Wi-Fi 8 – reliability more important than speed!

MediaTek has revealed in its latest white paper that the upcoming Wi-Fi 8 standard will primarily focus on connection reliability, rather than record speeds. The new technology is set to debut only at the end of 2027, replacing the current Wi-Fi 7, which is just starting to hit the market.

Ultra High Reliability instead of Extremely High Throughput

The company plans to commercialise Wi-Fi 8 under the slogan “Ultra High Reliability” – in contrast to the current standard Wi-Fi 7, which is referred to as “Extremely High Throughput”. In practice, this means a focus on stable connections, lower latency, and greater range, rather than just an increase in throughput. Also under consideration is the implementation of mmWave technology, which in theory could raise Wi-Fi throughput to as much as 100 Gb/s.

Single Mobility Domains – seamless switching between points

One of the key improvements will be Single Mobility Domains, which is the ability to move between multiple access points without even a second's interruption in the connection. This solution could become the standard in large offices, at airports, or in hospitals. It will also enhance performance at the edge of coverage, where current networks often lose signal.

Better streaming, VR and wireless set-top boxes

Wi-Fi 8 is expected to provide better video streaming quality, smoother cloud gaming (Xbox Cloud, GeForce Now) and seamless transmission of VR content to devices such as the Apple Vision Pro. The new standard may also enable set-top boxes and other video devices to operate entirely without HDMI cables.

Energy savings and possible changes in plans

MediaTek emphasises that an important goal will also be reducing energy consumption by Wi-Fi devices. However, it should be noted that the specification is not yet final – some of the announced features may drop out of the plans, while others may appear. "Coordinated Multi-AP" is also in play – a protocol that allows routers in the same mesh network to coordinate data transmission, improving performance in homes and offices with a large number of devices.