By Claus Hetting, Wi-Fi NOW CEO & Chairman
NETGEAR launches its first Wi-Fi 7 router: Nighthawk RS700
This week NETGEAR released its first Wi-Fi 7-capable router in the form of the Nighthawk RS700 – possibly the world’s fastest consumer-grade networking device (or thereabouts) capable of 19 Gbps peak data rate, NETGEAR says in their press release here. NETGEAR says the tri-band unit is designed for low-latency AR/VR gaming, UHD Zoom calls, 8k simultaneous streaming, and more.
The RS700 has an entirely new tower-like shape not reminiscent of previous Nighthawk routers, which is designed to house antennas for 360 degree coverage of up to 3,500 square feet (about 325 square meters), NETGEAR says. For additional coverage two or more RS700 units can be meshed together. In terms of features the RS700 supports 320 MHz channels, 4kQAM, Multi-Link Operation, and can serve up to 200 devices concurrently. The unit is powered by Broadcom’s BCM6726/3 WiFi 7 SoC.
Morse Micro & Quectel team up for Wi-Fi HaLow modules
Morse Micro is arguably leading the market for Wi-Fi HaLow chipset and now the company has teamed up with Wi-Fi IoT module provider Quectel for a new long-range Wi-Fi HaLow module dubbed FGH100M. The module is based on Morse Micro’s MM6108 chip and “operates in 850–950 MHz bands with 1/2/4/8 MHz channel width and features 21 dBm maximum output power and 32.5 Mbps maximum theoretical transmission rate,” Quectel says.
The company also says that “the module will accelerate the adoption of Wi-Fi HaLow across the globe, supporting the development of long-range IoT solutions for all.” Read more here. Morse Micro received significant funding last year and is accelerating its efforts in bringing Wi-Fi HaLow technology to market. The first Wi-Fi HaLow end-user device was released last month in the form of an outdoor Wi-Fi video camera. Morse Micro is a Wi-Fi NOW Partner.
More Wi-Fi 7 announcements at MWC – that we may have missed
Wi-Fi 7 was a hot item at the Mobile World Congress 2023 – so hot that we may have dropped a few key announcements, most of them related to Qualcomm Wi-Fi 7 chipsets. Qualcomm’s FastConnect 7800 Wi-Fi 7 functionality is now included in the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platform, which means many newly released Android smartphones now support Wi-Fi 7 – including the OnePlus 11 5G, the Xiaomi 13-series, and the Honor Magic5 Pro. There are likely many more in the pipeline.
On the networking (router) side four new Wi-Fi 7 devices were released perhaps most notably the AVM FRITZ!Box 5690 XGS and Brazilian vendor Intelbras’ GX3000 5G router.
Wi-Fi 7 has indeed arrived.
/Claus.
