The wireless world just flipped from speed bragging rights to real‑world reliability, and we’re here for it. We break down how Wi‑Fi 7 went mainstream faster than anyone expected, why Cisco’s below‑6E pricing and AI‑ops licensing strategy vaulted them to the top, and what that means if you’re debating an upgrade from Wi‑Fi 6 or 6E. The decision no longer ends at the radio—it’s about committing to a cloud and AI stack that will steer roaming, airtime, and assurance for years.
Then we look ahead: Wi‑Fi 8 isn’t promising just bigger peaks, it’s setting the stage for multi‑AP coordination and agentic AI on the AP to lower real latency in messy RF. Think clusters over boxes and an RF brain that orchestrates who talks, when, and where. Qualcomm’s timeline and industry whispers around MWC Barcelona point to silicon arriving sooner than standards alone suggest, and early targets hint at around 25 percent gains in throughput and 95th percentile latency when the cooperative features are turned on.
Outside the lab, the buildout story turns concrete. BEAD awards are now announced across all states, with fiber shouldering most deployments and Starlink providing a resilient layer where fiber won’t reach. That changes planning for schools, libraries, and campuses—align your LAN upgrades with incoming backhaul so you don’t overbuild. We also spotlight Helium’s joint venture with Mambo Wi‑Fi in Brazil, where a tokenized incentive model meets a conventional ISP to crowd‑host the last mile with SLAs backed by analytics. Add a stadium refresh at Empower Field that shows the payoff of 6 GHz for operations and fans, a candid look at convention center Wi‑Fi contract tiers, and MikroTik’s consumer‑friendly Wi‑Fi 7 router with Matter and Thread.
IoT rounds out the shift from hype to critical infrastructure. Enterprises are consolidating on fewer platforms, budgeting for lifecycle security and observability, and treating sensors, cameras, and handhelds as production endpoints. That pressure dovetails with Wi‑Fi 7’s latency improvements and Wi‑Fi 8’s reliability playbook, making AI‑driven control and better telemetry table stakes. If you’re planning 2025, this is the moment to pick your control plane, design for coordinated clusters, and map your upgrades to where the fiber—and the budgets—are actually landing.
Enjoying the show? Follow, share with a teammate, and leave a quick review to help more wireless pros find us. Got a story or field result we should feature? Tag us and tell us what you’re building next.
Thanks to our sponsors: Helium & meter Networks!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (01:00):
What's up, y'all?
It's Drew Lentz, the WirelessNerd, and this is the week of
December.
17th is today, and I want to goover the Waves Wireless podcast
with you.
This week we're talking aboutWi-Fi 7 finally hitting its
escape velocity, Wi-Fi 8 gettingeven more real with a roadmap,
bead money finally turning intoconcrete builds in real-world
Wi-Fi and stadiums andneighborhoods.
(01:20):
Let's jump in.
So, first and foremost, Ciscopulled off something nobody
expected a year ago.
Wi-Fi 7 is now the fastestadopted wireless LAN technology
in the company's history,according to Del Oro.
Even with China's W LAN spendingdropping by double digits in
third quarter, 2025, globalWi-Fi revenue would have hit
double digit growth if Chinahadn't slumped.
And outside China, the market'sback on a strong upward
(01:43):
trajectory.
The trick wasn't a magic fi, itwas pricing and licensing.
Go figure.
Cisco kept Wi-Fi 7 AP pricingbelow where Wi-Fi 6E launched
and then leaned hard intorecurring software and AI ops
licenses.
So more of the growth comes fromthe cloud management and AI
features that customers pay forover time.
The result with all this is thatCisco jumps in the first place
(02:03):
on Wi-Fi 7 revenue while publiccloud managed WLAN grows about
twice as fast as the rest of themarket thinks to higher ASPs and
those AI driven features layeredon top.
Why is this important?
Because if you're deciding whento jump from Wi-Fi 6 or 60, the
message here is that Wi-Fi 7 isnot a boutique early adopter
play anymore.
It's a volume platform in NorthAmerica, EMEA, and the rest of
(02:24):
the world.
The strategic decision here isless Wi-Fi 7 yes or no, and more
of whose cloud and AI stack doyou want to marry for the next
five to seven years?
So good news on that Wi Fi 7front.
Now, right on the heels of that,Qualcomm has just laid out their
framework on how Wi-Fi 8 andagentic AI fit together.
And sounds like less of a speedbump and more of like a
(02:45):
reliability playbook.
The focus is on ultra-highreliability multi-A B
coordination, which we've talkedabout on the show multiple
times, better uplink schedulingand using AI to orchestrate
which APs talk when, and with aneye toward edge AI devices that
need predictable latency, notjust big peak numbers.
This is AI on the AP trying tofigure out how to coordinate all
(03:05):
of this focus, not just formultiple frequencies and
multiple client devices, but formultiple access point and AP
coordination.
At the same time, Wi-Fi Now, soour buddy uh Klaus over at Wi-Fi
Now is teasing that Qualcomm'squote complete Wi-Fi 8
generation platform portfolioreveal for the MWC uh Barcelona
2026 Barcelona, which tells youthat the silicone is much closer
(03:29):
than the standards timelinewould suggest.
