WiFi 8 is coming

[hereiam7788]

Sounds ancient.

still enough to meet the needs. i can hit 600Mbps speed no issue on wifi.

and with wifi 5 tri-band mesh can still cover entire apartment decently.

 

[froztheart]

still enough to meet the needs. i can hit 600Mbps speed no issue on wifi.

and with wifi 5 tri-band mesh can still cover entire apartment decently.

Yeah, if no use case and meet your needs, no point to upgrade unless no longer economical.

 

[xiaofan]

still enough to meet the needs. i can hit 600Mbps speed no issue on wifi.

and with wifi 5 tri-band mesh can still cover entire apartment decently.

What is the WiFi 5 tribabd mesh solution you are using?

The major worry of using old consumer WiFi router is usually on security. Many of the old routers are out of security support already. If that is the case, you are putting your home network under very real and serious threat.

For example, Asus has EOLed all WiFi 5 consumer routers. A few of them (eg: RT-AC68U and RT-AC86U) got exceptional updates due to severe security issues this year but that is not the norm.

 

[hereiam7788]

What is the WiFi 5 tribabd mesh solution you are using?

The major worry of using old consumer WiFi router is usually on security. Many of the old routers are out of security support already. If that is the case, you are putting your home network under very real and serious threat.

For example, Asus has EOLed all WiFi 5 consumer routers. A few of them (eg: RT-AC68U and RT-AC86U) got exceptional uodates due to severe security issues this year but that is not the norm.

mine is linksys mr8300 tri-band mesh wifi routers.

 

[xiaofan]

One step closer to WiFi 8: most likely in 2028

https://www.guru3d.com/story/tplink...n-testing-focused-on-reliability-and-latency/

 

[xiaofan]

mine is linksys mr8300 tri-band mesh wifi routers.

The good thing is that MR8300 is supported by OpenWRT.
https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/mr8300

Linksys Singapore does not seem to support MR8300 any more. So you may need to upgrade if you don't want to change to OpenWRT.

https://support.linksys.com/kb/article/434-en/

Minimum Support Period for Security Updates (Singapore)

Product	End of Security Support*
E9450-SG	January 2027
MX4200SH-SG	January 2027
E8450-AH	February 2027
E7350-AH	February 2027
MX2001SH-SG	August 2027
MX5500 series	March 2027
MX4200-AH MX8400-AH MX12600-AH	March 2027
FGW3000-AH	March 2027
WHW030X-AH	April 2027
MX200X-AH	April 2027
MX4200 v2	September 2027
FGW5500 series	March 2028
MX6200-AH	December 2030
LN1400	June 2031
LN1100 v2	June 2031
LN1200 v2	June 2031
MBE70	June 2031
MR55WH	June 2031
MBE7000	July 2031

*Linksys will provide security updates for the products listed. Unless otherwise noted, the End of Security Support final day will be the last day of the month. Check the Linksys Support website for the most up-to-date information.

 

[Henry Ng]

The good thing is that MR8300 is supported by OpenWRT.
https://openwrt.org/toh/linksys/mr8300

Linksys Singapore does not seem to support MR8300 any more. So you may need to upgrade if you don't want to change to OpenWRT.

https://support.linksys.com/kb/article/434-en/

Minimum Support Period for Security Updates (Singapore)

​

Product	End of Security Support*
E9450-SG	January 2027
MX4200SH-SG	January 2027
E8450-AH	February 2027
E7350-AH	February 2027
MX2001SH-SG	August 2027
MX5500 series	March 2027
MX4200-AH MX8400-AH MX12600-AH	March 2027
FGW3000-AH	March 2027
WHW030X-AH	April 2027
MX200X-AH	April 2027
MX4200 v2	September 2027
FGW5500 series	March 2028
MX6200-AH	December 2030
LN1400	June 2031
LN1100 v2	June 2031
LN1200 v2	June 2031
MBE70	June 2031
MR55WH	June 2031
MBE7000	July 2031

*Linksys will provide security updates for the products listed. Unless otherwise noted, the End of Security Support final day will be the last day of the month. Check the Linksys Support website for the most up-to-date information.

Even with wifi 8 router, do not think we can get better speed.

 

[xiaofan]

Even with wifi 8 router, do not think we can get better speed.

