thing I haven't thought about in a long time.

Use a remote server for such vile behavior.

Nah, that's too much work, public wifi is great for that.

> I bet companies will release WiFi 8 products even when it's still a draft, just as they did with WiFI 7.

They must. Otherwise it cannot be tested within the labs.

And producing chips before a standard is finalized is usually no problem at all: there are gates within the standardization process where the will be no more changes that are relevant for the silicon.

These 802.11n-draft APs were a singular fuckup regarding this.

can you explain why using torrents is vile behavior?

Without a personal opinion one way or the other, I would assume the gripe is with congesting the public network as opposed to the choice of public domain documentaries you downloaded.

“Linux ISOs”

Similar transition for me. Basic dual AP setup that I took from first gen UAPs (wifi 4) to U7 Pro. I think I have only one client (a Lenovo laptop) that connects with wifi 7, but even the wifi 6 devices are screamers now; my phone can get 600mbps symmetric with line of sight or 200-300mbps from two floors away. Just bonkers.

Oh to be clear I illegally downloaded copyrighted works of major movie studios while they had just hit the streaming sites.

> WiFi in busy areas (like airports) sucks.

This is part of what opening up the 6 GHz was about.

But there are also provisions in newer standards like Target Wake Time: the client can be told to sleep for a while, not using radio spectrum (and also saving battery).

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11ah#Target_Wake_Time

OFDMA allows multiple clients to use the same frequency at the same time (using sub-channels):

* https://airheads.hpe.com/blogs/antar1/2020/10/19/why-is-ofdm...

* https://community.tp-link.com/us/home/stories/detail/201

> I bet companies will release WiFi 8 products even when it's still a draft, just as they did with WiFI 7.

They've been doing this since the dawn of wifi pretty much. I distinctly remember seeing "802.11 draft n" being printed an all the hot new and faster wifi cards back in the day.

They're not necessarily different things. Increased latency can happen as a result of congestion on the band.

I'm now curious if upgrading from two Unifi U6 LR's to U7 Pro's would offer significant benefits for Wifi 6 endpoints.