At the recent CES 2023 (Jan. 5-8) event in Las Vegas, CommScope (NASDAQ: COMM) announced its entry into the Wi-Fi 7 home networks retail market with the launch of its SURFboard G54 DOCSIS 3.1 quad-band Wi-Fi 7 cable modem.
The company noted its flagship SURFboard G54 model provides significant performance enhancements, including embracing the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology, and supporting multi-gigabit internet plans. Importantly, CommScope noted that the SURFboard G54 leverages the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology offerings with the following capabilities:
- Support for the recently available 6GHz band, providing a large amount of uncongested spectrum, unused by previous Wi-Fi technology (Wi-Fi 5 and prior generations).
- Multi-Link Operation (MLO), combining different bands together for even faster speed, allowing supported Wi-Fi 7 clients to take advantage of simultaneous multiple band connections.
- 320MHz channels and the large capacity gains from 6GHz spectrum delivering extremely high throughputs, with peak speeds up to 11.5Gbps in 6GHz (or 2.4 times faster than Wi-Fi 6 devices).
- Spectrum puncturing technology, which helps to avoid channel interference to achieve faster Wi-Fi, even in noisy, crowded environments.
Jonathan Wu, vice president of product and customer support, CommScope Home Networks, commented:
“We’re thrilled to debut the first ARRIS SURFboard Wi-Fi 7 product at CES. The flagship SURFboard G54 takes innovation to the next level with DOCSIS 3.1 and quad-band Wi-Fi 7. It provides a superior home networking experience for our customers – no matter what next generation plans are to come in the years ahead.”
Quad-band Wi-Fi 7
The SURFboard G54's quad-band Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity is rated to BE17880, or the total speed the system can support, and includes support for the:
- 2.4 GHz band for IoT and low-bandwidth devices
- 5 GHz low band for Wi-Fi 5 devices
- 5 GHz high band for Wi-Fi 6/7 devices
- 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi 6E/7 devices
CommScope says the SURFboard G54's intelligent quad-band steering capability ensure all devices have the optimal connection to the network depending on usage, and balances the system as needed, especially when varied Wi-Fi generation devices are present.
The quad-band technology also ensures older devices on Wi-Fi 5 will continue to receive the appropriate bandwidth, and that newer devices will leverage the latest Wi-Fi technology (Wi-Fi 6/6E/7) and utilize the appropriate band (5/6GHz) to maximize performance and speed, while reducing latency and jitter.
With the SURFboard G54 technoloby, the company said that applications such as 4K streaming, gaming, video conferencing, livestreaming, and AR/VR/MR will experience better and more reliable performance.
Advanced feature set
The SURFboard G54 cable modem's advanced feature set also includes support for DOCSIS 3.1, a 10 Gbps Ethernet port, and four 1 Gbps LAN ports.
The unit's smart channel management technology avoids channel interference and improves bandwidth to ensure the home network is not impacted by neighboring networks. Alternatively, users may choose to manually set devices to each band to personally manage the connections.
As reckoned by a CommScope press release:
As the journey to the multi-gigabit network of the future continues, consumers can be ready to support next generation, higher speed internet plans with the SURFboard G54. Coupling the latest DOCSIS 3.1 technology with new Wi-Fi 7 capabilities, the SURFboard G54 provides multi-gigabit speeds (dependent upon service provider plan) throughout the home. In addition, a 10 Gbps Ethernet port ensures the home network can support additional Gigabit services directly to the Ethernet connection.
As new smart devices are released and added to the home, the company emphasized that the SURFboard G54 also ensures that older devices with previous Wi-Fi technology (Wi-Fi 5 and earlier) do not degrade the performance of the home network.
CommScope said the SURFboard G54 DOCSIS 3.1 quad-band Wi-Fi 7 cable modem will be available by mid-2023, and that additional Wi-Fi 7 products will become available soon thereafter.