Westwood Computer Services

10/07/2022

New Android malware with full range of spying capabilities has been found

Researchers have discovered a new advanced piece of Android malware that finds sensitive information stored on infected devices and sends it to attacker-controlled servers.

The app disguises itself as a system update that must be downloaded from a third-party store. In fact, it’s a remote-access trojan that receives and executes commands from a command-and-control server. It provides a full-featured spying platform that performs a wide range of malicious activities.

Zimperium listed the following capabilities:

• Stealing instant messenger messages
• Stealing instant messenger database files (if root is available)
• Inspecting the default browser’s bookmarks and searches
• Inspecting the bookmark and search history from Google
Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Samsung Internet Browser
• Searching for files with specific extensions (including .pdf, .doc,
.docx, and .xls, .xlsx)
• Inspecting the clipboard data
• Inspecting the content of the notifications
• Recording audio
• Recording phone calls
• Periodically take pictures (either through the front or back
cameras)
• Listing of the installed applications
• Stealing images and videos
• Monitoring the GPS location
• Stealing SMS messages
• Stealing phone contacts
• Stealing call logs
• Exfiltrating device information (e.g., installed applications,
device name, storage stats)
• Concealing its presence by hiding the icon from the device’s
drawer/menu

Messaging apps that are vulnerable to the database theft include WhatsApp, which billions of people use, often with the expectation that it provides greater confidentiality than other messengers. As noted, the databases can be accessed only if the malware has root access to the infected device. Hackers are able to root infected devices when they run older versions of Android.

If the malicious app doesn’t acquire root, it can still collect conversations and message details from WhatsApp by tricking users into enabling Android accessibility services. Accessibility services are controls built into the OS that make it easier for users with vision impairments or other disabilities to use devices by, for instance, modifying the display or having the device provide spoken feedback. Once accessibility services are enabled, the malicious app can scrape the content on the WhatsApp screen.

Another capability is stealing files stored in a device’s external storage. To reduce bandwidth consumption that could tip off a victim that a device is infected, the malicious app steals image thumbnails, which are much smaller than the images they correspond to. When a device is connected to Wi-Fi, the malware sends stolen data from all folders to the attackers. When only a mobile connection is available, the malware sends a more limited set of data.

As full-featured as the spying platform is, it suffers from a key limitation—namely, the inability to infect devices without first tricking users into making decisions that more experienced people know aren’t safe. First, users must download the app from a third-party source. As problematic as Google’s Play Store is, it’s generally a more trustworthy place to get apps. Users must also be social engineered into enabling accessibility services for some of the advanced features to work.

Google declined to comment except to reiterate that the malware was never available in Play.

06/06/2022

Gadgets Are Back: Windows 11 Is Testing Desktop Widgets

Windows XP and Windows Vista both supported adding “gadgets” to the desktop, like a clock or calendar. It looks like that functionality might make a return for Windows 11.

Microsoft started rolling out Windows 11 Insider Preview Build 25120 to testers in the Dev Channel, which includes an interesting new feature: the ability to add interactive widgets to the desktop. Starting with this preview build, some Insiders will see one of these conceptual features as we begin to explore exposing lightweight interactive content on the Windows desktop.

Windows 11 already has widgets, but they’re only accessible from a special panel accessible from the taskbar — you can’t keep them on the desktop, taskbar, or anywhere else so they’re always visible. Microsoft also doesn’t allow widgets created by third-party developers. Meanwhile, Android has offered robust widget support for over a decade, and Apple brought them to the iPhone and iPad with iOS 14. Widgets are accessible on Mac through the Notification Centre, and many Linux distributions have some version of the feature.

Microsoft has also experimented with interactive desktop widgets in the past. Windows Vista introduced Desktop Gadgets, but they were removed in Windows 8 because they were a security risk. Many third-party widget services and frameworks have also been available over the years, like Google Gadgets.

04/06/2022

Now that Windows 11 has disqualified most PCs except those made in the last 2 years, what will happen to these machines many of which still perform well?