So roadmaps for chipmakers andvendors lineup around Wi-Fi 8
being about 25% betterthroughput, about 25% lower
latency at the 95th percentileand messy RF compared to Wi-Fi 7
in that same spectrum once thosemulti-AP features are turned on.
So it's gonna be big, it's gonnabe awesome, it's gonna be
multi-AP strategic AI decisionmaking.
(03:53):
And according to Klaus, it'sgonna be real at Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona 2026.
Now, this is awesome for designteams.
This is the start to think abouthow you want clusters of APs
instead of boxes on a floorplan.
So let's think about that from adesign perspective.
You don't have one AP servingyou know an area, you want
(04:13):
multiple APs so that they cancoordinate together so that they
can use their resources to makesure that the maximum efficient
and effective throughput isdelivered to those client
devices.
So more clusters, less boxes.
Wi-Fi eight's value shows upwhen APs coordinate, like a
single RF brain, if you will.
And for leadership, this biggershift is cultural.
If your organization isn't readyto trust AI-driven controllers
(04:35):
to schedule airtime and roaming,you won't see most of the
promised benefit of this.
So get ready on the AI trainthat's coming through to a town
near you.
All right, what are we going toget into next?
There's lots of stuff going on.
The bead funding thing.
Okay, so telecompetitors updatedbenefit of the bargain list now
includes California, which meansall 50 states have announced
(04:57):
bead provisional awards.
In one representative set ofawards, roughly about 85% of the
locations are slated for fiber,about 14% for Leo satellite via
SpaceX, and only a tiny fractionfor HFC hybrid coax or fixed
wireless.
So the money may be technologyneutral and paper, but the
builds are overwhelmingly fiber,plus now a strong Starlink
(05:19):
backup layer.
Another telcompetitor trackershows that 29 states and three
territories have had their beadfinal proposals formally
approved by NTA, NTIA as ofDecember 10th.
So this is unlocking realconstruction dollars, is finally
making these things happen.
State and industry groups arenow pushing NTIA to accelerate
release of non-deployment funds,which pay for the planning,
(05:39):
permitting, the modernization,digital equity work, and all the
stuff that sits along the actualphysical component of it.
For network builders, this saysthe Wi-Fi and the wild and rural
US is going to ride on fiber andStarlink far more than cable
over the next five years.
For schools, libraries, anduniversities, it's time to start
mapping how these bead buildsintersect with wireless land
upgrades so you don't overbuildand underspect land behind that
(06:02):
new fiber drop.
All right, let's talk about thisone.
Helium, the decentralizedwireless network that migrated
to Solana and a proud sponsor ofthe Waves Wireless Podcast, just
announced a joint venture withBrazilian ISP Mambo Wi-Fi to
bring helium-powered hotspotsinto Brazilian cities.
The idea is that Mambo handlesthe ISP side and local customer
(06:22):
operations, while Helium's D-Penmodel rewards individuals for
small businesses or and smallbusinesses for hosting access
points that contribute tobroader coverage.
This is one of the firstmainstream D-Pin deals that
looks like a crypto experiment,a little bit less and more like
a conventional ISP extending itsfootprint using tokenized
incentive layers.
For Wi-Fi pros, the interestingbit is not the token.
(06:44):
It's how coverage and quality ofservice get enforced within the
last mile radio when it's ownedby a crowd instead of a single
operator.
If this model works at scale,you could see more ISPs treating
these community-hosted Wi-Fi asan extension of their access
network with SLAs backed byanalytics and automated
enforcement instead of truckrolls to every AP.
For Munis or thosemunicipalities and campus-style
(07:04):
environments, it raises newquestions about governance.
Who actually owns the RF planwhen these radios are
crowdsourced?
And if you think about how Wi-Fi8 is going to add to that, now
if you've got multiple APs thatare serving single clients, who
you know who's responsible whenyou have all these different APs
on a network and you know whathappens between handoff from one
(07:24):
to the other?
This could get really weirdreally fast.
So income again, incomes AI tohelp make all of this better.
The Broncos fans are finallygetting some some game day Wi-Fi
refreshes.
At Empower Field at Mile High,Fryzen Business just finished a
Wi-Fi 60 upgrade with more than2400 APs, supporting 76,000
fans, operations, and media on asingle converged network.
(07:48):
This new design carves outdedicated SSIDs with 6 gigahertz
capacity for ticking ticketing,point of sale, cameras, and
staff devices, while fans areseeing higher uplink speeds for
video sharing and early testsduring late season games show
smoother in-seat ordering andfewer app timeouts compared to
the old system.
So good news for those Broncofans.
Now, if you've ever been to aconference in Orange County,
(08:12):
Florida, this might make sense.
Now, if you've ever worked abooth or set up a booth at
Orange County Convention Center,this might make you a little bit
more angry than you've been inthe past.
So if you've ever had to set upa booth there or you've ever had
to rent space, you know that Ibelieve they were charging like
$900 a day for one and a halfmegabit per second.
It would like notoriously, if Ihave to remember any of the
(08:34):
convention centers I've everbeen to, their policy is like
absolutely the worst.
It was a tiny amount of capacityfor a whole lot of money.
Now, on top of that, there'sthis trend where large
convention centers like OrangeCounty Convention Center and
Detroit's Huntington Place nowbundle tiered Wi-Fi performance
into their event contracts,quoting megabit per second per
(08:54):
attendee and concurrent devicecaps alongside ballroom square
footage.
