Resource Centre

Wi-Fi 7 Trial Report for Residential Settings by LG U+ and Intel

LG U+ is a leading telecom operator in South Korea, serving over 5 million subscribers with Wi-Fi-based wireless internet services. The surge in data-intensive applications—such as large-scale gaming, high-definition video streaming, AR/VR/XR, cloud computing, AI/ML, remote work, and IoT—has significantly increased the demand for high-speed internet.

Building on its earlier work in the report  “Get Ready for Wi-Fi 7: Applying New Capabilities to Key Use Cases,”  WBA, Intel, and LG U+ have developed a Wi-Fi 7 field trial report, demonstrating breakthrough performance improvements in dense residential environments.

The trials, conducted by LG U+ in collaboration with Intel, confirmed that Wi-Fi 7 achieves peak speeds of 4.9 Gbps, significantly boosting stability and reducing latency compared to Wi-Fi 6.

Wi-Fi 7 introduces game-changing advancements over Wi-Fi 6, including Multi-Link Operation (MLO), support for 320 MHz channels in the 6 GHz band, 4K-QAM, Quality of Service (QoS), preamble puncturing, r-TWT, and MU RU. These enhancements enable higher throughput, lower latency, and improved efficiency and reliability.

As part of this initiative, LG U+ and Intel continue to evaluate Wi-Fi 7 technology. LG U+ is actively developing a Wi-Fi 7 router to enhance home internet connectivity and deliver an optimized experience for its customers.

WBA Membership Brochure 2025

Enriched Service Over Converged Wi-Fi and Cellular Network

VoWiFi, aka Wi-Fi calling has long been in the DNA on the WBA, with earliest work dating back to 2015. This latest white paper, authored by the GSMA 5G Voice over Wi-Fi Task Force (5GVoWiFi TF) is a result of collaboration amongst a number of TF member companies as well as contributions from the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) and Wireless Broadband Association (WBBA).

VoWiFi or Wi-Fi Calling has been deployed by numerous operators worldwide over the past decade. With the advent of the 5G era, there are new requirements emerging for Wi-Fi Calling in 5G:

The White Paper covers the following:

— Why Wi-Fi Calling is needed under diverse scenarios and services,

— Use cases on the ground, at sea and in the air,

— Network architecture for Wi-Fi Calling via 5G Core

— Characteristics of Wi-Fi Calling networks and technologies for performance and security,

— Business models and trials results.

Smart Home & IoT – Operator-Managed Industry Framework

The “Smart Home & IoT: Operator-Managed Industry Framework” by the Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) envisions the future of smart homes and IoT ecosystems, focusing on interoperability, security, and scalability. This framework builds on the evolution from Smart Home 1.0 and Smart Home 2.0, progressing toward NextGen Smart Homes powered by AI, edge computing, and sustainability, technologies that make homes more intuitive, energy-efficient, and responsive to user needs.

At the core of the framework is the adoption of open standards, with Matter serving as a universal protocol that ensures seamless device integration across manufacturers. This helps reduce fragmentation and creates a more user-friendly, secure, and interoperable ecosystem. Key technologies such as Wi-Fi 6/7, Wi-Fi HaLow, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE), and Thread provide the robust connectivity needed to support smart homes

The framework emphasizes the importance of edge computing, which allows for local data processing to improve privacy, efficiency, and reduce reliance on cloud systems. AI-driven automation and predictive analytics further enhance the smart home experience, enabling smarter homes that are more energy-efficient. Use cases across home automation, connected health, and energy management highlight how IoT is transforming everyday life

Framework Components:

The Smart Home & IoT: Operator-Managed Industry Framework includes two main components:

Visualizing the evolution of Smart Homes as connectivity hubs, improving interoperability between existing and emerging technologies.

Supporting residential service providers with a Managed Wi-Fi reference architecture that incorporates IoT and Matter components, guiding vendors to meet interoperability standards.