Windows 10 will continue to receive free updates until October 2025.

Windows 8.1, if you still happen to be running that, will continue to receive free updates until January 2023.

Some PCs can and will be upgraded to meet the Windows 11 system requirements, between now and 2025. Those upgraded PCs will be able to run Windows 11. Not all PCs can be upgraded to meet the requirements, but many can.

Some Windows 10 users on PCs that can’t be upgraded to run Windows 11 will, at their own risk, opt to just keep running Windows 10 after October 2025.

Some will switch from Windows to an alternative OS, some time before October 2025.

The main component that gives PC users the main problem is the TPM 2.0 (Trusted Platform Module).

TPM is a security feature for protecting your Windows operating system. With the release of Windows 11 and the announcement of the Windows 11 system requirements, TPM draws much attention of the public.

Trusted Platform Module (TPM, also known as ISO/IEC 11889) is an international standard for a secure crypto-processor, a dedicated microcontroller designed to secure hardware through integrated cryptographic keys. The term can also refer to a chip conforming to the standard.

20/05/2022

What’s the difference between USB4 and Thunderbolt?

You might find USB4 and Thunderbolt cables with different markings. The main difference between USB4 and Thunderbolt is that some USB4 features are optional for USB4, but they’re all included in Thunderbolt 4. So, a Thunderbolt cable is always specified for 40Gb/s symbol rate, whereas you can buy 20Gb/s or 40Gb/s cables rated for USB4.

A 40Gb/s USB4 cable is fully compatible with a Thunderbolt 4 cable, and vice versa. They both work with Thunderbolt 3, Thunderbolt 4, USB 2.0, USB 3.x, and USB4.

There are both passive and active versions of both, for speeds up to 40Gb/s (bit rate, not link rate). As you can see, Thunderbolt cables use the lightning symbol and the version number (3,4), USB cables use the peak bitrate.

This is an important improvement, since active Thunderbolt 3 cables were only compatible with USB 2.0, and while you could use USB 3 cables with Thunderbolt 3 devices, you’d drop back to USB 3 speeds.

From the perspective of USB4 and Thunderbolt 4, the ports themselves are also essentially the same, but they’re under a different set of standards. There are some components of USB4 that are optional, but required under Thunderbolt 4.

Power Delivery is a spec that’s separate from both Thunderbolt and USB, but supported on Type-C cables for both. There are two current levels supported at present: the default 3A cable and the digitally tagged (EMCA) 5A cable, supporting up to 60W and 100W, respectively. While some USB 3 Type-C devices did not support Power Delivery, all USB 4 and Thunderbolt 4 ports must support PD.

You can find a great deal of confusion online about whether all Type-C cables (Type-C to Type-C, not adapter cables) support the standard 3A connection. Thunderbolt 4 ports are required to supply that minimum 15W, while USB4 ports are only required to supply 7.5W.

20/05/2022

Is Charging Your Phone All Night Bad for the Battery?

Smartphones have advanced a lot over the years, but they still basically last about a day on a charge. That means most of us are juicing up the battery all night while we sleep. Is that good for the battery?

Contrary to what you may think, battery technology has actually improved quite a bit. The problem is phones can also do a lot more now, meaning they require more power. The end result is bigger, better batteries that still need to be charged daily.

Information Changes

What makes this situation complicated is there’s a lot of contradicting information out there. Maybe you’ve heard that charging your phone overnight is bad. Maybe you heard it’s completely fine.

Some of this confusion is due to advancements in battery technology. Things that were true at one time are no longer true. That’s a natural part of learning more about how things work. So, what’s the deal right now? Let’s dive in.

How Charging Works

Smartphones are designed with protections in place to keep the battery and other components inside safe. One thing that can do damage to phones is overheating, which is where a lot of the concern for charging overnight comes in.

Most phones will charge quickly when you first plug them in or place them on a wireless charger. This is so if you just need some extra juice in a hurry you don’t have to wait long. However, after a while, charging will slow down and stop entirely when it reaches 100%.

