Wi-Fi is the fuel that powers so much of our daily lives. The pandemic brought this into focus, as so many of us were physically confined to our homes, but still needed to stay connected and move forward with the rest of our lives. Even in a post-pandemic world, Wi-Fi remains the workhorse of the internet, carrying up to 89% of all traffic on mobile devices across the five largest carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Spectrum Mobile, and Xfinity Mobile) according to a new Opensignal report and supporting hundreds of millions of devices (a number that keeps on growing). However, the Wi-Fi that we rely on throughout our day needs attention from policymakers to keep meeting our everyday needs.
In 2020, the Federal Communications Commission keenly took notice of growing Wi-Fi demand and congestion and took action, opening critical Wi-Fi spectrum in the 6 GHz band to give consumers, businesses, schools, hospitals, and other institutions the literal bandwidth they would need to keep going. Wi-Fi developers and service providers quickly put that bandwidth to work – to date, more than 800 million 6 GHz device shipments have gone out, and Wi-Fi Alliance projects that 2.5 billion will be certified by 2028.
In addition to satisfying consumer demand and bolstering innovation, the allocation of additional Wi-Fi spectrum has a tangible and positive economic impact on our country. A recent economic study found that the 2020 6 GHz decision already generated nearly $870 billion in U.S. economic value in 2023 and 2024. The study estimates this value will increase to $1.2 trillion by 2027.
Consumer demand for faster and higher capacity Wi-Fi is showing no signs of slowing down. The volume of Wi-Fi device shipments sets records every year. Wi-Fi developers are now actively ushering in the next Wi-Fi generation – Wi-Fi 7. This new generation of Wi-Fi devices and services will enable faster speeds; more efficient spectrum use to maximize capacity and seamless sharing among the multitude of Wi-Fi and other devices that operate on their shared frequencies; and a new generation of advanced, high-compute, data-intensive applications.
As we saw with the rapid innovation and tangible consumer benefits delivered by the FCC’s 6 GHz decision and the subsequent rollout of Wi-Fi 6E, industry engineers and manufacturers anticipate Wi-Fi 7 to deliver even more and eclipse the sales of the previous Wi-Fi generation by 2026.
Here’s Why This Matters
With the next generation of Wi-Fi coming into view and the number of Wi-Fi devices growing exponentially, the time is now for policymakers to ensure that Wi-Fi has the spectrum resources needed to continue meeting the moment.
Wi-Fi needs access to more contiguous bandwidth to efficiently manage usage, deliver high speeds, and avoid interference or congestion. In fact, one of Wi-Fi 7’s major advances is it’s big, broad channel sizes – up to 320 MHz in width – to carry more data traffic at higher speeds with lower latency, allowing more users to more efficiently share available spectrum. By comparison, earlier Wi-Fi technologies used channels that were fractions of this size, needed more time to transmit, and had fewer open channels to use – thereby leading to slow, congested Wi-Fi performance.
Independent reviewers reporting on Wi-Fi 7’s data throughput capabilities are seeing download and upload speeds of 2-3 Gbps (see Intel and Broadcom’s cross-platform demonstration, analysis from expert Phil Morgan, and others across social media). Performance is projected to continue improving in the coming years with innovations already in the pipeline.
More spectrum is critical to keep pace with this next generation of Wi-Fi and increasing consumer demands. Fortunately, because Wi-Fi is always designed to share spectrum and avoid interference, the cost to the U.S. government of making more bandwidth available is low (unlike the very high cost of clearing and relocating government satellites, military radars, and other incumbents that comes with auctioning exclusive spectrum). However, policymakers need to take action now to ensure a stable and favorable environment for Wi-Fi in the future.
There’s More to Do
There’s currently only enough unlicensed spectrum in the 6 GHz band to enable just three 320 megahertz channels. But our networking needs today would benefit from access to at least four or five such channels – and our networking needs in the future will demand it. A Wi-Fi 7 network running five 320 megahertz channels will keep pace with intensifying consumer data needs and prevent Wi-Fi from becoming a chokepoint as broadband providers’ home internet speeds approach 10+ Gbps. But these additional wide channels won’t be possible unless policymakers free up more unlicensed spectrum contiguous to the current 6 GHz band.
WifiForward, along with many industry stakeholders, is rolling up its sleeves to work with policymakers to ensure that Wi-Fi 7, and future generations of Wi-Fi, are well-positioned to support America’s broadband needs for decades to come. This requires unlicensed, shared access to the 7 GHz spectrum. Mobile carriers across the market – including AT&T, Verizon, Comcast, Charter, Metronet, and others – are already embracing Wi-Fi 7 to deliver consumers more choices and better performance as the consumer electronics industry begins its adoption of Wi-Fi 7 in earnest.
We urge policymakers to consider the outsized (and growing!) demand and consumer reliance on Wi-Fi today, recognize that these demands will only grow as Americans continue to consume more and more data through more and more devices, and grant access to unlicensed 7 GHz spectrum to ensure the Wi-Fi 7 can deliver on its promise to consumers.