The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) completed the second phase of its residential field trials for Wi-Fi 7 multilink operation (MLO), reporting significant gains in reliability, latency, and performance that could reshape in-home wireless networking.

The trials, carried out in partnership with CableLabs and Intel, showed that Wi-Fi 7’s MLO technology can deliver “wired-like” consistency – a shift from previous Wi-Fi generations that primarily emphasized peak speed.

Earlier standards relied on a single frequency band at a time, but Wi-Fi 7 MLO is found to enable devices to transmit data simultaneously across multiple bands, specifically 5 GHz and 6 GHz. By moving from a single-link to a multilink approach, the technology is designed to provide more stable connections, lower latency, and improved performance in environments with interference, thick walls, and multiple connected devices.

Necati Canpolat, project lead at Intel and WBA board director, said: “These real-world trials in CableLabs’ home environment confirmed that Wi-Fi 7 is ready to help service providers plan more reliable, multigigabit in-home experiences.”

The initial testing setup included a commercially available triband Wi-Fi 7 access point paired with a client device powered by Intel’s BE200 silicon, using enhanced multilink single radio architecture. It focused on measuring single-link throughput.

The second testing phase evaluated how MLO performs under typical household challenges, including signal attenuation, co-channel interference, and heavy traffic loads.

One of the key findings was that MLO can deliver steadier and more consistent connectivity, eliminating the gap between advertised broadband speeds and real-world in-home performance. In addition, devices maintained continuous data sessions when moving into areas that traditionally act as Wi-Fi “dead zones,” avoiding the dropouts common with older roaming methods.

With residential bandwidth demands continuing to grow, the WBA believes that multilink operation may become a defining feature of next-generation home networking.

“These phase-two trials confirm that multilink operation can serve as the missing architectural piece that transforms Wi-Fi 7 from ‘fast’ to truly reliable," WBA CEO Tiago Rodrigues noted. "By validating MLO with commercial hardware in real homes, WBA, CableLabs, and Intel are demonstrating that Wi-Fi 7 is advancing toward readiness to support multigigabit broadband services with the consistency and continuity users now expect.”

In another recent development, MediaTek joined the Wi-Fi 8 race by unveiling a new series of products. This included a Wi-Fi 8-ready offerings with its Filogic 8000 series, which covers gateways, including broadband gateways and enterprise access points, as well as client solutions like IoT devices.

The Taiwanese firm said its offerings would provide the ultra-high reliability needed to support AI-driven products and applications.