Verizon is attempting to allure customers with its offerings of higher speeds and increased bandwidth through its new Wi-Fi standard.
A new business internet gateway device that is compatible with Wi-Fi 7, along with one additional networking device, has been unveiled by Verizon Business. This move is geared towards leveraging the superior speeds and larger bandwidth of the updated Wi-Fi standard.
The Wi-Fi 7-compatible Verizon Business Internet Gateway, publicized recently, is assured to provide quicker and more consistent service to its customers, as per Vijay Paulrajan, the Vice President of Devices and Device Services at Verizon Business. The router carries additional features such as support for an external antenna to amplify signal strength throughout difficult zones within buildings, and it further provides extra accessories like a battery backup, as stated by Paulrajan via a news release.
The new router is set to deliver faster wireless broadband to business enterprises, making it an alternative to the traditional wireline services, stated Mike Leibovitz, an enterprise networking analyst at Gartner. However, Leibovitz also underscored that it would be some time before Wi-Fi 7 starts to offer notable advantages to business enterprises, and hence, there is no urgency for them to shift to Wi-Fi 7 right away.
Wi-Fi 7 will necessitate support from both device and infrastructure to utilize key new features,” it was added. “There are quite a few exciting advancements in the protocol updates, yet it will take around two to three years to see tangible benefits in real-world situations.”
The Wi-Fi Alliance initiated a Wi-Fi 7 certification program in January, and Wi-Fi 7 gadgets started entering the market even before the official certification was provided. The Wi-Fi Alliance projects that this year will see the sale of 233 million Wi-Fi 7 devices, and the number is expected to rise to 2.1 billion by 2028.
The spectrum bands used by Wi-Fi 7 are the same as those of Wi-Fi 6E — 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz — but it has access to 320MHz of spectrum in the 6-GHz band, which is twice as much as that available to Wi-Fi 6E. Certain experts forecast that network speeds will more than double from the 2.4Gbps found in Wi-Fi 6E.
Moreover, Wi-Fi 7 offers a feature known as multi-link operation, or MLO, implying it can connect to multiple spectrum bands concurrently, unlike Wi-Fi 6, which has access to multiple bands, but can only connect to one at a time.
The potential of MLO in Wi-Fi 7 is seen as a significant advantage over Wi-Fi 6 according to Leibovitz. Due to its ability to utilize multiple spectrum bands simultaneously, Wi-Fi 7 provides improved bandwidth, lower latency, and enhanced performance.
However, the potential widespread use of the MLO feature may present some networking challenges. Handling a multitude of IT devices like laptops, tablets, and phones, all utilizing MLO simultaneously, could potentially complicate the execution of the necessary software.
Wi-Fi 7 aims to cater to IT devices within a Local Area Network (LAN), stated Leibovitz. As a result, many enterprises may require more than just a single access point as provided by the Verizon gateway. Typically, enterprise Wi-Fi systems, marketed by enterprise infrastructure vendors, are designed to deploy several access points to support a multitude of devices.
Verizon’s fixed wireless access product utilizes the most potent wireless solutions currently available, incorporating a variety of LTE and 5G options along with Wi-Fi 7 to ensure both WAN and LAN connectivity. This was confirmed by Patrick Filkins, a research manager specializing in IoT and telecom infrastructure at IDC.
The wireless LAN device has the capability to link up business locations on either low-, mid-, or high-band spectrum, giving more choices for corporate clients to match their application necessities with a connectivity solution, as stated by Filkins.
Besides the Wi-Fi 7 router, Verizon also launched a 5G Business Receiver, which provides tri-band support for 5G mmWave, C-Band, and LTE CAT21. The receiver is designed for both indoor and outdoor utilisation and searches for optimal coverage through a smart antenna that automatically switches between Verizon networks.
