Is Intel gatekeeping WiFi 7? A very quick look at the Intel BE200.
Is Intel gatekeeping WiFi 7? A very quick look at the Intel BE200.
It seems that Intel is gatekeeping WiFi 7 and I analyzed the options that we currently have.
TLDR: WiFi 7 isn't even ratified or "out" yet, so of course there isn't enough hardware for it.
The WiFi 7 standard hasn't even been finalized. It's not unusual to see companies marketing hardware BEFORE final ratification, but it's like a marketing gimmick more than an actual case of "early adoption" hardware. If you're seeing a situation like this one where a few companies sell routers that support the equipment standard, and there's only one of two adapters that do, just stay away. The Wi-Fi Alliance JUST released the WF7 certification criteria on January 8th, so maybe companies will start trying to release hardware now.
51Gives memories of all those crappy "draft N" routers that played loose with the spec and were full of problems.
I"'d rather wait for final spec hardware.
22As soon as all the plebs get wifi7 though I'm gonna start looking for the first wifi 8 router and in the meantime I'll just chill on my cat8 ethernet.
7I agree that it's very early to go with WiFi 7 at the moment. The issue that I have with the current situation is that Qualcomm managed to make a Wi-Fi 7 adapter which apparently works with AMD and Intel, while the BE200 is 'locked' to their platform only. They didn't even go with CNVi this time. It's just strange and may sway people towards a certain platform due to a simple compatibility issue like this.
7I've looked into getting one for my AMD laptop but I haven't actually got one yet. Some models are locked, some are not, here's my research:
- The common
BE200.NGWGis a CNVi module and everything except the radio itself was moved into Intel's CPUs, for cost savings. - The
BE200.NGWG.NVis a normal NIC and should support AMD. - The
BE200.NGWG.NVX- same as above but with an X? - Anything starting with
BE202sucks, avoid it.
1- The common
Damn, most people aren't even on wifi 5. Chill
13Hey man, I agree, but I also want to be able to test new devices without having to replace my entire newly built PC :D
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Should this link somewhere?
How could Intel gatekeep a standard that’s fairly open?
12Sorry, the link got deleted.. It's added now.
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I recently bought a BE200 for upgrading a very old laptop that came with N wifi with a 4500U CPU. That is pretty old these days! After a driver install both the wifi adapter and bluetooth work as expected. I don't know if I get wifi 7 speeds and throughput yet as this got upgraded before the network and router did but I think it was worth sharing that it does work on old laptops.
1I'm more offended by the tiny antennae plugs (which are worse for signal quality than prior generation, bigger plugs, btw). I always break one or two after twenty tries to couple them.
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