Planners are using Wi-Fi metricsas a negotiation lever, asking
for specific throughput andlatency guarantees for hybrid
sessions, AR activations, andlife polling rather than best
effort.
And again, it's horrible.
If you've ever had to pay forone of these, you know that the
amount of throughput that youget for the dollar that you
(09:15):
spend is absolutely horrendous.
So starting to think thatthey're adding tears into this.
Man, the next time you go to aconference and you wonder why
the Wi-Fi sucks, it's probablynot because of the event
manufacturer or the people theredeploying it.
It probably has more to do withthe infrastructure that you're
plugging into.
Just a heads up.
In other news and coming to ahome Wi-Fi network near you,
(09:36):
MicroTake just announcedsomething called the HAPB3, the
HAPB3.
I don't even know how to saythis particular product, but
whatever.
Anyway, it's got five two and ahalf gig Ethernet ports, triple
band Wi-Fi 7, and it's gotmatter with thread built into
it.
It was a really coolannouncement, uh looked very
Steve Jobs-esque, and I thinkeven the internet is recognizing
(09:57):
that.
If you go to R, you know, Rslash Microtik, you can see them
talking about it.
There's a video up on YouTubewhere it shows the product
itself entering the home Wi-Fimarkets, a home router space.
It's pretty interesting becauseyou know, MicroTik, if you don't
know who Microtik is, they'vebeen along for a really long
time, like a ridiculously longtime.
And they're a Latvian companywho makes wireless access
(10:19):
points.
And they always, I felt likewere a pretty strong competitor
to Ubiquity, but way lessexpensive.
They were very bare bones, man,and they ran you know different
different versions of theirfirmware or software that you
could load on to it to dodifferent things on their
firewall.
But they have always beenprobably the one of the most
creative companies out therewhen it comes to product mix.
They've got PoE powered switchesand they've got switch PoE
(10:41):
powered PoE switches, they'vegot routers, they've got
firewalls, they have all thesedifferent things that are very
economical, very inexpensive.
And now to know that they'recoming into the home market is
pretty interesting.
So go check it out.
Look up the H A PE3 HEP B3.
Uh go check out r/slashmicrotik.
You can join the conversationabout what's happening about it.
Speaking of matter and thread,RCR Wireless is calling 2025,
(11:03):
the year that IoT shifted fromquote, gold rush hype to
critical businessinfrastructure, especially in
manufacturing, logistics, andutilities.
Instead of chasing randompilots, enterprises are
consolidating around a smallerset of platforms and are finely
budgeting for lifecyclemanagement, security patching,
and network observability aspart of their IoT deployments.
For Wi-Fi and private wirelesspros like us, this is an
(11:24):
inflection point where shadowIoT becomes a formal load on the
wireless LAN.
Thousands of sensors are now outthere, thousands of cameras and
handhelds treated in productionenvironments as production
endpoints, not just toys ortrinkets on your network.
It also means more pressure ondeterministic behavior, trying
nicely, tying it back into yourWi-Fi 7 latency improvements and
(11:45):
Wi-Fi multi-AP reliabilitystories.
This is a way where IoT isfinally stepping up and it's no
longer being cute.
It's actually becomingessential.
All right.
And tomorrow night, if youhaven't registered for it, get
your butt over to wifinowal.comfor the Wi-Fi Now 2025 awards.
Lots of stuff popping up.
There's been announcements allover LinkedIn and the internet,
(12:07):
and the expert judges havecompleted their voting.
It's time to announce a finalistfor a 2025 Wi-Fi Now Award.
So awards for affordableconnectivity.
You've got smart uh smartwave,via systems, and helium.
Best Wi-Fi IoT, uh, Siva, MorseMicro and Synaptics.
My votes on Morse Micro there.
Best service provider, Wi-Fisolution, INEA Plume and
American bandwidth.
(12:27):
I'm going for Americanbandwidth.
Best Enterprise Wi-Fi solution,Cisco, Corvo, and Ruckus
Networks, probably pulling forCorvo on that one.
Best in-home Wi-Fi product,Plume, Spectrum, and Qualcomm.
I'm gonna go for Qualcomm.
Best Wi-Fi service provider, uh,I don't know how to say this.
Boo Boy Guess, Telcom,Touchstone One, and Spectrum.
I don't know.
I have Spectrum at home, sothat's where I'd cast my vote.
(12:48):
Best Wi-Fi Innovation, MorseMicro, Qualcomm, and Cisco.
I'm pulling for Morse Micro.
Best Wi-Fi startup, LinksTechnology, Pico Sella, and
Quantal RF.
I don't really have a dog inthat race.
Don't know too much about allthree of them.
Maybe this is a good time for meto learn.
Best consumer Wi-Fi router isgonna be uh Qualcomm, Xeomi,
Eero, and TP Link.
Obviously, pulling for Eero inthat one.
I've got too much blood, sweat,and tears into that one to not
(13:10):
pull my weight behind thecompany I work for.
Best Wi-Fi testing or toolsplatform, Lightpoint, YBot and
NetAlly.
Oh god, that's a tough onebetween YBot and NetAlly.
Probably gonna pull for NetAlly.
