WiFi 7 Plans

[MerryAki]

Hey there, are there plans to leverage WiFi 7 for Meraki? (Affordable mGig switching+APs?)

I mean, most sites still use WiFi 5/6 (some might be lucky and went for 6E) 

Today there was an announcement at UI:

 

ui.social/u7pro

Thrilled to see more!

Yes, that's the Meraki forum, but I will definitely test it. 

[alemabrahao]

I think we are barely entering the world of WiFi 6 so we have a long journey to get to WIFI 7.

[MerryAki]

Could be, I would like to see what the next Gen Smartphones and Mobile computers are going to "demand".

The lack of affordable mGig switching is still a pain sometimes. Have seen couple of deployment that used the SFP Cages+10GBe+PoE Injectors.. That's not how it should be implemented 🤣

[GIdenJoe]

There always will be plans for a next generation but you have to realize the 802.11be standard has not been fully ratified yet.

I would hate to think that the new AP's most companies bought 1 year ago would already be obsolete 😉
And the new standard is not that revolutionary.

[MerryAki]

Sure and WiFi 8 might be the "next big thing"

[RaphaelL]

I think 802.11be is ratified and in the process of getting signed/voted.

Will be skipping 802.11be for sure. Already on 6. No point to upgrade until a couple years.

[GIdenJoe]

Agree, we got the biggest update with the 6 GHz frequency band.  That will have to do for now.
MLO is a feature that probably only be useful in WDS scenarios.
And yes we do get another QAM upgrade so you if really want that last bit of extra speed then sure go for it.
I think the best thing is the added flexibility in RU's.

[mlefebvre]

It will happen when it happens, I would rather Meraki take their time with their WiFi 7 lineup and implement a stable, business-grade product than chase a PR stunt from a competitor that wants to launch pre-standard gear

[BlakeRichardson]

Already using Wifi-6. To me what is more important than a new Wifi standard is mGig becoming a standard port speed opposed to 1Gb. We are at the point now where it should be the default port speed.

[PhilipDAth]

WPA3 (required for 6Ghz support) is so badly supported by clients at the moment it can't even be rolled out generally.  Could we finish getting WiFi-6E working first?

As for MGig, Meraki just recently launched a range of L2 switches that have some MGig ports in their config.  There is the MS130-8X, MS130-12X, MS130-24X and MS130-48X.  Note the "X" in the name.

https://documentation.meraki.com/MS/MS_Overview_and_Specifications/MS130_Datasheet

[MerryAki]

So I ordered them and did a first test run. Pretty neat:

Will re-check it with the updated WiFi card and once the Samsung S24 is available. 

Sorry for the german text, thats approximately 500Mbit more compared to the values on the previously used MR56, maybe the CW916x/MR57 would perform better, but I will skip those for now.

That, and also the bad experience with the availability and our account manager is some thing that should be considered, at first I will test WiFi 7 in my lab, but yeah, Meraki isn't always an option.

Luckily the mounting Holes had been there since the first UAP Pro and then utilized by MR33,36,up to MR56

 

[K2_Josh]

What are the specific use cases for Wi-Fi 7 that apply to Meraki customers? This sounds like a matter of bragging rights.

The only justification I can see is installing Wi-Fi 7 READY access points on the off-chance that there might be a use case before the Wi-Fi 8 standard is announced.

[MerryAki]

I think Cisco is too slow and can't compete with all vendors. Alternative vendors definitely need to be considered. It has been the same thing around WiFi 6/6e.

Yes Ubiquiti UniFi and Cisco Meraki are producing a lot of products, both began with some solar powered PoE appliances and of course WiFi, Cams etc. 

Still both companies are producing interesting things, air quality sensors, EV chargers etc.

Funny to see. In case you want to learn, evolve some technologies it's always bad to consider only one vendor. Mikrotik is another great manufacturer for some protocols, Cisco offered in the past. (LoRa) They also got a bunch of industrial equipment and high speed switching utilities. So it.will definitely be stunning to see what's coming next in the industry.

[alemabrahao]

I think you're taking a very big step, I don't see usability for Wifi 7 in a short period of time.

I think you're in too much of a hurry. 😃

[CptnCrnch]

If you're in for the SOHO / advanced home use case, you might probably be "better off" with Ubiquity or Mikrotik. As soon as you start to realize that there's an enterprise market out there, you definitely will run away from those as fast as you even can. 😉 And this is where the money lies.

[BlakeRichardson]

Meraki doesn't publicly share it's development road map. Cisco is not trying to compete with all vendors, any company that does would go out of business. At the end of the day you should be picking a product that's right for you.

[Paccers]

I'd avoid buying in to the the Wi-Fi 7 marketing machines for a while, the 802.11be standard isn't even ratified yet for starters!