Spark Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) Routers

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FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#324214 13-Mar-2026 12:26

I am in the wind to buy the latest iPad Air or soon to be released iPad 12th gen (vs my current iPad 6th gen), which supports Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) standard. On further research I noticed that 2degrees and One NZ are now starting to support this standard.

I see that Spark is still only Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) with their Smart Modem 3 Any news when Spark will start supporting this standard ??

PS: I just noticed that my Mac mini M4 only supports Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

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Spark

#3469678 13-Mar-2026 13:27

Your ISP doesn't need to 'support this standard', you just need a router that supports it. Spark currently sell the Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway 7 for Wireless Broadband which supports WiFi 7.

FineWine

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#3469738 13-Mar-2026 14:34

ShaneKNZ:

Your ISP doesn't need to 'support this standard', you just need a router that supports it. Spark currently sell the Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway 7 for Wireless Broadband which supports WiFi 7.

I'm talking about a replacement for my current Spark first generation Smart Modem as I am on Fibre NOT Wireless and wish to stay on fibre.

Also, it would be nice if they upgraded their USB port from 2 to 3, though I believe USB 4 is soon to be or is already released so that would be a bonus. This then would enable me to use a Time Machine capable NAS network backup system (IE: Synology) to replace the soon-to-be defunct Apple Time capsule system.

But back to the Spark lack of or slowness in keeping up with technology advances.

Apologies - I just read the specs for the Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway 7 it does support Fibre Broadband and USB 3.1 Type-C.

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

pureinception

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#3469741 13-Mar-2026 14:42

FineWine:

ShaneKNZ:

Your ISP doesn't need to 'support this standard', you just need a router that supports it. Spark currently sell the Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway 7 for Wireless Broadband which supports WiFi 7.

I'm talking about a replacement for my current Spark first generation Smart Modem as I am on Fibre NOT Wireless and wish to stay on fibre.

Also, it would be nice if they upgraded their USB port from 2 to 3, though I believe USB 4 is soon to be or is already released so that would be a bonus. This then would enable me to use a Time Machine capable NAS network backup system (IE: Synology) to replace the soon-to-be defunct Apple Time capsule system.

But back to the Spark lack of or slowness in keeping up with technology advances.

You can purchase any WiFi 7 router and use it with Spark Fibre. You don't have to wait for Spark to sell one.
PB Tech even have support pages with the settings you need to configure for a bunch of the ISPs:
E.g TP-Link https://www.pbtech.co.nz/TPLinkISPSettings

FineWine

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#3469743 13-Mar-2026 14:47

pureinception:

You can purchase any WiFi 7 router and use it with Spark Fibre. You don't have to wait for Spark to sell one.
PB Tech even have support pages with the settings you need to configure for a bunch of the ISPs:
E.g TP-Link https://www.pbtech.co.nz/TPLinkISPSettings

Wow, that's great thanks 😄

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

PJ48

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#3469784 13-Mar-2026 17:12

FineWine:

ShaneKNZ:

Your ISP doesn't need to 'support this standard', you just need a router that supports it. Spark currently sell the Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway 7 for Wireless Broadband which supports WiFi 7.

I'm talking about a replacement for my current Spark first generation Smart Modem as I am on Fibre NOT Wireless and wish to stay on fibre.

Also, it would be nice if they upgraded their USB port from 2 to 3, though I believe USB 4 is soon to be or is already released so that would be a bonus. This then would enable me to use a Time Machine capable NAS network backup system (IE: Synology) to replace the soon-to-be defunct Apple Time capsule system.

But back to the Spark lack of or slowness in keeping up with technology advances.

Apologies - I just read the specs for the Nokia FastMile 5G Gateway 7 it does support Fibre Broadband and USB 3.1 Type-C.

If you have a desktop Mac you can easily create a cheap Time Capsule NAS solution by connecting an SSD drive to that Mac and configuring it to be the network Time Machine backup drive, rather than going down the Synology route.

FineWine

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Nurse (R)

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#3469809 13-Mar-2026 17:39

PJ48:

If you have a desktop Mac you can easily create a cheap Time Capsule NAS solution by connecting an SSD drive to that Mac and configuring it to be the network Time Machine backup drive, rather than going down the Synology route.

I've run out off direct ports on my Mac m4 mini. Besides why not connect via the router ?

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

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lxsw20

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#3469810 13-Mar-2026 17:46

I promise you, you will notice zero difference going to a WiFi7 or even 6E router.

A NAS would connect over ethernet, not USB

Linux

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#3469823 13-Mar-2026 18:48

Wi'Fi7 on even a Gb home connection is over kill

ShaneKNZ

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Spark

#3469827 13-Mar-2026 19:21

I can reach 930 Mbps via WiFi on my Eero Pro with WiFi 6E. However, if I was buying new equipment today I’d want WiFi 7. I toured the Chorus lab recently where they demoed 2Gbps via WiFi 7 with Hyperfibre 2000. Not sure my 6E set up could manage that. But 6E is absolutely fine for my usage.

aj6828

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#3469872 13-Mar-2026 22:56

When you go for Wi-Fi 7, make sure you go for a 6ghz router as there are cheap 5.8Ghz ones and also 320Mhz .. for a wifi card be200 if your on intel or (be202 low spec card ) or even media tek cards are available on the market .. and you need a better cpu too if not you cant really get the full speeds from your pc to router..

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noroad

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#3469880 14-Mar-2026 07:59

ShaneKNZ:

I can reach 930 Mbps via WiFi on my Eero Pro with WiFi 6E. However, if I was buying new equipment today I’d want WiFi 7. I toured the Chorus lab recently where they demoed 2Gbps via WiFi 7 with Hyperfibre 2000. Not sure my 6E set up could manage that. But 6E is absolutely fine for my usage.

Wifi 7 on 6ghz certainly does work (this is to my S24U from my TP-Link BE65's just now). Sometimes it runs up to about 2.1Gb/s. Does this make any noticeable difference over wifi 6, not really. The thing is the 6Ghz band has pretty low wall penetration so the headline speeds generally only exceed 1Gb/s in the same room as an AP.

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#3469897 14-Mar-2026 08:34

I can get my full 950/500 plan over my wifi 6 U6-Pro's.

Join Mercury and I’ll get bonus rewards points. Make sure you use my referral link to explore their wonderful offers. https://www.mercury.co.nz/join?m_copc=FGF50&m_rc=100211888685

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AP's: 2x U6-Pro, 1x U6-Lite, 1x UK-Ultra, 1x AC Mesh Pro

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aj6828

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#3469903 14-Mar-2026 08:59

noroad:

Wifi 7 on 6ghz certainly does work (this is to my S24U from my TP-Link BE65's just now). Sometimes it runs up to about 2.1Gb/s. Does this make any noticeable difference over wifi 6, not really. The thing is the 6Ghz band has pretty low wall penetration so the headline speeds generally only exceed 1Gb/s in the same room as an AP.

Try tuning your tcp settings using tcp optimizer tends to increase the speed .. what's your ISP?

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noroad

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#3469959 14-Mar-2026 09:58

aj6828:

Try tuning your tcp settings using tcp optimizer tends to increase the speed .. what's your ISP?

I am the core network architect at my ISP.... I have no lack of speed that needs adjusting

RunningMan

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#3469960 14-Mar-2026 10:00

aj6828:Try tuning your tcp settings using tcp optimizer tends to increase the speed

Only if you use Windows OS.

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