Love Julio my team over there.
Best Wi-Fi deployment solution,Extreme, Helium, and Cisco.
I like Helium, man.
I'm such a fan of what Helium'sdoing, but I love my boys over
at Extreme and at Cisco.
(13:31):
Probably gonna pull for thatone.
So huge congratulations toeveryone that's out there.
The awards gala is tomorrow.
So if you want to see Klausdressed up in his penguin suit,
it will be tomorrow, December18th.
I don't know what time it'shappening.
Let's see.
It says Thursday, December 18th,7 p.m.
Central.
Or C E T, not Central, 10 a.m.
Pacific time in the States.
(13:51):
So 10 a.m.
Pacific, 12 p.m.
Central Time, or 1 p.m.
East.
So join now.
Visit wifinowglobal.com,register for the awards.
Let's see what color Klaus's bowtie is this year.
It should be pretty sweet.
So let's talk about somethinginteresting.
There was a post that wasonline, posted on LinkedIn,
talking about merger issues andtroubles between a couple of
(14:14):
different manufacturers outthere.
And, you know, it wasinteresting to see how one
person's voice can have a prettydeep effect.
I had a conversation uh with mybuddy who posted this.
I'll leave the names out of it.
I'll let you guys wonder and golook on LinkedIn and see what
happened.
But essentially someone said,you know, ever since this merger
acquisition happened, I've beenhaving problems as an end user
(14:37):
ordering and receiving andgetting updates and things like
that.
And it just goes to show youthat, you know, this is the
person who wrote it is, I don'twant to say a fanboy, because I
think we're all fanboys of someway, shape, or form and some
type of technology.
But to hear someone who is anindustry-independent voice who
says, Hey, look, I see a problemwith this, made me really happy
because it showed me that peoplearen't scared to speak up, even
(14:59):
if it's friends of theirs, evenif it's people that they've
worked with or vendors thatthey've worked with, it was
great to see that interaction.
But even more impressive was tosee the amount of interaction
from the entire industry jumpingon board and saying, How can I
help?
What can we do?
Not, you know, obviously there'sa there's a whole sales
component there, like givespeople a chance to displace a
product, but at the same time,it was great to see the industry
(15:20):
stepping up to see how theycould help that out.
So I guess my point with thismessage is don't be scared to
use your voice and to talk aboutsomething that that you think is
right or something that youthink is wrong, even if it is a
friendly vendor or a friend ofyours, it's always good to speak
up because you never know what'sgoing to come out of it.
So kudos to the person forsaying what they did.
Again, if you wanted moreinformation, slide in a DMs,
(15:41):
I'll direct you in that in thatdirection.
But it's just really good to seethat people still have a voice,
especially since this industryparticularly has gone across a
number of times and voices havetried to be stifled.
And in WLPC26 news, oh man, itlooks like WLPC26 is coming
together.
They oh launched for tickets andregistrations on Monday the
(16:03):
15th.
I even did a little countdown,bust out the DJ equipment, had a
good time playing some music andtrying to get everybody hyped
up.
More people than I thoughtactually tuned in, and I've
continued to get messages aboutit.
So, yes, I used to be a DJ.
Yes, I still know how to DJ.
Yes, I was having some fun.
But all in all, it was reallygood.
Within the first, I think Kisa,within the first couple minutes,
or 120 registrants that went inthere.
(16:24):
More than half have alreadyregistered.
I think there's still a handfulof tickets left, with the cap
being, I believe, I want to saylike a 300 or 400.
So if you haven't registered forWLPC, make sure you make your
way over there.
If you've missed theregistration window and you need
to get in, drop a message.
There might be, you know, a slotthat opens up.
It's gonna be really, reallycool.
It's gonna be a lot of fun.
It's happening in February.
(16:45):
Nerd Boot Camp.
There'll probably be a golfouting.
If you play golf, uh, myself,Matt, Starling, Stu, a bunch of
us are gonna get together andprobably go hit some golf balls
and have a good time as we didlast year.
And if you weren't there when mywife ordered shots of tequila
for everyone delivered on thegolf course by the cart girl,
then you were missing out.
But don't let that happen again.
If you like to play golf, comejoin us a day early.
(17:06):
We're gonna get out there andhit the links, more than likely,
with a bunch of sponsored swag.
I think we all chipped in sometype of swag, but it was a lot
of fun.
Either way, I'm really lookingforward to WLPT WLPC26 coming
up.
And I'm looking forward tosomething even sooner than that.
CES is right around the corner,and there's gonna be a lot of
really neat things and neatannouncements happening at CES.
(17:27):
I'm gonna be there.
I'm gonna be working, which isgonna be exciting and fun,
setting up some Wi-Fi.
Uh, more details about thatlater, but it's gonna be a
really great time.
Hopefully, I'll get some timeoff to go walk around and walk
the show floor.
If you know me, you know, one ofmy favorite spots is to go
downstairs at the Venetian andgo into the area where
everything is up and coming andsee what kind of new technology
is making waves down there.
(17:47):
That's a great spot to go.
But there's gonna be a lothappening at CES, and then right
on the heels of that, and I meanright on the heels, CES ends on
Thursday or Friday the next day.
National Retail Federation NRFhappens in New York City.
So from one side to the other ofthe United States, getting into
NRF is gonna be great.
