Wi-Fi 7 access points can be limited by the cable behind them. Many can use a multi-gigabit (2.5, 5 or 10 Gbps) wired uplink, and older cabling is often the first bottleneck customers meet. The common options are: Cat5e, which is legacy and typically limited to 1 Gbps (2.5 Gbps over short, clean runs); Cat6, a reasonable minimum for new installs; Cat6A, which supports 10 Gbps over the full 100 metres and handles higher PoE (Power over Ethernet) loads better; and fibre, used for uplinks between switches and for long runs. There is no such thing as Cat6E, so if a quote mentions it, ask what is actually being supplied.

For a new build or major refit, Cat6A to every access point location is the safe choice, and it keeps your options open for Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn), which is not expected to be ratified until around 2028, so exact requirements are not final. Switches matter too: multi-gigabit ports and enough PoE budget (802.3bt for the most power-hungry access points) are needed to get the full Wi-Fi 7 experience. Existing Cat5e or Cat6 runs can often be retained for now, but they should be tested before you assume they will cope.

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Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) is the first Wi-Fi generation whose headline features genuinely target crowded places. The ones that matter most for stadiums, large venues and similar sites are Multi-Link Operation (MLO), which lets a device use more than one band at once for steadier, lower-latency connections; wider channels of up to 320 MHz in the 6 GHz band; higher-order 4K-QAM modulation; Multi-RU (Multiple Resource Unit) allocation, which uses airtime more efficiently; and preamble puncturing, which lets a channel keep working around a busy slice of spectrum.

The reality check: a bigger channel is not automatically better when thousands of people share the air. In high-density design, 320 MHz channels are rarely practical because they leave too few non-overlapping channels, and the 6 GHz band only helps if enough client devices support it. Wi-Fi 7 also does not remove the need for sound design. Cell size, channel plan, AP (Access Point) placement and airtime management still decide how a venue performs. Faster access points also need a wired network to match, such as multi-gigabit uplinks and sufficient PoE (Power over Ethernet) budget.

This is my own summary of publicly available vendor guidance, and any speed or capacity figures quoted by vendors are indicative only. For the original explainer, see Purple's guide: https://www.purple.ai/en-gb/guides/wi-fi-7-802-11be-explained-what-changes-for-enterprise-wifi

In the 5 GHz band, some channels are shared with radar systems such as weather radar. Wi-Fi equipment that uses them must apply DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection): before using a channel the access point listens for radar, and if it detects any, it must stop transmitting and move to another channel. These are known as DFS channels, and in Australia they sit in the middle of the 5 GHz band.

Why it matters for busy venues: DFS channels roughly double the number of 5 GHz channels available, which gives a high-density design more room to separate access points and reduce contention (devices sharing the same airtime). The trade-off is risk. A radar event forces an access point off its channel, and clients can drop or roam at the worst moment. Whether that risk is acceptable depends on the site, how close it is to radar sources, and how critical the service is.

Good practice is to survey the site for radar activity, plan DFS and non-DFS channels together, keep a stable fallback for critical areas, and monitor channel changes after go-live. Rules and channel availability change over time, including the ACMA (Australian Communications and Media Authority) class licence for low interference potential devices, so always confirm the current requirements with ACMA before finalising a channel plan: https://www.acma.gov.au/licences/low-interference-potential-devices-lipd-class-licence

When Wi-Fi struggles in a crowded place, the cause is usually one of two things. Contention is many 802.11 (Wi-Fi) devices sharing the same airtime, so each one waits longer for its turn. It is fixed by design: smaller cells, a sensible channel plan, the right number and placement of access points, and sensible data rates. Interference is energy that is not Wi-Fi, or that corrupts Wi-Fi frames, such as certain wireless cameras, microwaves or faulty equipment. It is fixed by finding and removing the source, not by adding more access points.

A good channel plan starts with a few general principles. In dense environments, use the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands for clients and be cautious with 2.4 GHz, which has very few non-overlapping channels. Keep channel widths modest so you have enough separate channels to reuse. Space access points so that neighbouring cells on the same channel are far enough apart not to compete. And measure before and after, because a plan that looks right on paper still needs validating in the real building.

Every site is different, and the right answer depends on the building, the crowd and the devices in it. If you would like a second opinion on a venue that is struggling, get in touch and book a short call.