Wi-Fi 8 is on the horizon, and with it comes the usual pressure to upgrade. But before you rush to replace your router, ask one simple question: does your internet plan actually need it? For most people, the answer is no — your old Wi-Fi 5 router is probably still perfectly fine.
Wi-Fi router (Credits: How-To Geek)
Wi-Fi 8 Is Coming — But Your Internet Speed Decides
According to Ookla, median home internet speeds in the United States are 314Mb/s download and 72Mb/s upload. Real-world Wi-Fi 5 speeds can actually deliver around 360 to 410Mb/s — above that median. Only a minority of households have gigabit internet or faster, so for most users the router is not the bottleneck.
The rule of thumb is simple: if your internet speed is under 500Mb/s, you are probably fine with an older Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6 router. There are only two cases where replacing one makes sense: if you have a gigabit or faster internet plan, or if you do a lot of homelab work with heavy local file transfers inside your home network.
How to Test Whether Your Router Needs Replacing
Want a quick answer? Run a speed test from your phone, then run one from a computer plugged in via Ethernet. If the two results are close to the same speed, your current Wi-Fi router is fine — upgrading will not make your internet faster.
There is another catch: a network is only as good as its weakest link. Even the newest Wi-Fi 7 or Wi-Fi 8 router cannot make your devices faster than they are built to go. A first-generation Apple TV 4K, for example, is stuck at 802.11ac (Wi-Fi 5), so it will never connect better than Wi-Fi 5 no matter how fancy the router is. The same applies to an iPhone 15 or older, a MacBook with an M5 chip or older, or an iPad Pro before the M5 — none of them have Wi-Fi 7.
Moving from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6 or 6E might still help depending on your devices, but the upgrade decision should start with your plan speed and your gadgets, not with the newest standard on the box.
Also Read: Turn Your Old Android Phone Into a Guest Remote Anyone Can Understand | Apple’s New iMac M6 Is Built for Faster On-Device Intelligence
Source: How-To Geek — read the full story there.