So first we're gonna see theconsumer side of everything,
then we're gonna see the retailside of it all.
(18:08):
So it's gonna be a really funkickoff to January way to break
in the new year with some newtechnology, some new services,
some new stuff to see.
Maybe some, you know, maybe I'llwin a raffle or something and
get something neat out of one ofthem.
Anyway, it's gonna be a busyfirst part of the year in
January.
Next week is the week ofChristmas.
I will try and do a podcast.
(18:29):
I don't know, you know, ifthere's gonna be any huge news.
This is a pretty down week for alot of people between now and
December 25th, where it's justlike kind of chill.
Everyone's here celebrating, youknow, getting ready for
Christmas holidays, celebratingHanukkah, you know, getting
everything ready and andspending time with family.
So I'd encourage you to do that.
If something fun comes up, maybeI'll make a little post about
it.
But until then, I hope you allhave a wonderful end of your
(18:51):
week.
Have a wonderful weekend, and Iwill talk to you probably next
week and enjoy.
If you find anything fun, passit on, man.
I always have I'm always lookingfor new and fun, cool stories
out there.
So feel free to send mesomething.
Anyway, have a great week.
See ya.
What's up, y'all?
It's Drew Lentz, the WirelessNerd, and this is the week of
December.
17th is today, and I want to goover the Waves Wireless podcast
with you.
This week we're talking aboutWi-Fi 7 finally hitting its
escape velocity, Wi-Fi 8 gettingeven more real with a roadmap,
bead money finally turning intoconcrete builds in real-world
Wi-Fi and stadiums andneighborhoods.
(01:20):
Let's jump in.
So, first and foremost, Ciscopulled off something nobody
expected a year ago.
Wi-Fi 7 is now the fastestadopted wireless LAN technology
in the company's history,according to Del Oro.
Even with China's W LAN spendingdropping by double digits in
third quarter, 2025, globalWi-Fi revenue would have hit
double digit growth if Chinahadn't slumped.
And outside China, the market'sback on a strong upward
(01:43):
trajectory.
The trick wasn't a magic fi, itwas pricing and licensing.
Go figure.
Cisco kept Wi-Fi 7 AP pricingbelow where Wi-Fi 6E launched
and then leaned hard intorecurring software and AI ops
licenses.
So more of the growth comes fromthe cloud management and AI
features that customers pay forover time.
The result with all this is thatCisco jumps in the first place
(02:03):
on Wi-Fi 7 revenue while publiccloud managed WLAN grows about
twice as fast as the rest of themarket thinks to higher ASPs and
those AI driven features layeredon top.
Why is this important?
Because if you're deciding whento jump from Wi-Fi 6 or 60, the
message here is that Wi-Fi 7 isnot a boutique early adopter
play anymore.
It's a volume platform in NorthAmerica, EMEA, and the rest of
(02:24):
the world.
The strategic decision here isless Wi-Fi 7 yes or no, and more
of whose cloud and AI stack doyou want to marry for the next
five to seven years?
So good news on that Wi Fi 7front.
Now, right on the heels of that,Qualcomm has just laid out their
framework on how Wi-Fi 8 andagentic AI fit together.
And sounds like less of a speedbump and more of like a
(02:45):
reliability playbook.
The focus is on ultra-highreliability multi-A B
coordination, which we've talkedabout on the show multiple
times, better uplink schedulingand using AI to orchestrate
which APs talk when, and with aneye toward edge AI devices that
need predictable latency, notjust big peak numbers.
This is AI on the AP trying tofigure out how to coordinate all
(03:05):
of this focus, not just formultiple frequencies and
multiple client devices, but formultiple access point and AP
coordination.
At the same time, Wi-Fi Now, soour buddy uh Klaus over at Wi-Fi
Now is teasing that Qualcomm'squote complete Wi-Fi 8
generation platform portfolioreveal for the MWC uh Barcelona
2026 Barcelona, which tells youthat the silicone is much closer
(03:29):
than the standards timelinewould suggest.
So roadmaps for chipmakers andvendors lineup around Wi-Fi 8
being about 25% betterthroughput, about 25% lower
latency at the 95th percentileand messy RF compared to Wi-Fi 7
in that same spectrum once thosemulti-AP features are turned on.
So it's gonna be big, it's gonnabe awesome, it's gonna be
multi-AP strategic AI decisionmaking.
(03:53):
And according to Klaus, it'sgonna be real at Mobile World
Congress in Barcelona 2026.
Now, this is awesome for designteams.
This is the start to think abouthow you want clusters of APs
instead of boxes on a floorplan.
So let's think about that from adesign perspective.
You don't have one AP servingyou know an area, you want
(04:13):
multiple APs so that they cancoordinate together so that they
can use their resources to makesure that the maximum efficient
and effective throughput isdelivered to those client
devices.
So more clusters, less boxes.
Wi-Fi eight's value shows upwhen APs coordinate, like a
single RF brain, if you will.
And for leadership, this biggershift is cultural.
If your organization isn't readyto trust AI-driven controllers
(04:35):
to schedule airtime and roaming,you won't see most of the
promised benefit of this.
So get ready on the AI trainthat's coming through to a town
near you.
All right, what are we going toget into next?
There's lots of stuff going on.
The bead funding thing.
