Just when I thought Wi-Fi couldn’t get any better after the jump from Wi-Fi 6E to Wi-Fi 7, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Wi-Fi Alliance are already hard at work on the next wireless standard. Though Wi-Fi 8 is very much still in the planning stage at this point, after learning more about its potential to transform wireless connectivity as we know it, I’m already excited for a world where every large network you connect to will soon feel more like a mesh one.
For those not up to date on the latest Wi-Fi developments, let me break it down for you real quick. Although it was an extension rather than a brand-new wireless standard, Wi-Fi 6E was actually a really big deal when it launched back in 2020. The reason being is that up until that point, there were only two wireless bands to work with: 2.4 and 5 GHz. Wi-Fi 6E added another band that utilized the 6GHz spectrum, which had just become available. Not only is the 6GHz band faster, but it’s also less congested as most laptops and phones still use the 5GHz band while the best smart home devices and other less data-hungry gadgets use the 2.4 GHz band.
