You may have heard about WiFi 7, but what does it really mean for the speeds you get and how will it benefit your home if you get a WiFi 7 router.
By Alex Fletcher
Last updated: December 2025
Whether it’s working from home, streaming our favourite TV series or just using our phones to browse online, WiFi plays an increasingly important role in our homes.
As our houses get filled with more and more devices and connections, the need for strong and reliable WiFi in every room becomes crucial.
WiFi 7 is the latest generation of cutting-edge WiFi technology, capable of supporting jaw-dropping speeds, increased reliability and lower latency.
An EE WiFi 7 Smart Hub lets you do the things you love, like streaming and gaming, without any slowdown.
WiFi technology is constantly evolving and improving, in a similar way to how your mobile phone gets faster as you move from 4G to 5G. If you’re old enough you may remember the earliest generations of WiFi in the 1990s or the launch of WiFi 4 in 2009.
Even though WiFi 6 only launched in 2021, technology is changing fast and WiFi 7 is a game-changer for delivering the strong and consistent signal we need all around our homes.
Today, our homes are more connected than ever. Streaming the latest series, working from the kitchen table, or gaming with friends around the world, in-home connectivity is central to daily life.
EE Director of Home & TV
Talking about how EE’s WiFi 7 Smart Hubs will change people’s broadband experience, EE Director of Home and TV Luciano Oliveira said:
“Even when you’re further from the hub, you can count on consistently high speeds. This is about future-proofing your home and ensuring you’re ready for whatever comes next in digital living.”
Upgrading your home network with WiFi 7 will power up your connections and improve the reliability of your service.
A common misconception is that all the problems you have with your online experience at home are about your broadband speed.
The broadband speed is what gets delivered to your router. The WiFi is what connects your router to devices around your home, without using a cable.
It’s the WiFi connection that needs improving if you've got areas of the home with unreliable signal, or if your connection slows down when your home is at its busiest. If your laptop works fine in the living room, but you lose signal in the upstairs bedroom, it’s time to look at the WiFi setup rather than the broadband speed.
That’s where WiFi 7 comes in.
WiFi 7 is twice as powerful as WiFi 6, capable of delivering consistent connections to more devices.
A WiFi 7 router, such as the EE Smart Hub 7 Pro, gives you higher speeds, more consistently, without having to be right next to the hub.
Plus, you get more bandwidth to share between devices, reduced congestion and less chance of interference. It’s perfect for heavy downloading, reducing lag in gaming and for those all-important work video calls.
When WiFi 7 launched in 2024 lots of devices weren’t ready to exploit the new technology. However, your tech doesn’t have to be WiFi 7 enabled to enjoy the benefit, as you’ll still experience improved speeds.
Since WiFi 7 launched, more and more devices are WiFi 7 enabled, such as the latest iPhone 17. But how does WiFi 7 stack up against WiFi 6 in real terms in your home.
WiFi 7 blows WiFi 6 out of the water when it comes to potential speeds. The technology has the power to reach a theoretical and staggering 46Gbps, compared to the 9.6Gbps of WiFi 6. Although such astronomical speeds aren’t realistic for home broadband, they showcase the increased power of WiFi 7.
If you’re currently using a WiFi 6 hub, moving to a WiFi 7 hub will bring your connected devices closer to the broadband speed arriving into your home. That means faster speeds on your phone, laptop and TV — and all your other connected devices.
For serious gamers or busy households, one of the biggest problems with home WiFi connections can be lag. A slow response time is frustrating and for anyone playing games online with friends, it could be a make-or-break factor on whether your home broadband experience is up to scratch.
WiFi 7 takes a huge leap forward on improving latency with some technical innovations – most notably Multi-Link Operation (MLO). MLO means your devices can connect to multiple bands at the same time. It cuts down on latency and makes your connection much more reliable. It means WiFi 7 is ideal for serious gamers and houses with loads of devices.
The usual analogy when explaining bandwidth is comparing it to a motorway. Increasing the bandwidth is like having more lanes available. The wider the motorway, cars can drive faster, and more cars can travel at the same time. With WiFi 7 more devices can be connected at the same time and the connection will be more stable.
The huge improvement in bandwidth with WiFi 7, means that your home is being future-proofed as the number of devices connected to your hub increases.
Not all WiFi 7 routers use tri-band technology. EE has two WiFi 7 hubs. The Smart Hub 7 Pro and the Smart Hub 7 Plus.
It’s the tri-band technology which makes the 7 Pro more powerful and ideal for anyone who demands the ultimate home WiFi experience.
Tri-band is an extra frequency which helps cut congestion for busy home networks. If you’re in a home where lots of people are online at the same time, you use a WiFi Extender or you pay for one of the fastest broadband speeds, a tri-band hub is ideal.
For smaller households who don’t use connected devices heavily but still want a reliable signal all around the home, the dual-band Smart Hub 7 Plus is perfect.
Switch to EE and we offer two Smart Hubs powered by WiFi 7.
The most advanced hub offered as standard by any major provider. Customers get the power of WiFi 7 and up to 30% higher speeds, consistently around the home.
Our cutting-edge Smart Hub 7 Pro with tri-band technology. The extra band means more bandwidth to share between devices, reduced congestion and less chance of interference.
