The airport, which doubles its traffic every three years and maintains the control tower that existed a decade ago, is doomed to collapse, slow traffic and loss of flights. Something similar happens with the Internet at home. Most homes have more than a dozen devices connected to their home Wi-Fi network that require more capacity and speed for proper use, such as high-quality audio-visual streaming, video gaming, or remote work. Operators are now responding by offering connections up to GB (Gb), which means an exchange capacity of just over one billion (2³⁰) Byte In the second, but this increase in supply and demand for data contradicts the existence of the majority of data RoutersThese are devices that distribute the flow of information packets between networks, and with Wifi 5 technology, they are unable to absorb this traffic effectively. While Wifi 6 has yet to penetrate 18% of homes, Qualcomm has just launched its new platform 10G Fiber Gatewaywhich is developing Wifi 7, which is still not supported, and doubles local connection capacity.
96.1% of homes in Spain have access to fixed (83%) and mobile broadband, according to National Institute of Statistics. Only 13.1% use the Internet through a mobile phone connection alone, a percentage that is more than three points lower in some countries, according to Daily subsistence allowance. This statistical picture, common in many regions of the planet, makes… Router Local to an essential element, but not updated according to the new reality.
Broadcom CEO Chris Szymanski sees the transition to new generations of wireless interconnection as critical. “We see the most urgent capacity crisis in Wi-Fi,” he confirms to the specialized portal. Wireless RCR. As he explains, the vast majority of traffic is managed through… Router, to which almost all devices connect. “Wi-Fi capability should be the core focus of wireless broadband to drive new applications that work indoors,” he concludes.
As Diego Huertas warns Global Wireless Engineer At Ikusi: “Current Wi-Fi networks do not have enough capacity to meet the high demand for communications and applications. Moving to the latest generations is essential to avoid common congestion issues and user complaints.
“This year,” says Klaus Hetting, head of Wi-Fi Now, “there will be 19.5 billion devices With wireless communications operating in the world”, with an annual growth of 20%. This data makes the transition to Wifi 6E (an evolution of 6 four years ago) and 7. “It’s underway,” says the Wi-Fi Alliance, a certification body for the technology that plans to approve 7G next year.
Some companies won’t wait. Suppliers Routers TP Link or Eero has adopted the Wifi 7 compatible platform introduced this month by the San Diego (USA) multinational Qualcomm. Intel has also entered this market. Average price in the United States Router The cost of enabling the new wireless connectivity is approximately €550 and availability of some of these devices in Europe is expected imminently.
The technology is available, but operators must provide it, users must request it, and countries must provide the necessary spectrum. In this sense, says Diego Huertas, an expert at the technology services company Ecosi“, explains: “With the evolution to Wifi 7, new functions have been enabled and one of them is able to take advantage of the 6 GHz band, which is used to transmit information. This opens up new possibilities in access speed and will help solve the problem of congestion. However, in Spain, only half of the channels are enabled in this band, leaving the country at a disadvantage when it comes to greater capabilities.
Other countries are in the lead. Gary Koerber, Vice President of Communications, North America Charterstates that it will offer the new generation as a “standard”, as a reference standard for all users. British EE, part of the BT Group, has joined. “The customer builds his life on communication,” explains Danny Marshall, director of the latter company.
Rahul Patel, Vice President QualcommHe confirms that the new generation is the most important of all in confronting “the congestion that public places and homes suffer from,” as he estimates that there will be more than 20 connected devices and traffic of up to 10 gigabytes will be recorded in five years in 59% of homes that will generate a “situation “embarrassed.”
Poor performance undermines customer confidence in the operator, which may lead to abandonment. Therefore, broadband operators are under tremendous pressure to provide high-quality Wi-Fi services to their customers.
Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment (ASSAI)
a Report from consulting firm ABI Research, which cites a study by Adaptive Spectrum and Signal Alignment (ASSAI), also warns that the most popular Wi-Fi standards’ bands are limited in capacity due to increased traffic. According to this study, Wi-Fi 5 permanence has an “unfortunate cascading effect of deteriorating quality of service due to increased congestion, latency, and interference.” “Poor performance undermines customer confidence in the operator, which could lead to abandonment. Broadband operators are under enormous pressure to deliver high-quality Wi-Fi services to their customers,” the report warns.
price war
But it is difficult to manage the panorama. The price war limits the ability of telecom companies to invest in infrastructure, services and equipment. “I don’t blame the operators because I think they don’t know how to make money. If this situation continues, they won’t be able to move towards new technology, which requires investment,” admits Ganesh Swaminathan, Vice President and General Manager of Qualcomm.
Ecosi’s Huertas also notes companies’ reluctance to make new investments in wireless technologies, but warns: “There’s no better time than now.”
I don’t blame the operators because I think they don’t know how to make money. If this situation continues, they will not be able to advance towards new technology, which requires investment
Ganesh Swaminathan, Vice President and General Manager, Qualcomm
Swaminathan considers a change in strategy necessary and uses the Spanish situation as an example: “In countries like Spain, I think services can help adjust subscriptions. Watching an HD movie with the best sound using Wifi 5 is not fun. Telefónica can say: “It’s not my problem, if you pay 33 euros, that’s what you get.” But if Telefónica has the ability to tell a customer that if they want the best experience, it will cost them an extra five euros because it will provide them with an experience package in flow [en línea]”You can change the model.”
The manager also refers to customer demand as key and expresses it by analogy. “The user can drive on the highways free of tax. But if you want to use the highway, you can pay a toll. It’s a few euros, but you need it because the free road is crowded. The same thing happens in the data. The highway from the cloud to the home and inside the home is crowded and there A need for certain toll roads to provide new services. “Maybe some people who don’t want to pay more won’t use them, but others will and the operator will get more income from premium customers.”
Alex Roitblat, Vice President Wi-Fi AllianceHe advocates full-speed implementation to achieve Europe’s digital transformation goals, but adds an element to consider in this approach: the moment of high inflation. The customer wants and needs more, but is reluctant to pay the extra cost to connect and renew equipment that allows them to take advantage of new capabilities.
In this sense, Roitblat explains that 75% of those surveyed in the Eurobarometer conducted by the European Commission confirm that affordable high-speed connectivity would significantly facilitate the use of digital technologies. “From these results, we can conclude that affordability will be a key factor in determining whether Europe achieves its digital goals,” he warns.
The new Wifi 7 route offers speeds of 36Gbps, although it can reach 46.4, which is much higher than the maximum data speed of 6G (9.6Gbps). Multi-Link Operation (MLO) makes it easy to download large files, video streaming and VR, as well as reduce latency by quickly switching between available bands. In this way, Wifi 7 promises improved performance, expanded capacity, greater reliability and resilience against interference.
Qualcomm’s 10G Fiber Gateway platform was presented in San Diego during an event with international press to which EL PAÍS was invited.
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