Of course, since it stops charging at 100%, the battery will slowly discharge. Once it drops to 99% again, it will sip a very small amount of power to go back up to 100%. That cycle repeats itself until you take it off the power. The phone is never being overcharged, but it is almost constantly charging.

Advanced Protection

You may have heard that keeping a battery charged between 20-80% is best. Apple and some Android manufacturers have introduced extra features to keep your phone in that range as much as possible.

Beginning with 2019’s iOS 13, iPhones have an “Optimized Battery Charging” feature. When enabled, the phone will stay around 80% for most of the night. An algorithm learns when you typically wake up and charges the device the rest of the way before that. You still start the day at 100%, but it wasn’t cycling between 100 and 99% all night.

Some Android devices have essentially the same feature. OnePlus calls it “Optimized Charging;” Google Pixel phones have “Adaptive Charging.” Samsung Galaxy devices take it a step further and allow you to cap the battery at 85% all the time.

If you charge your phone overnight, it’s a good idea to enable these features if you have them. It makes charging overnight slightly less problematic.
How Do We Define “Bad”?

With those protections in place, it’s very, very difficult for you to do any undue damage to your phone’s battery. However, batteries will degrade over time and there’s nothing anyone can do about that. It’s just a matter of how much are you helping that process along.

Charging cycles are what affect the lifespan of your battery. The more charging cycles it goes through, the more the battery degrades. This is why it’s best to keep your phone between 20-80% charge as much as possible.

That’s where charging overnight can speed up the battery degradation process. Cycling between 99-100% for several hours is sort of like flipping a light on and off. It’s not going to make the bulb explode into flames, but it’s also not particularly good for the bulb.

That’s the question we have to ask when it comes to charging batteries overnight. What exactly constitutes “bad” for the battery? Is your phone going to overheat and start a fire? No, there are protections in place to prevent that—as long as you use the correct equipment. Will it take some life off the battery? Yes, but it may not be noticeable to you.

Charge Overnight Without Damage

There are some things you can do to charge your phone overnight and mitigate some of the downsides. First and foremost, make sure the device has room to breathe. Overheating is a big concern, so give it room and don’t cover it up with anything.

The other big thing you can do is choose the correct charging equipment. Using the chargers provided with the device and those specifically designed for it is very important. Beyond that, you may consider avoiding “fast charging” during bedtime. Getting to 100% slower means spending less time in that 99-100% cycle.

10/05/2022

Why Is My Wi-Fi Not as Fast as Advertised?

So, the marketing for your Wi-Fi router promises a certain speed but your experience with the router doesn’t live up to that speed. What gives? Here’s why you’re not getting the advertised experience.

We’re starting from the position that your internet connection is functioning as expected (speed tests look good, your Wi-Fi signal is strong, but you’re not getting the speed you expect based on your router’s specs.


The Router’s Advertised Speed Is Theoretical

The speeds advertised on the box and in the documentation for a particular router are the theoretical maximum speed the router can sustain under perfect conditions and when paired with an equal or better test device in a lab. Here’s a quick overview:
Let’s say you have a router that is labeled as AC1900. That letter and number combination indicates the generation of Wi-Fi (AC is generation 5) and the maximum bandwidth the router can sustain under ideal conditions (in this case, 1900 Mbps across all the router bands/radios.)

When you’re using your iPhone, Xbox One, or whatever device on your Wi-Fi network, you are limited to the connection that device has negotiated with the Wi-Fi router. Unless you happen to be using a modern device with an ancient single-band router (in which case you could potentially actually max out the available bandwidth) you’ll never see a single device use all the bandwidth a router has to offer.

On that AC1900 router, for instance, the bandwidth is divided between a single 2.4Ghz band that maxes out at a theoretical 600 Mbps and a 5 GHz band that maxes out at 1300 Mbps. Your device will either be on one band or the other, and can’t take advantage of the full capacity of the router.