This framework serves as an evolving reference implementation for the Smart Home, building upon WBA’s Operator Managed Wi-Fi to offer a roadmap for future developments

Key Updates in Matter 1.4 (November 2024):

The Matter 1.4 (released November 2024) update introduces Enhanced Multi-Admin, enabling smoother integration across platforms like Apple HomeKit, Google Home, and Alexa, thus improving setup efficiency. It also expands support for energy management devices such as solar panels, batteries, and EV chargers, addressing the growing demand for sustainable smart homes

WBA’s Key Initiatives:

WBA’s ongoing initiatives, like the Wi-Fi HaLow trials and the OpenRoaming for IoT – FIDO Device Onboarding Framework, simplify smart device deployments, ensuring both efficiency and security​

Future Directions:

• IoT & Smart Home in Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs): WBA members are working on a proposal for the 2025 roadmap, focusing on MDU centralized management and ensuring technology convergence, interoperability, and viable business cases for service providers​
• Operator Managed Wi-Fi: Entering its third phase, the team will focus on compliance and testing to ensure that equipment functions match the advertised specifications​.

The IoT & Smart Home Project Team invites industry players to stay engaged with the upcoming work.

Reach out to the WBA Program Management Office (PMO) with this form. Be part of shaping the future of Wi-Fi.

Implementation Guidelines for Low Latency, Low Loss, and Scalable Throughput in Wi-Fi Networks (L4S)

The WBA introduces the innovative L4S (Low Latency, Low Loss, and Scalable Throughput) implementation guidelines, providing a groundbreaking solution to tackle latency and congestion issues in Wi-Fi networks.

L4S technology is poised to transform the networking landscape by addressing critical challenges in latency and congestion. It is especially essential for applications requiring low latency and high throughput, such as cloud gaming, AR/VR, video conferencing, and telemedicine.

The guidelines demonstrate how demand for low-latency Wi-Fi applications can be achieved with an explanation of implementation approaches, Access Point (AP) tests and simulation studies for L4S AP performance in different scenarios.

The L4S Implementation Guidelines

The WBA has developed the L4S Implementation Guidelines to assist industry stakeholders in implementing L4S technology, the guidelines cover:

• Reducing media access delays in Wi-Fi networks.
• Enhancing network configurations.
• Complementing QoS Management Stream Classification Services (SCS).
• Optimizing Enhanced Distributed Channel Access (EDCA) parameters.

In 2025, the WBA will continue advancing L4S in coordination with QoS Management initiatives, including additional trials, report generation, provider surveys, and evolving L4S testing scenarios.

Download the full report to learn more about L4S’s capabilities and its transformative impact on the future of Wi-Fi networks.

Reach out to the WBA Program Management Office (PMO) with this form. Be part of shaping the future of Wi-Fi.

Wi-Fi 7 Trial Report for Residential Deployments by CableLabs and Intel

Building on its initial initiatives with the report “Get Ready for Wi-Fi 7: Applying New Capabilities to Key Use Cases,” the WBA highlights the transformative potential of Wi-Fi 7 for industries worldwide. To advance this vision, WBA is conducting Wi-Fi 7 field trials with its participating members to evaluate and validate the key capabilities of Wi-Fi in real-life various deployment scenarios.

As part of this initiative, CableLabs and Intel collaborated on a multi-phase project to test Wi-Fi 7 in residential settings. Phase 1 focused on evaluating the performance and coverage of Wi-Fi 7, assessing its benefits over previous generations. This report presents performance data from testing Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 6E in a typical home environment, quantifying the improvements. The findings show that Wi-Fi 7 delivered significant enhancements over Wi-Fi 6, achieving up to 3.5 Gbps TCP throughput.

The project team is continuing Phase 2 of the Wi-Fi 7 trials, further exploring the benefits of MLO with a focus on latency, coverage, and additional throughput improvements. Contact WBA to join the upcoming Wi-Fi 7 trial project today!

Wireless Global Congress APAC 2025 – Full Event Replay

Enjoy the full replay of WGC APAC 2025, which took place in Bangkok on January 21, 2025.

Wireless Global Congress APAC 2025 – Presentation Slide Deck

WGC APAC 2025 took place on January 21, 2025 in the great city of Bangkok, and you can now download the full set of presentation slides from the event in PDF format.