Yes, when WiFi 8 is available (2028).

This is not because of WiFi 8 is much faster than WiFi 7 in terms of speed, since WiFi 8 is more about reliability and better roaming, not absolute near range speed.

1) Many more devices will support 6GHz and 320 MHz channel bandwidth, so it is easy to get above 2Gbps or 3Gbps WiFi speed.

2) MLO will get more mature. So you may see improvement on near range but more at far range.

3) 5Gbps and 10 Gbps plans will be the dominate plan and more routers will be compatible with 10Gbe, so your top wireless Internet speed will not be limited by the 1Gbps/3Gbps plan, or the 1Gbe/2.5Gbe LAN ports. So you will see 3Gbps WiFi speed becomes very common.

 

[KeYoKe]

Yes, when WiFi 8 is available (2028).

This is not because of WiFi 8 is much faster than WiFi 7 in terms of speed, since WiFi 8 is more about reliability and better roaming, not absolute near range speed.

1) Many more devices will support 6GHz and 320 MHz channel bandwidth, so it is easy to get above 2Gbps or 3Gbps WiFi speed.

2) MLO will get more mature. So you may see improvement on near range but more at far range.

3) 5Gbps and 10 Gbps plans will be the dominate plan and more routers will be compatible with 10Gbe, so your top wireless Internet speed will not be limited by the 1Gbps/3Gbps plan, or the 1Gbe/2.5Gbe LAN ports. So you will see 3Gbps WiFi speed becomes very common.

With the heat WiFi 7 devices are outputting now.... I can't imagine how warm the WiFi 8 equipments will be.... Especially the APs

 

[xiaofan]

With the heat WiFi 8 devices are outputting now.... I can't imagine how warm the WiFi 8 equipments will be.... Especially the APs

Indeed that is an issue with Qualcomm/Broadcom/MediaTek still using the old semiconductor process with the IPQ957x (14nm), BCM4916 (16nm) and MT7988A (CPU for Filogic 880, 12 nm).

MediaTek started to use 6 nm process for the Filogic 860 chipset (less powerful than Filogic 880 chipset).
https://www.mediatek.com/products/broadband-wifi/mediatek-filogic-860

Let's see if 6nm semiconductor process (or better ones) will be used by next generation WiFi 8 chipsets or not.

 

[xiaofan]

BTW, Qualcomm still uses 14 nm process with the newer generation NPro A7 and NPro A7 Elite chipset (IPQ5424) less powerful than IPQ957x in terms of raw CPU power, but adding better NPU for Edge AI).

Xiaomi BE10000 Pro seems to be one of the first wireless routers to use IPQ5424.

Reference:
https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/pu...Dragonwing_NPro_A7_Platform_Product_Brief.pdf

https://docs.qualcomm.com/bundle/pu...wing_NPro_A7_Elite_Platform_Product_Brief.pdf

 

[xiaofan]

Focus of WiFi 8:
Ultra High Reliability’ (UHR).

From Qualcomm WiFi 8 page.
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/onq/2025/07/wi-fi-8-advancing-wireless-through-ultra-high-reliability

...
Leading technology companies — including Qualcomm Technologies — are actively contributing to the development of the underlying standard for the next-generation Wi-Fi: Wi-Fi 8. This effort is being led by Task group IEEE802.11bn under the initiative known as ‘Ultra High Reliability’ (UHR).

...

According to the IEEE scope document, Wi-Fi 8 will introduce:

• At least 25% higher throughput in challenging signal conditions.
• 25% lower latency at the 95th percentile of the latency distribution.
• 25% fewer dropped packets especially when roaming between access points.

 

[KeYoKe]

Indeed that is an issue with Qualcomm/Broadcom/MediaTek still using the old semiconductor process with the IPQ957x (14nm), BCM4916 (16nm) and MT7988A (CPU for Filogic 880, 12 nm).

MediaTek started to use 6 nm process for the wireless portion of the Filogic 880/860 chipset.

Let's see if 6nm semiconductor process (or better ones) will be used by next generation WiFi 8 chipsets or not.

Typo, what i meant is with the heat WiFi 7 devices are outputting now....

Hopefully it will better. With my experience on U7 Pro XGS on 85 celcius, i now scare liao.