Okay, so telecompetitors updatedbenefit of the bargain list now
includes California, which meansall 50 states have announced
(04:57):
bead provisional awards.
In one representative set ofawards, roughly about 85% of the
locations are slated for fiber,about 14% for Leo satellite via
SpaceX, and only a tiny fractionfor HFC hybrid coax or fixed
wireless.
So the money may be technologyneutral and paper, but the
builds are overwhelmingly fiber,plus now a strong Starlink
(05:19):
backup layer.
Another telcompetitor trackershows that 29 states and three
territories have had their beadfinal proposals formally
approved by NTA, NTIA as ofDecember 10th.
So this is unlocking realconstruction dollars, is finally
making these things happen.
State and industry groups arenow pushing NTIA to accelerate
release of non-deployment funds,which pay for the planning,
(05:39):
permitting, the modernization,digital equity work, and all the
stuff that sits along the actualphysical component of it.
For network builders, this saysthe Wi-Fi and the wild and rural
US is going to ride on fiber andStarlink far more than cable
over the next five years.
For schools, libraries, anduniversities, it's time to start
mapping how these bead buildsintersect with wireless land
upgrades so you don't overbuildand underspect land behind that
(06:02):
new fiber drop.
All right, let's talk about thisone.
Helium, the decentralizedwireless network that migrated
to Solana and a proud sponsor ofthe Waves Wireless Podcast, just
announced a joint venture withBrazilian ISP Mambo Wi-Fi to
bring helium-powered hotspotsinto Brazilian cities.
The idea is that Mambo handlesthe ISP side and local customer
(06:22):
operations, while Helium's D-Penmodel rewards individuals for
small businesses or and smallbusinesses for hosting access
points that contribute tobroader coverage.
This is one of the firstmainstream D-Pin deals that
looks like a crypto experiment,a little bit less and more like
a conventional ISP extending itsfootprint using tokenized
incentive layers.
For Wi-Fi pros, the interestingbit is not the token.
(06:44):
It's how coverage and quality ofservice get enforced within the
last mile radio when it's ownedby a crowd instead of a single
operator.
If this model works at scale,you could see more ISPs treating
these community-hosted Wi-Fi asan extension of their access
network with SLAs backed byanalytics and automated
enforcement instead of truckrolls to every AP.
For Munis or thosemunicipalities and campus-style
(07:04):
environments, it raises newquestions about governance.
Who actually owns the RF planwhen these radios are
crowdsourced?
And if you think about how Wi-Fi8 is going to add to that, now
if you've got multiple APs thatare serving single clients, who
you know who's responsible whenyou have all these different APs
on a network and you know whathappens between handoff from one
(07:24):
to the other?
This could get really weirdreally fast.
So income again, incomes AI tohelp make all of this better.
The Broncos fans are finallygetting some some game day Wi-Fi
refreshes.
At Empower Field at Mile High,Fryzen Business just finished a
Wi-Fi 60 upgrade with more than2400 APs, supporting 76,000
fans, operations, and media on asingle converged network.
(07:48):
This new design carves outdedicated SSIDs with 6 gigahertz
capacity for ticking ticketing,point of sale, cameras, and
staff devices, while fans areseeing higher uplink speeds for
video sharing and early testsduring late season games show
smoother in-seat ordering andfewer app timeouts compared to
the old system.
So good news for those Broncofans.
Now, if you've ever been to aconference in Orange County,
(08:12):
Florida, this might make sense.
Now, if you've ever worked abooth or set up a booth at
Orange County Convention Center,this might make you a little bit
more angry than you've been inthe past.
So if you've ever had to set upa booth there or you've ever had
to rent space, you know that Ibelieve they were charging like
$900 a day for one and a halfmegabit per second.
It would like notoriously, if Ihave to remember any of the
(08:34):
convention centers I've everbeen to, their policy is like
absolutely the worst.
It was a tiny amount of capacityfor a whole lot of money.
Now, on top of that, there'sthis trend where large
convention centers like OrangeCounty Convention Center and
Detroit's Huntington Place nowbundle tiered Wi-Fi performance
into their event contracts,quoting megabit per second per
(08:54):
attendee and concurrent devicecaps alongside ballroom square
footage.
Planners are using Wi-Fi metricsas a negotiation lever, asking
for specific throughput andlatency guarantees for hybrid
sessions, AR activations, andlife polling rather than best
effort.
And again, it's horrible.
If you've ever had to pay forone of these, you know that the
amount of throughput that youget for the dollar that you
(09:15):
spend is absolutely horrendous.
So starting to think thatthey're adding tears into this.
Man, the next time you go to aconference and you wonder why
the Wi-Fi sucks, it's probablynot because of the event
manufacturer or the people theredeploying it.
It probably has more to do withthe infrastructure that you're
plugging into.
Just a heads up.
In other news and coming to ahome Wi-Fi network near you,
(09:36):
MicroTake just announcedsomething called the HAPB3, the
HAPB3.
I don't even know how to saythis particular product, but
whatever.
Anyway, it's got five two and ahalf gig Ethernet ports, triple
band Wi-Fi 7, and it's gotmatter with thread built into
it.
It was a really coolannouncement, uh looked very
Steve Jobs-esque, and I thinkeven the internet is recognizing
(09:57):
that.
