GFiber and Qualcomm announce Wi-Fi 8 gateway
GFiber and Qualcomm have announced the development of a new gateway supporting the Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn) standard. The first users to receive this next-gen wireless upgrade will be those subscribed to the 20 Gig service, which currently utilizes 25G-PON technology.
Even though the Wi-Fi 8 specification has yet to be ratified by the IEEE, manufacturers are already moving ahead with hardware support. The new GFiber Wi-Fi 8 Premium Gateway will be built on the Qualcomm Dragonwing NPro A8 Elite platform. This architecture combines a penta-core CPU with an NPU, which Qualcomm claims will enable native edge AI capabilities directly on the gateway.
While Qualcomm provides the chipset, Gemtek will handle the actual manufacturing of the gateway. GFiber stated that current customers using "Actiontec" Wi-Fi 7 gateways will be eligible for an upgrade to the Wi-Fi 8 Premium Gateway once the certification process is complete. Rollouts for these upgrades are expected to begin in 2027.
The hardware is positioned to support high-end connectivity requirements. Beyond the current 20 Gig service available in select U.S. markets, the gateway is also intended to support future expansions. GFiber plans to begin residential trials of its 50G-PON based 50 Gig service in the spring of next year, a standard that will be fully supported by this new Wi-Fi 8 hardware.
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