We tested Wi-Fi 7 and achieved super fast speeds
Upgrading to a Wi-Fi 7 router is worthwhile for someone who wants to achieve the fastest possible download and upload speeds over their wireless LAN connection, a MyBroadband test reveals.
However, the test also showed that access to the 6GHz frequency band made a greater difference than the version of the standard used.
MyBroadband tested and compared all modern Wi-Fi standards to determine whether it is worthwhile to upgrade to newer technologies.
Wi-Fi 7, or 802.11be, is the newest Wi-Fi standard and promises ultra-high speeds. Its most significant improvements include enhanced encoding schemes, increased bandwidths, and multi-link operation.
Multi-link operation enables devices to connect to the router via more than one band simultaneously, thereby increasing the total available bandwidth.
Wi-Fi 7 devices can also access the 6GHz frequency band, a feature previously only available with Wi-Fi 6e. Older standards are limited to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
The results from our tests suggested that the frequency bands selected ultimately made the biggest difference to the overall speeds achieved.
Our test protocol started by using the MyBroadband Speedtest website over Ethernet to establish a baseline.
We then performed several tests with each different configuration on the router to see how it would affect the speeds.
The test results made it immediately evident that using the 6GHz band had a significantly larger influence on performance than other factors.
Only a subset of the frequencies in the 6GHz band has been made available for Wi-Fi use in South Africa, and very few devices actually use it.
This means there is much less interference compared to the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands available on most Wi-Fi equipment.
The table below summarises the common names used for Wi-Fi standards, together with the bands and features they support.
| Wi-Fi standard | IEEE standard | 2.4 GHz | 5 GHz | 6 GHz | Max bandwidth | Theoretical max data rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 802.11n | Yes | Yes | No | 40 MHz | 600 Mbps |
| 5 | 802.11ac | No | Yes | No | 160 MHz | 6,933 Mbps |
| 6 | 802.11ax | Yes | Yes | No | 160 MHz | 11,000 Mbps |
| 6e | 802.11ax | Yes | Yes | Yes | 160 MHz | 11,000 Mbps |
| 7 | 802.11be | Yes | Yes | Yes | 320 MHz | 23,059 Mbps |
Test equipment
We used a Cudy WR11000 Tri-band Wi-Fi 7 router and a Gigabyte GC-WIFI7 networking card to test and compare the different Wi-Fi standards.
The Cudy router is easy to set up and supports all three bands with independent settings for each. It also supports multi-link operation and theoretical speeds over 10 Gbps.
For all the testing, the Wi-Fi router was set up as an access point, two rooms away from the computer with the Wi-Fi 7 networking card.
A 400/400 Mbps fibre service was used to test the Wi-Fi connection’s Internet performance, and a Synology NAS was connected to the router for file transfers.
Unfortunately, the NAS only supported gigabit networking and was unable to make full use of the 2.5G ports on the router.
Internet connectivity over Wi-Fi results
We achieved the best Internet speeds using the default Wi-Fi 7 settings on the 6GHz band, matching the speeds recorded over our gigabit Ethernet connection.
Using the Wi-Fi 6e standard on 6GHz also yielded great results, albeit with poorer upload speeds.
The 5GHz band also performed well with both Wi-Fi 6 and 7 standards. However, speeds degraded significantly when using the Wi-Fi 5 standard.
Interestingly, multi-link operation did not manage to reach the same speeds as the Ethernet and 6GHz connections, even when it also harnessed the 6GHz band.
Our results also showed the significant impact of using the congested 2.4 GHz band, where the highest speeds achieved were less than 10% of what was possible with our connection.
| Connection type | Download speed (Mbps) | Upload speed (Mbps) | Latency (ms) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ethernet | 434.1 | 416.0 | 3.0 |
| 6G BE (7) | 431.7 | 401.8 | 5.3 |
| 6G AX (6) | 424.1 | 268.5 | 5.0 |
| 5G AC (5) | 380.0 | 290.6 | 5.7 |
| 5G BE (7) | 379.0 | 376.9 | 5.3 |
| MLO 2.4+5+6 (7) | 373.2 | 394.2 | 5.7 |
| 5G AX (6) | 361.0 | 372.1 | 6.0 |
| MLO 2.4+5 (7) | 353.4 | 93.8 | 5.7 |
| 5G N (4) | 199.3 | 143.2 | 4.7 |
| 2.4 BGN (4) | 34.1 | 22.4 | 5.3 |
| 2.4 AX (6) | 28.4 | 29.9 | 5.3 |
| 2.4 BE (7) | 20.7 | 11.4 | 6.0 |
Local area network speeds over Wi-Fi
After maxing out our Internet connection, we attempted to do the same over our local network, beginning with file transfers over the gigabit Ethernet connection.
We tested the transfer speeds between a Synology NAS and the test computer by transferring large files between the two.
Since the NAS was limited by a gigabit Ethernet port, we achieved a maximum speed of 904Mbps.
Here, the multi-link Wi-Fi connection came into its own, easily matching the baseline set using an Ethernet cable.
This was achieved by linking all three bands, and it is likely that even faster transfer speeds could have been achieved if the NAS had 2.5G Ethernet capabilities.
| Connection type | Transfer speed (Mbps) |
|---|---|
| Ethernet | 904 |
| MLO | 904 |
| 6G | 824 |
| 5G | 584 |
| 2.4G | 136 |
Loading ...