If you go to R, you know, Rslash Microtik, you can see them
talking about it.
There's a video up on YouTubewhere it shows the product
itself entering the home Wi-Fimarkets, a home router space.
It's pretty interesting becauseyou know, MicroTik, if you don't
know who Microtik is, they'vebeen along for a really long
time, like a ridiculously longtime.
And they're a Latvian companywho makes wireless access
(10:19):
points.
And they always, I felt likewere a pretty strong competitor
to Ubiquity, but way lessexpensive.
They were very bare bones, man,and they ran you know different
different versions of theirfirmware or software that you
could load on to it to dodifferent things on their
firewall.
But they have always beenprobably the one of the most
creative companies out therewhen it comes to product mix.
They've got PoE powered switchesand they've got switch PoE
(10:41):
powered PoE switches, they'vegot routers, they've got
firewalls, they have all thesedifferent things that are very
economical, very inexpensive.
And now to know that they'recoming into the home market is
pretty interesting.
So go check it out.
Look up the H A PE3 HEP B3.
Uh go check out r/slashmicrotik.
You can join the conversationabout what's happening about it.
Speaking of matter and thread,RCR Wireless is calling 2025,
(11:03):
the year that IoT shifted fromquote, gold rush hype to
critical businessinfrastructure, especially in
manufacturing, logistics, andutilities.
Instead of chasing randompilots, enterprises are
consolidating around a smallerset of platforms and are finely
budgeting for lifecyclemanagement, security patching,
and network observability aspart of their IoT deployments.
For Wi-Fi and private wirelesspros like us, this is an
(11:24):
inflection point where shadowIoT becomes a formal load on the
wireless LAN.
Thousands of sensors are now outthere, thousands of cameras and
handhelds treated in productionenvironments as production
endpoints, not just toys ortrinkets on your network.
It also means more pressure ondeterministic behavior, trying
nicely, tying it back into yourWi-Fi 7 latency improvements and
(11:45):
Wi-Fi multi-AP reliabilitystories.
This is a way where IoT isfinally stepping up and it's no
longer being cute.
It's actually becomingessential.
All right.
And tomorrow night, if youhaven't registered for it, get
your butt over to wifinowal.comfor the Wi-Fi Now 2025 awards.
Lots of stuff popping up.
There's been announcements allover LinkedIn and the internet,
(12:07):
and the expert judges havecompleted their voting.
It's time to announce a finalistfor a 2025 Wi-Fi Now Award.
So awards for affordableconnectivity.
You've got smart uh smartwave,via systems, and helium.
Best Wi-Fi IoT, uh, Siva, MorseMicro and Synaptics.
My votes on Morse Micro there.
Best service provider, Wi-Fisolution, INEA Plume and
American bandwidth.
(12:27):
I'm going for Americanbandwidth.
Best Enterprise Wi-Fi solution,Cisco, Corvo, and Ruckus
Networks, probably pulling forCorvo on that one.
Best in-home Wi-Fi product,Plume, Spectrum, and Qualcomm.
I'm gonna go for Qualcomm.
Best Wi-Fi service provider, uh,I don't know how to say this.
Boo Boy Guess, Telcom,Touchstone One, and Spectrum.
I don't know.
I have Spectrum at home, sothat's where I'd cast my vote.
(12:48):
Best Wi-Fi Innovation, MorseMicro, Qualcomm, and Cisco.
I'm pulling for Morse Micro.
Best Wi-Fi startup, LinksTechnology, Pico Sella, and
Quantal RF.
I don't really have a dog inthat race.
Don't know too much about allthree of them.
Maybe this is a good time for meto learn.
Best consumer Wi-Fi router isgonna be uh Qualcomm, Xeomi,
Eero, and TP Link.
Obviously, pulling for Eero inthat one.
I've got too much blood, sweat,and tears into that one to not
(13:10):
pull my weight behind thecompany I work for.
Best Wi-Fi testing or toolsplatform, Lightpoint, YBot and
NetAlly.
Oh god, that's a tough onebetween YBot and NetAlly.
Probably gonna pull for NetAlly.
Love Julio my team over there.
Best Wi-Fi deployment solution,Extreme, Helium, and Cisco.
I like Helium, man.
I'm such a fan of what Helium'sdoing, but I love my boys over
at Extreme and at Cisco.
(13:31):
Probably gonna pull for thatone.
So huge congratulations toeveryone that's out there.
The awards gala is tomorrow.
So if you want to see Klausdressed up in his penguin suit,
it will be tomorrow, December18th.
I don't know what time it'shappening.
Let's see.
It says Thursday, December 18th,7 p.m.
Central.
Or C E T, not Central, 10 a.m.
Pacific time in the States.
(13:51):
So 10 a.m.
Pacific, 12 p.m.
Central Time, or 1 p.m.
East.
So join now.
Visit wifinowglobal.com,register for the awards.
Let's see what color Klaus's bowtie is this year.
It should be pretty sweet.
So let's talk about somethinginteresting.
There was a post that wasonline, posted on LinkedIn,
talking about merger issues andtroubles between a couple of
(14:14):
different manufacturers outthere.
And, you know, it wasinteresting to see how one
person's voice can have a prettydeep effect.
I had a conversation uh with mybuddy who posted this.
