While the world is still getting used to the breakneck speeds of Wi-Fi 7, technology giant Intel is already drawing the contours of the next big step in wireless communications. Surprisingly or not, with Wi-Fi 8, the emphasis shifts from the pure pursuit of gigabits per second to something far more valuable in our everyday lives: impeccable stability and intelligent connection management. According to Carlos Cordeiro, Intel's chief wireless officer, the new era will be defined by “reliability that just works“.
Wi-Fi 8 does not seek to change the frequency range – it will continue to use the familiar 2.4, 5 and 6 GHz bands inherited from its predecessor. However, the real magic happens “under the hood“. The new standard is designed to be “the connectivity technology for the AI era“. This means your network will become context-aware – it will understand where you are and what you need in real time. For example, if you start a video call on your laptop and have to leave the room with your phone in hand, the devices will automatically detect the movement and transfer the session without a single lost second or data packet.
One of the biggest problems of modern networks - slow switching between individual access points (roaming) - will be radically solved. Intel promises that the transfer time from one router to another will drop from tens to just a few milliseconds, which is critical for online gaming and professional video conferencing. In addition, Wi-Fi 8 will use radio waves to “see“ the environment. Your computer will know when you're approaching it to wake itself up, or when you're moving away to lock itself automatically, protecting your data.
Technical improvements also include much smarter signal distribution through advanced modulation. Unlike previous standards, where all data streams are encoded the same, Wi-Fi 8 will adapt each individual stream to the current conditions. This means that even if you're in a “dead zone“ with a weak signal, you'll still enjoy faster speeds and a more stable connection compared to Wi-Fi 7.
Security also gets a major upgrade. With the introduction of encrypted control frames, hackers will no longer be able to use fake messages to “throw“ your devices off the network. With Wi-Fi 8, wireless internet stops being just a “data pipe“ and becomes an intuitive environment that anticipates our needs, saves battery on our devices, and ensures that our connection to the world will not be interrupted at the most inopportune moment.