Maximum Device Speeds Are Theoretical, Too

While we’re talking about theoretical speeds, it’s also important to note that the maximum speed for a single band is also largely theoretical. A device using Wi-Fi 5 (802.11ac) on the 5GHz band can theoretically get up to 1300 Mbps but in practice, it will only get a fraction of that.

Because of overhead in the Wi-Fi protocol, you can expect anywhere from 50-80% of the expected “advertised” speed based on your gear. Newer routers paired with newer devices are more efficient, older devices and older routers, are less so.

If you run a speed test on a gigabit connection and your Wi-Fi device only gets a portion of that speed it’s to be expected. It’s also, by the way, why you shouldn’t use your phone for speed tests.

Unfortunately, there’s no way to use tips, tricks, or hacks to get around this limitation. The difference between the way router and device speeds are advertised and the way they are actually realized during real-world use is always going to be out of alignment.

Your Devices Are Slower Than Your Router

Assuming you’re not running into Wi-Fi issues because you have an ancient router, the individual clients are likely the bottleneck. Even under ideal conditions, there’s a good chance that your router can run circles around your devices in terms of transmission power and bandwidth capacity.

If you have a router with a 4×4 MIMO capability, for instance, but the devices you’re connecting to the router only support 2×2 MIMO, then it’s impossible for that device to even begin to approach the maximum speed the router can handle.

As of the time of this article, configurations greater than 2×2 MIMO are rarely found outside of routers or Wi-Fi access points. Some Apple laptops have 3×3 setup, and a few high-end Dell laptops have a 4×4 setup, but nearly everything else only has 2×2 MIMO. So even if your router is a Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) router and your devices support Wi-Fi 6, there is still an imbalance of radio arrangement and transmission power between your device and the router.
Until most devices sport the hardware equivalent to the router and have similar transmission power, you’ll always be limited by the device.

So, What Should You Do About It?

If your concern was simply that the speed you saw in speed tests or when downloading large files didn’t match what you expected, there’s really nothing you should do about it now that you know why it happens.

There aren’t really any day-to-day activities where maxing your Wi-Fi connection to get closer and closer to that theoretical speed matters that much. How much bandwidth you need for various internet activities is surprisingly low. Even an old Wi-Fi 3 (802.11g) router has enough bandwidth capacity to stream HD video to your smart TV or iPhone.

If you found yourself reading this article not because some benchmarks had you curious why you weren’t getting the advertised router speed you expected, but because your Wi-Fi devices are struggling and basic home internet activities like streaming video and gaming are a laggy mess, a router upgrade is probably in order. Assuming you have an adequate broadband connection, the culprit is almost always that your router can’t keep up with the demands your household imposes.

For the vast majority of people, they don’t need more bandwidth, they need better device management and bandwidth allocation—and a shiny new current generation router has the hardware to make that happen.

28/03/2022

Did you know? Windows 11 PCs can run Android apps

When Microsoft announced Windows 11, the company made a big deal of how Windows 11 PCs would be able to run Android apps.

Unfortunately, that feature wasn’t available at Windows 11’s launch.
Luckily, Android app support arrived in February. If you have a supported Windows 11 PC, you can install Android apps from the Microsoft Store. Microsoft has partnered with the Amazon Appstore for this, which means it has a more limited selection of apps than you might expect.

Android emulators have been around for a while even on older versions of Windows, but Windows 11’s Android app support is much better than Bluestacks and similar programs.

PS: Modern Chromebooks support Android apps, too. If you’re a Mac user, you can run iPhone and iPad apps on your Mac—assuming you have an M1 Mac.

19/02/2022

What Is Multipoint Bluetooth, and How Does It Work?

Pairing your headphones or earbuds to a new device is a terrible experience. It’s time-consuming, difficult, and unintuitive. And that’s why multipoint Bluetooth exists.

