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Qualcomm-based home gateways could give you 4 times faster Wi-Fi speeds

Qualcomm at Mobile World Congress 2018.
Qualcomm at Mobile World Congress 2018.
Image Credit: Qualcomm

Qualcomm, KDDI, and NEC are announcing a new wireless networking home gateway based on the 802.11ax networking protocol, which is designed to deliver four times higher wireless networking performance.

The new technology will enable stronger networks to handle the traffic from video applications such as 8K video and virtual reality. The home gateway is based on Qualcomm’s IPQ8072 family of 802.11ax chipsets that will be available to KDDI home subscribers, starting this month.

The company said this will be the first commercial home gateway solution supporting 11ax features that will improve user experiences by delivering four times higher wireless networking capacities and better performance for bandwidth-hungry applications throughout the home.

The Qualcomm chipset supports 10 gigabit-per-second wide-area networks and local-area networks (WAN/LAN) that will be four times faster than existing 802.11ac wave 2 networks.

The draft 11ax carrier gateway will be delivered to KDDI’s home subscribers in Japan in March 2018. The chipsets will be built with 14-nanometer chip manufacturing. It will use MU-MIMO technology that allows multiple users to be simultaneously connected to an access point.

The platform also features advanced WPA3 encryption to provide robust protection of user passwords and stronger privacy in Wi-Fi networks.

“Qualcomm has been leading the market in the development of innovative 11ax solutions that solve consumers’ most pressing demands for better Wi-Fi and advanced user experiences,” said Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager at Qualcomm Technologies, in a statement. “Our 802.11ax solution is a testament to that innovation, powering the world’s first carrier-class home getaway with the industry’s highest-performing 802.11ax chipset. As KDDI and NEC Platforms continue to push boundaries with this powerful solution, we are thrilled to be partnering with them to revolutionize Wi-Fi connectivity and deliver unmatched performance to their customers.”

Rivals such as Broadcom (which is trying to take over Qualcomm) are also producing 802.11ax wireless networking technology.

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