discussion Wifi 7 Multi-Link Operation?

[sswilson]

I just noticed this option on my AP network setup. Anybody using it?

https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/25656226682775-Multi-Link-Operation-MLO-in-UniFi-Network

Basically it looks like it will attempt to use all of the available bands simultaneously to provide higher throughput and better latency.

Didn't work for me..... all of my connected devices lost connection. I think I'd need to set up a separate network just for devices I know are compatible.

 

[sswilson]

Heh.... my internal network is having none of it!!!!

Tried creating a new network so that I could isolate the setting to that specific SSID, but as soon as I enabled the option on that SSID it took down my whole internal wireless network. I might have to try restarting the CGM after making the setting to see if that will bring the other networks back up, but for now I'm giving up.

 

[CMetaphor]

Does it have to be *All* bands? Couldn't you use the 6+5ghx and leave the 2.4 for legacy stuff that doesn't like this new feature?

 

[JD]

Are you on Early Access channel? Otherwise I'm not too sure how well MLO works on the Release branch. I see it mentioned in every beta release for fixing issues.

Not sure how many devices support it either... but MLO is part of WiFi 7, so as we see more WiFi 7 devices, we should also see wider adoption.

 

[sswilson]

Does it have to be *All* bands? Couldn't you use the 6+5ghx and leave the 2.4 for legacy stuff that doesn't like this new feature?

My understanding is that the legacy stuff would have to be on a completely separate SSID. It requires WPA3 so anything that depends on an earlier protocol will not work on that SSID if you've enabled the feature.

Are you on Early Access channel? Otherwise I'm not too sure how well MLO works on the Release branch. I see it mentioned in every beta release for fixing issues.

Not sure how many devices support it either... but MLO is part of WiFi 7, so as we see more WiFi 7 devices, we should also see wider adoption.

Pretty sure I've got it configured for early release, but I'm not completely sure. It's showing up as an option, but so far I'm not having any luck with it and will probably leave it alone for a while. I've got a BE200 wifi on my laptop so that's what I'll be checking with when I revisit this in the future.

 

[JD]

Pretty sure I've got it configured for early release, but I'm not completely sure.

8.0.58 firmware had some MLO mentions: https://community.ui.com/releases/U...s-8-0-58/330d03a4-4a7f-4bdb-a182-81772430c310

I don't think I have anything that can really use MLO, perhaps my Pixel 9? But I don't see much point in having a SSID just for my phone lol

 

[Marzipan]

if it's WiFi 7 feature, wouldn't all your wireless devices need to be WiFi 7 as well?

 

[sswilson]

if it's WiFi 7 feature, wouldn't all your wireless devices need to be WiFi 7 as well?

Yes, which is why I tried to set up a separate SSID to connect my laptop's BE200 to.

 

[CMetaphor]

Shame that WPA3 is forced, probably rhe reason everything stopped working. I think I've got one device in the whole house that supports WPA3, probably because its less than 2 years old.

Bleeding edge wifi networking stuff though! Maybe give it a whirl (at the cost of other things being disconnected for a bit) to do some benchmarks and see if the throughput really is more than reg Wifi6e stuff?