Multipoint Bluetooth allows your headphones or earbuds to connect with multiple devices at the same time. It can reduce or eliminate the need to go through annoying pairing processes, and better yet, it can save you from missing calls when you’re listening to music on your laptop or tablet.

How Does Multipoint Work?

Devices set up with Bluetooth form a “piconet,” which is just a cute way of saying “a tiny network.” In the world of Bluetooth audio, these piconets usually contain just two devices—a pair of headphones and a single audio source.

Your headphones act as the “leader” of this piconet, dictating how and when connections operate. But your audio source, be it a phone or laptop, is just a “follower.” It listens to any commands that your headphones make (such as pause or play), and it complies with any rules (such as audio codec or bitrate constraints) set by your headphones.

When a pair of headphones or earbuds supports multipoint audio, its piconet can include a couple of extra “followers.” That is, audio sources. The headphones are still in charge, though, so the multipoint experience can vary depending on which headphones or earbuds you own.

And yes, Bluetooth multipoint can vary wildly between different models of headphones, earbuds, and headsets. Here are the four types of multipoint connectivity:

• Simple Multipoint: Consumer headphones with multipoint tend to only support “simple multipoint.” They can connect with two devices, and audio will pause on one device if it’s interrupted by the other.

• Advanced Multipoint: The “advanced multipoint” system is mainly intended for business headsets. It has just one notable difference from “simple multipoint”—interrupted calls automatically get put on hold. It’s easy to see how this would be useful in a call centre or office, where a Bluetooth headset may be connected to two phones simultaneously.

• Triple Connectivity: This one’s exactly what it sounds like. Headphones, earbuds, or headsets with multipoint “triple connectivity” can pair with three devices simultaneously.

• Proprietary Connectivity: Products like the Apple AirPods and Samsung Galaxy Buds Pro offer “multipoint” functionality for laptops, phones, and other devices made by their respective manufacturers. This isn’t true multipoint; it’s a proprietary protocol.

Again, most consumer headphones and earbuds with multipoint connectivity only support “simple multipoint.” If you want a more advanced setup, you probably need to buy a wireless headset. (Your audio sources will work with any type of multipoint, as they’re the “followers” in the piconet.) And even if two sets of wireless earbuds support the same type of multipoint Bluetooth, they may behave differently when in multipoint mode. Especially during the pairing process.

How to Connect Devices with Bluetooth Multipoint

After decades of designing wired headphones, which are incredibly easy to use, manufacturers are now stuck making wireless headphones and earbuds. It’s a totally different ball game—wireless headphones are complicated, so they require intuitive, user-friendly design.

Unfortunately, wireless headphone and earbud manufacturers are rubbish at intuitive design. And that means the multipoint pairing process isn’t the same for every model of wireless headphone or earbud.

Here are some common multipoint pairing instructions. Bear in mind that most wireless headphones and earbuds do not support multipoint pairing.

• For Most Brands: Connect your headphones or earbuds to one device, then go through the pairing process again for a second device. They may automatically snap into multipoint mode, although I can’t guarantee it. (If your headphones or earbuds have a companion app, check its settings for additional options.)

• Sony: Open the companion app, go to System, and enable “connect to 2 devices simultaneously.”

• Bose: Open the companion app, select your headphones, and select “source.” Then, add a second source for multipoint.

• Apple or Samsung: Own compatible products from these brands, log into each product with the same account, and pair your headphones or earbuds to each device one at a time.

If none of these options work for you, I suggest checking your headphones’ or earbuds’ instruction manual. (Some people throw away their instruction manuals, which is why manufacturers offer digital versions on their websites.)

19/02/2022

13/02/2022

When Will Microsoft Stop Supporting Windows 10?

Now that Windows 11 is here, you might be wondering how long you can keep using Windows 10 safely with continued security updates from Microsoft. We have the answer.


Desktop Windows 10 Support Ends October 2025

Microsoft will officially support Windows 10 Home, Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 Enterprise, and Windows 10 Education editions until October 14, 2025. At that point, all regular desktop editions of Windows 10 will reach end-of-life status, which means that they’ll no longer receive security updates.