I'll leave the names out of it.
I'll let you guys wonder and golook on LinkedIn and see what
happened.
But essentially someone said,you know, ever since this merger
acquisition happened, I've beenhaving problems as an end user
(14:37):
ordering and receiving andgetting updates and things like
that.
And it just goes to show youthat, you know, this is the
person who wrote it is, I don'twant to say a fanboy, because I
think we're all fanboys of someway, shape, or form and some
type of technology.
But to hear someone who is anindustry-independent voice who
says, Hey, look, I see a problemwith this, made me really happy
because it showed me that peoplearen't scared to speak up, even
(14:59):
if it's friends of theirs, evenif it's people that they've
worked with or vendors thatthey've worked with, it was
great to see that interaction.
But even more impressive was tosee the amount of interaction
from the entire industry jumpingon board and saying, How can I
help?
What can we do?
Not, you know, obviously there'sa there's a whole sales
component there, like givespeople a chance to displace a
product, but at the same time,it was great to see the industry
(15:20):
stepping up to see how theycould help that out.
So I guess my point with thismessage is don't be scared to
use your voice and to talk aboutsomething that that you think is
right or something that youthink is wrong, even if it is a
friendly vendor or a friend ofyours, it's always good to speak
up because you never know what'sgoing to come out of it.
So kudos to the person forsaying what they did.
Again, if you wanted moreinformation, slide in a DMs,
(15:41):
I'll direct you in that in thatdirection.
But it's just really good to seethat people still have a voice,
especially since this industryparticularly has gone across a
number of times and voices havetried to be stifled.
And in WLPC26 news, oh man, itlooks like WLPC26 is coming
together.
They oh launched for tickets andregistrations on Monday the
(16:03):
15th.
I even did a little countdown,bust out the DJ equipment, had a
good time playing some music andtrying to get everybody hyped
up.
More people than I thoughtactually tuned in, and I've
continued to get messages aboutit.
So, yes, I used to be a DJ.
Yes, I still know how to DJ.
Yes, I was having some fun.
But all in all, it was reallygood.
Within the first, I think Kisa,within the first couple minutes,
or 120 registrants that went inthere.
(16:24):
More than half have alreadyregistered.
I think there's still a handfulof tickets left, with the cap
being, I believe, I want to saylike a 300 or 400.
So if you haven't registered forWLPC, make sure you make your
way over there.
If you've missed theregistration window and you need
to get in, drop a message.
There might be, you know, a slotthat opens up.
It's gonna be really, reallycool.
It's gonna be a lot of fun.
It's happening in February.
(16:45):
Nerd Boot Camp.
There'll probably be a golfouting.
If you play golf, uh, myself,Matt, Starling, Stu, a bunch of
us are gonna get together andprobably go hit some golf balls
and have a good time as we didlast year.
And if you weren't there when mywife ordered shots of tequila
for everyone delivered on thegolf course by the cart girl,
then you were missing out.
But don't let that happen again.
If you like to play golf, comejoin us a day early.
(17:06):
We're gonna get out there andhit the links, more than likely,
with a bunch of sponsored swag.
I think we all chipped in sometype of swag, but it was a lot
of fun.
Either way, I'm really lookingforward to WLPT WLPC26 coming
up.
And I'm looking forward tosomething even sooner than that.
CES is right around the corner,and there's gonna be a lot of
really neat things and neatannouncements happening at CES.
(17:27):
I'm gonna be there.
I'm gonna be working, which isgonna be exciting and fun,
setting up some Wi-Fi.
Uh, more details about thatlater, but it's gonna be a
really great time.
Hopefully, I'll get some timeoff to go walk around and walk
the show floor.
If you know me, you know, one ofmy favorite spots is to go
downstairs at the Venetian andgo into the area where
everything is up and coming andsee what kind of new technology
is making waves down there.
(17:47):
That's a great spot to go.
But there's gonna be a lothappening at CES, and then right
on the heels of that, and I meanright on the heels, CES ends on
Thursday or Friday the next day.
National Retail Federation NRFhappens in New York City.
So from one side to the other ofthe United States, getting into
NRF is gonna be great.
So first we're gonna see theconsumer side of everything,
then we're gonna see the retailside of it all.
(18:08):
So it's gonna be a really funkickoff to January way to break
in the new year with some newtechnology, some new services,
some new stuff to see.
Maybe some, you know, maybe I'llwin a raffle or something and
get something neat out of one ofthem.
Anyway, it's gonna be a busyfirst part of the year in
January.
Next week is the week ofChristmas.
I will try and do a podcast.
(18:29):
I don't know, you know, ifthere's gonna be any huge news.
This is a pretty down week for alot of people between now and
December 25th, where it's justlike kind of chill.
Everyone's here celebrating, youknow, getting ready for
Christmas holidays, celebratingHanukkah, you know, getting
everything ready and andspending time with family.
So I'd encourage you to do that.
If something fun comes up, maybeI'll make a little post about
it.
But until then, I hope you allhave a wonderful end of your
(18:51):
week.
Have a wonderful weekend, and Iwill talk to you probably next
week and enjoy.
If you find anything fun, passit on, man.
I always have I'm always lookingfor new and fun, cool stories
out there.
So feel free to send mesomething.
Anyway, have a great week.
See ya.
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