What You Need to Know

If your Wi-Fi is like mine and purchased before I ever heard the word COVID it will be 802.11ac – lets call that Wi-Fi 5.

Since 2020 Automation Associates has been supplying Wi-Fi 6 to clients who want the latest and greatest and yesterday marked the launch of Wi-Fi 7 in NZ.

Wi-Fi 7 is Here

Wi-Fi 5 runs at 3.5Gbps, Wi-Fi 6 at 9.6 Gbps and Wi-Fi 7 at 46Gbps, so there is a significant step up in speed with the latest standard and it is shipping today – but when is the right time to adopt?

When to Get It

If you need the latest no matter the cost or reliability then you are an innovator and Wi-Fi 7 is for you! Click here for pricing.

If you like to be ahead of the curve then you are an early adopter and should look into Wi-Fi 7 in the coming months.

If you like new things but prioritise stability and reliability you are early majority and should leave Wi-Fi 7 until a few revisions have been out and the cost has come down in early 2025.

If you prefer old school, you are late majority or a laggard so forget Wi-Fi 7 until you hear about Wi-Fi 8 in 2026.

The Full Story

The speeds noted above are best case and attained in ideal conditions in a lab, but the multipliers are still a good guide for what you will see at home.  To upgrade from Wi-Fi 5 to 6 you will see a roughly triple speed increase however there is an upper limit and that depends on your ISP…

The ISP Bottleneck

Right now Starlink is getting you 0.2Gb on a good day and your typical NZ fibre connection is getting you 0.6GB so what’s the point of 46Gb Wi-Fi?

The answer lies in the next generation of fibre connections that you will hear all about soon called Ultra Fibre or Hyperfibre.

As our streaming platforms, like Netflix and Disney etc., are adding more 4K content and with YouTube now delivering 8K content, our current fibre connections will run out of steam.  Hyperfibre is up and running now and can deliver 2gb, 4gb and 8gb connection speeds and this, is when your Wi-Fi will need an upgrade.

Type your address in here and see what speeds are available in the street and air around your place.

How Much?

At $584 the new Wi-Fi 7 AP’s from Ubiquity are only around $100 more than the Wi-Fi 6 ones, however to get the speeds they promise you will need a good switch.  Like Wi-Fi, network switches are going through the same performance improvements that Moore’s law predicts – happily these are very easily swapped over if need be.

What Next?

If you are thinking about getting better speeds at home, please contact Alex or myself for a free audit and we’ll recommend the correct gear to suit your needs no matter where you sit on the curve!

Call our friendly experts today on 09 377 3778 or email us for more info.