(Support for the less commonly used Long Term Support Channel releases Windows 10 2019 LTSC and Windows 10 IoT 2019 LTSC will end on January 9, 2029.)

After Windows 10 support ends, you’ll need to upgrade to Windows 11 to keep receiving security updates. In our richly connected world, those updates are essential for maintaining your personal privacy and data security. And don’t worry, you can get around Microsoft’s restrictions even if Windows 11 doesn’t support your PC.

When Will Windows 10 Stop Getting Security Updates?

As mentioned above, Windows 10 Home, Pro, Education, Enterprise, and IoT Enterprise will no longer receive security updates after October 14, 2025.

Windows LTSC, a specialized version of Windows for businesses that need long-term support, will continue to receive updates for a few more years after that. Windows 10 2019 LTSC and Windows 10 IoT 2019 LTSC will stop receiving security updates on January 9, 2029.

Once security updates stop, you’re on your own. Any new vulnerabilities found in Windows 10 after those dates might not be patched by Microsoft (although rare exceptions to this rule have happened). Still, you definitely can’t rely on it, so it’s best to upgrade to Windows 11 by October 2025. On the bright side, Windows 11 includes many useful new features, so it shouldn’t be a painful upgrade.

How Long Can I Keep Using Windows 10?

Windows 10 won’t magically stop working in October of 2025 even if Microsoft stops providing security updates. That means that you can technically keep using it (as some loyal holdouts have done with older versions of Windows in the past), even though it’s generally not a good idea.

With sophisticated phishing attacks, remote exploits, and ransomware being common these days, the stakes are simply too high for most people to risk their personal data by using an unsupported operating system.

09/02/2022

What Is ISP Throttling and What Can You Do About it?

Internet service providers (ISPs) can throttle your internet connection to a slower speed than advertised. They also use a practice known as “shaping”, where throttling is applied selectively to traffic. So how do you know if you’re being throttled or shaped?

Why Do ISPs Throttle or Shape Connections?

Network bandwidth is a finite resource. So, one of the main jobs an ISP has is making sure that everyone on the network has a good experience. When networks are quiet, such as at 3AM, the few users who need lots of bandwidth can get it. However, peak times such as when everyone is streaming video after dinner can put the network under pressure. This is when they may decide to throttle or shape connections to prioritize certain kinds of traffic or to fairly share the available bandwidth among all users until things quiet down.

Some ISP packages may also implement a “soft cap” written into the fine print of your contract. For example, there may be a rolling monthly bandwidth amount where you’ll be throttled after exceeding it. This is to prevent heavy bandwidth users (often on cheaper packages) from abusing their connection. ISPs are buying bandwidth from providers on tiers above them, so although there may be no hard cap on your connection, throttling may be necessary to protect their profits.

Connection shaping happens for various reasons and some of them are genuinely about quality-of-service during peak network congestion, but it can also be a way to advertise faster speeds than a user gets in reality. Essentially, low-bandwidth services such as email or web browsing may run at the advertised speed, but as soon as you try downloading software or watch a video, that speed goes down. It can be hard to prove that you’re being shaped. Internet speed tests are obviously something ISPs won’t shape, so that number tells us nothing. There are a number of tools that try to detect traffic shaping such as Shaper Probe and BonaFide.

What Can You Do About Shaping?

In most cases, you don’t actually have to do anything special to detect if you’re being shaped or not. That’s because you can use a VPN to circumvent most types of shaping. That is, unless VPN traffic itself is being shaped, but that’s unlikely to be the case. In other words, if your internet performance improves after switching a VPN on, chances are that some shaping was going on.

The VPN solution is generally a good one, but you can also eliminate shaping by changing your internet plan to one that explicitly says it’s “unshaped”. These internet plans tend to be more expensive, but it also means that you get the advertised speed no matter what type of application you’re using.

What Can You Do About Throttling?