Even on Omada EAP 773 is on 45 celcius, EAP 783 on 55 celcius is quite high temp already.

Although i do admit one cannot deny that the heat output by those equipment which involves analog signal will have a high heat output

 

[xiaofan]

Same from MediaTek WiFi 8 page:Ultra High Reliability

MediaTek has authored a white paper outlining next-generation Wi-Fi 8. Key insights include:

• Multi-AP co-ordination
• Further optimizations to spectral efficiency
• Extended range
• Power efficiency improvements

However, Wi-Fi 8 prioritizes one aspect of wireless communication that has become increasingly critical: reliability.

Whereas 802.11be, which became commercialized as Wi-Fi 7, was termed "Extremely High Throughput", 802.11bn, which is expected to be accepted as Wi-Fi 8, is focused on "Ultra High Reliability".

 

[firesong]

Typo, what i meant is with the heat WiFi 7 devices are outputting now....

Hopefully it will better. With my experience on U7 Pro XGS on 85 celcius, i now scare liao.

Even on Omada EAP 773 is on 45 celcius, EAP 783 on 55 celcius is quite high temp already.

Although i do admit one cannot deny that the heat output by those equipment which involves analog signal will have a high heat output

High heat = high energy loss also, so this is something that needs to be addressed. High power, low efficiency is bad for us.

This is also why I chose to stick with U6 Pro. As the hardware iterates, the efficiency gains come later. Also, as adoption goes up, costs come down.

 

[xiaofan]

Typo, what i meant is with the heat WiFi 7 devices are outputting now....

Hopefully it will better. With my experience on U7 Pro XGS on 85 celcius, i now scare liao.

Even on Omada EAP 773 is on 45 celcius, EAP 783 on 55 celcius is quite high temp already.

Although i do admit one cannot deny that the heat output by those equipment which involves analog signal will have a high heat output

So looks like the fanless design of Ubiquiti U7 Pro XGS is not so suitable for the weather in Singapore...

They claim to have learned a lot from the U7 Enterprise or other higher end gears to improve thermal.

Guess that is all marketing...

 

[xiaofan]

High heat = high energy loss also, so this is something that needs to be addressed. High power, low efficiency is bad for us.

This is also why I chose to stick with U6 Pro. As the hardware iterates, the efficiency gains come later. Also, as adoption goes up, costs come down.

Actually there are also many reports over the internet claiming U6 Pro is hot ...

 

[KeYoKe]

High heat = high energy loss also, so this is something that needs to be addressed. High power, low efficiency is bad for us.

This is also why I chose to stick with U6 Pro. As the hardware iterates, the efficiency gains come later. Also, as adoption goes up, costs come down.

So looks like the fanless design of Ubiquiti U7 Pro XGS is not so suitable for the weather in Singapore...

They claim to have learned a lot from the U7 Enterprise or other higher end gears to improve thermal.

Guess that is all marketing...

Actually there are also many reports over the internet claiming U6 Pro is hot ...

Yup. Their APs mostly are hot one even their WiFi 6 APs. Unsure why as well.

And yes, I agree high heat means high energy loss. Their U7 Pro XGS idle at about 13 to 14w, which I feel is decent for WiFi 7 APs but their APs are incredibly hot. I am unsure whether they sacrifice cooling for the look of the APs or they just didn't bother to optimize their circuitry design better. To me it is too hot for my liking, and it melted the 3M tape I used to mount. That was the trigger point for me to just get rid of the set.

Even their USW XG PRO 8 POE also idles at 75 celcius. I do admit network equipment runs hot la. Even my Omada set runs hot, but still it is like 45 celcius range and definitely not at the scorching range of Ubiquiti where u place your fingers for more than 3 seconds, u will burn your fingers.

 

[KeYoKe]

I just hope newer technology comes out which will lower the heat output of WiFi 7 APs. I understand that when it comes to analog signal equipment, it will definitely be warm, especially those used in cell towers, but sometimes really have to think of fire hazard at home as well

So I really can't imagine how hot WiFi 8 APs will run....

 

[xiaofan]

So far I cannot find good reports of overheating for Asus BCM4916 CPU based WiFi 7 router, including the big ROG GT-BE98 (quad band, dual 10G ports) and the "smallest" RT-BE86U (dual band, single 10G port).

So size does matter for thermal.