GT-BE98 WIFI 7

[RMerlin]

how is the 6G performance on WIFI 7 vs WIFI 6? 6E on WIFI6 has reallly bad penetration if there are walls while 5G-2 provides the best connection speed.

6 GHz remains 6 GHz, regardless of whether it's used for Wifi 6 or 7. Same attenuation level as the radio frequency is the same.

 

[RTWZ80]

This is why I’m excited about Wifi 7. MLO is a big game changer. The stuff coming out of the 802.11BE TG is pretty interesting if you want to get deeper into it.

There’s actually no limit on implementation, just client support. You could technically have quad-band support, but most will be tri band for obvious reasons.

Quad-band will be really useful for wireless backhaul I think, or segmenting your home network e.g. separate bands for family use, IoT devices etc.

 

[Qbcd]

6 GHz is terrible unless you're in the same room. Lower legal power limit than the higher DFS 5 GHz channels and higher frequency, for AiMesh wireless backhaul it's useless, and for clients too 5 GHz is better. If you're not near an airport, the DFS channels above 100 are excellent with 30 dbm legal power limit, which if both devices can utilise especially, makes a huge difference. Furthermore, you can't use 3rd party antennas on any device with 6 GHz, so again any sort of point-to-point type use case is hindered.

But yes if you have hardwired APs in every room, go nuts with 320 MHz channels hopefully without interference.

 

[L&LD]

With 5GHz operating within a hair's width away from 6GHz, I don't see how 6GHz bands will be impacted much (for range).

2.4GHz cannot 'contaminate' the 6GHz band. And the processors are significantly more powerful than anything we have today, so I don't expect a slowdown there either.

There are more improvements to WiFi 7 than a mere doubling of the bandwidth. On a properly built (hardware-wise) and fully fleshed out (firmware-wise) model, the differences should be significant.

 

[Tech9]

And so if you wanna stay on 80 MHz channels and not use MLO and can't get the SNR for 4K QAM, then you're basically getting the same performance as Wi-Fi 6.

This is correct. Limited by physics. You realize it only after paying $700+ for a new router though. It was a pleasure doing business with you.

 

[L&LD]

Not limited by physics. Progress is real and continues marching forward.

Tomorrow's routers aren't limited by yesterday's tech.

 

[glens]

... (totally) limited...

 

[RMerlin]

It looks like Asus is using the most powerful processor available in a router for their Wifi 7 generation. TP-Link has been intentionally coy about their CPU specs. This and the additional RAM will certainly go a long way towards stability and performance.

Qualcomm's Wifi 7 CPU upgraded from Cortex A53 to Cortex A73 2.2 GHz CPU cores, while Broadcom is still on B53 (basically Broadcom's variant of the Cortex A53).

 

[Tech9]

it will see rapid adoption

I would like to see this rapid adoption.

 

[RTWZ80]

Qualcomm's Wifi 7 CPU upgraded from Cortex A53 to Cortex A73 2.2 GHz CPU cores, while Broadcom is still on B53 (basically Broadcom's variant of the Cortex A53).

Is AsusWRT being optimised for BCM chips the reason why Asus mainly sticks with Broadcom despite the more advanced QCA tech? I really appreciated the aging RT-AX89X for its power and usability...after subsequent firmware and hardware revisions fixed the initial bugs.

 

[Jansen3]

Qualcomm's Wifi 7 CPU upgraded from Cortex A53 to Cortex A73 2.2 GHz CPU cores, while Broadcom is still on B53 (basically Broadcom's variant of the Cortex A53).

But which routers are using it? Asus has at least been forthcoming about their 2.6GHz clock speed, but no one else has stated anything about their CPUs.

I haven’t seen anyone crack open a BE95 from TP-Link to find out, understandable considering the cost.

 

[RTWZ80]

But which routers are using it? Asus has at least been forthcoming about their 2.6GHz clock speed, but no one else has stated anything about their CPUs.

I haven’t seen anyone crack open a BE95 from TP-Link to find out, understandable considering the cost.

These are the routers/APs using variations of the QCA Cortex A73 2.2 GHz CPU. Mainly TP Link, Linksys, Netgear, Ruckus and Xiaomi. I don't think higher clock speeds are everything though, newer generation CPUs may improve overall performance via efficiency features. Sort of like Apple's M3 SoC on the 3nm process vs Intel's 14th Gen Meteor Lake on the 7nm process. (Others may disagree).

Networking Devices that use Qualcomm Chipsets, SoCs, and Platforms | Qualcomm

Browse a select listing of different networking products (gateways, access points, etc) that use Qualcomm chipsets or SoCs.

www.qualcomm.com

The BE95 is listed here:

TP-Link Deco BE95

The TP-Link Deco BE95 is powered by a Qualcomm Dragonwing™ NPro 7 Platform. Explore features, read device specs, and learn where to buy.

www.qualcomm.com

and the specs for its CPU:

NPro 7 Platform

Explore the NPro 7 Platform, a Wi-Fi 7 networking platform engineered to deliver unparalleled performance and efficiency for next-generation solutions.

www.qualcomm.com

 

[RMerlin]

Is AsusWRT being optimised for BCM chips the reason why Asus mainly sticks with Broadcom despite the more advanced QCA tech?

Asuswrt itself is not optimized specifically for Broadcom. It does fully support other platforms as well. Asus simply decided at some point to mostly focus on Broadcom for some reason.

I haven’t seen anyone crack open a BE95 from TP-Link to find out, understandable considering the cost.

Check on the FCC filing, they may include photos of the internals if the confidentiality period has expired.

 

[Qbcd]

I would like to see this rapid adoption.

Wi-Fi 6 still feels novel, I think most APs are still 802.11ac. When I travel I feel like that's what I connect to 80% of the time. And of course because ac doesn't work on 2.4 GHz, you have a lot of clients connecting on 802.11n still. So... we're still waiting for AX to catch on, let alone BE, it's going to be many many years.

The determining factor for households of course is ISPs adopting CPEs with Wi-Fi 6/7. I mean Virgin Media in the UK for instance still ships Superhub 3s for everything but their top-tier plan and those are 802.11ac from 2015. And in commercial deployments... even slower, companies will not spend money unless they absolutely have to, and the reality is 802.11ac can already give you 400-500 mbps, with today's internet really being designed for 50-100 mbps speeds being the average in most countries.

Anyway, sorry for rambling, the point is you're right it's gonna be a long while.

 

[Tech9]

we're still waiting for AX to catch on, let alone BE

Correct.

And in commercial deployments... even slower

I'm not replacing anything business related if there is no need to. Upgraded my home APs to Wi-Fi 6 not long ago for no good reason.

 

[sfx2000]

while Broadcom is still on B53 (basically Broadcom's variant of the Cortex A53).

Sidenote

B53 is a 64-bit variant of B15, which is an evolution from Cortex-A9...

Better looked at as a A57, not an A53 from a performance and architecture perspective...

A53 is a "small" in-order core, B53 is a "big" out of order core...

It's based on Broadcom's Vulcan tech, which eventually became Cavium's Thunder2 core...

Broadcom, like Apple and a couple of others, actually had an architecture license from ARM - which is quite different than a Core IP license with ARM developed core...

 

[pavel2023]

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B0CKBY2NGV/ page on Amazon. No release date.

 

[AndyD]

Thanks. managed to order it.
It is now out of stock, without giving the option to order it.

 

[Jansen3]

Thanks. managed to order it.
It is now out of stock, without giving the option to order it.

Let us know when it arrives.

 

[Kingp1n]

Thanks. managed to order it.
It is now out of stock, without giving the option to order it.

Keep us posted...