The Disappointing Truth About Wi-Fi 7: Multi-Link Operation Isn't Here Yet

The most immediate pattern in the 25 tested Wi-Fi 7 routers is the complete absence of features required for true multi-radio simultaneous MLO. None of the routers support EMLMR, SRS, or STR-MLMR: the core mechanisms that allow multiple radios to operate in parallel. Even the highest-end tri-band systems, such as the nearly $1,000 Asus ZenWiFi BT10, lack the synchronization and scheduling features needed to use the 2.4, 5, and 6GHz bands concurrently as a single unified link. This gap likely reflects the limitations of current hardware, which is not yet capable of achieving the sub-microsecond timing alignment required between independent radios.