Mobile and broadband ISP Vodafone appears to be preparing to launch a new range of Wi-Fi 7 capable routers and wireless mesh extenders for their fixed line customers in the future, including the Ultra Hub 7 Fibre (FG4278VF), Super Wi-Fi 7 (RP761BVDF) and Ultra HUB7 (DG4278VF). But the details are currently wafer thin.
In case anybody has forgotten, Vodafone only recently introduced a new range of Wi-Fi 6 / 6E capable routers and extenders – the ‘Power Hub‘ router and ‘Super Wi-Fi 6 Booster‘ (here). Prior to this, they had also become the first UK ISP in 2022 to launch a 6E capable router – the ‘UltraHub‘ (here), which is pictured above but only bundled alongside their premium Pro II plans.
However, EE, Zen Internet and BeFibre recently became some of the first ISPs to launch new routers using the latest Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) standard. This introduces various new features, such as using the extra 6GHz channel with 320MHz of channel bandwidth for much broader capacity (Wi-Fi 6E is 160MHz), as well as Multi Link Operation (MLO), which allows data to be sent over multiple bands simultaneously, and 4K QAM, which offers up to 20% increase in peak data transmission performance (plus other enhancements).
The good news is that it looks like Vodafone are preparing to catch up. One of our readers (credits to Scott) recently spotted that the operator has put three new devices through the WiFi certification process between July and early September 2024, including the Ultra Hub 7 Fibre (FG4278VF), Super Wi-Fi 7 (RP761BVDF) and Ultra HUB7 (DG4278VF). But this doesn’t reveal much about their capabilities, other than support for WPA3 encryption and WiFi 7.
The recent certification doesn’t mean that these devices are due for an imminent launch, as there will usually still be development work and testing that needs to be done on the software and production side first. Often such work can take several months, and so a launch is perhaps more likely to occur during 2025 than 2024. The future launch may also be staggered, meaning that we might see the Ultra Hub 7 Fibre launch before the others.
A spokesperson for Vodafone told ISPreview: “We don’t have anything to say on that right now. We will continue to sell our Vodafone’s Pro II Plan, powered by Ultra Hub.”