US Wi-Fi 7 Adoption Quadruples to 7.2% as ISPs Bundle New Routers
Updated
Updated · ZDNet · Aug 7
US Wi-Fi 7 Adoption Quadruples to 7.2% as ISPs Bundle New Routers
2 articles · Updated · ZDNet · Aug 7
Summary
US Wi-Fi 7 traffic reached 7.2% of deployed routers in Q2 2026, up from 1.8% a year earlier and below 1% in 2024.
ISP-supplied gateways drove the jump more than retail upgrades, with cable operators leading volume: Spectrum accounted for 24.9% of US Wi-Fi 7 traffic in Q1 2026 and Xfinity 12.4%.
Fiber providers showed deeper penetration in their own bases, with CenturyLink at 14.7% and Frontier at 14.3%, while Xfinity's median Wi-Fi 7 upload speed more than doubled to 108.8 Mbps after network and gateway upgrades.
6 GHz usage rose 62% year over year to 13.8% of US Wi-Fi samples, helping lift median fixed-broadband download speeds to 316.3 Mbps and uploads to 68.3 Mbps.
Even after the surge, more than 90% of US Wi-Fi users remain on Wi-Fi 6/6E or older gear, though broader phone and PC support suggests Wi-Fi 7 is moving toward mainstream adoption.