When we’re talking about pure throttling, there’s sadly no quick fix. The only real solution is to change your internet plan after testing to see if you’re really being throttled. When you do, pay special attention to the terms and conditions and whether any soft caps or throttling policies are in place. These may also be listed under terms that describe what the ISP considers abuse of the service.

Even if there’s no official throttling policy, it may be worth looking for online feedback from other customers to get a good feeling of how often throttling happens, if ever.

31/01/2022

Wi-Fi 7: What Is It, and How Fast Will It Be?

Although Wi-Fi 6E still feels cutting edge at the start of 2022, a demonstration of the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 standard showcased transfer speeds might make Ethernet cables obsolete. Let’s take a look at the proposed spec and what it promises.

What Is Wi-Fi 7? How Fast Is It?

Wi-Fi 7 is a new specification for Wi-Fi devices currently in the works. It’s based on the draft 802.11be standard, published in May 2021.

Wi-Fi 7 might make wired Ethernet connections obsolete for a certain class of both home users and professionals. Wi-Fi 7 can theoretically support bandwidth up to 30 gigabits per second (Gbps) per access point, which is just over three times as fast as the maximum 9.6 Gbps speed of Wi-Fi 6 (also known as 802.11ax). The draft authors call this “Extremely High Throughput,” or EHT.

Currently, commonly-available wired Ethernet technology maxes out at 10 Gbps (10GBASE-T), although it’s basically non-existent in consumer devices at the moment. And although higher speeds (such as Terabit Ethernet) exist in specialist settings like data centres, its arrival in the home or small business setting—if it ever happens—is likely far off. So, for current users of both Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Wi-Fi 7 might be able to replace the need for wired connections under optimal conditions.

What Else Is Cool About Wi-Fi 7?

Aside from the theoretical potential of blazingly fast speeds of Wi-Fi 7, the Wi-Fi Alliance plans to include other notable improvements in the Wi-Fi standard. We’ll cover a handful below:

• Backward Compatibility: The Wi-Fi 7 draft spec spells out
backward compatibility with legacy devices in the 2.4 GHz, 5
GHz, and 6 GHz bands, which means you won’t need all-new
devices or hardware to connect to a Wi-Fi 7-enabled router.

• 6 GHz: Full utilization of the new “6 GHz Band” (actually 5.925–
7.125 GHz), first supported in Wi-Fi 6E. The 6GHz band is
currently only occupied by Wi-Fi applications (although that
might change), and using it results in dramatically less
interference than the 2.4 GHz or 5 GHz bands.

• Lower Latency: The draft Wi-Fi 7 spec aims at “lower lateness
and higher reliabilities” for time-sensitive networking (TSN),
which is essential for cloud computing (and cloud gaming). It’s
also a critical requirement for replacing wired Ethernet
connections.

• MLO: Wi-Fi 7 offers Multi-Link Operation (MLO) with load
balancing and aggregation that combines multiple channels
on different frequencies to deliver better performance. This
means a Wi-Fi 7 router will be able to utilize all bands and
channels available dynamically to speed up connections or
avoid bands with high interference.

• Upgrades to 802.11ax: According to the draft spec, Wi-Fi 7 will
offer direct enhancements of Wi-Fi 6 technologies, such as 320
MHz channel width (up from 160 MHz in Wi-Fi 6), which allows
faster connections, and 4096 quadrature amplitude
modulation (QAM) technology that allows more data
crammed into each hertz.

When Will Wi-Fi 7 Be Available?

According to a news release from MediaTek, which claims to have already demonstrated the maximum Wi-Fi 7 speed mentioned above, Wi-Fi 7 products are expected to hit the market in 2023. An article in IEEE Spectrum cites 2024 as a potential availability date.

In the meantime, you can already buy routers that support Wi-Fi 6 (and Wi-Fi 6E), which is still impressive compared to earlier Wi-Fi standards. Whichever way you choose to go, it’s clear there are exciting times ahead for wireless networking.