MSI launches its WiFi 7 Roamii BE Lite Mesh System, made to provide seamless home connectivity for an increasing number of WiFi 7-supported mobile devices and AI-accelerated applications. The MSI Roamii BE Lite features a range of WiFi 7 enhancements that ensure you experience smooth WiFi as your roam around.

Seamless Home Connectivity with Roamii WiFi 7 Mesh System
MSI Roamii BE Lite Mesh System has dual-band WiFi 7 streams that supports transfer speeds up to 5 Gbps. Advanced WiFi 7 features, including 4K-QAM, Multi-RU, and MLO (Multi-Link Operation) ensure users experience seamless and uninterrupted internet access throughout their homes. A 2.5G Ethernet port offers the flexibility for use as a mesh backhaul connection.

To date, WiFi 7 routers have been costing hundreds of dollars, with high-end models going for as much as US$800 for standard routers, with mesh systems easily breaking the US$1000 barrier. TP-Link's new Archer BE3600—also known as the Archer BE230 in some markets—is the polar opposite to those expensive routers, as it's being sold for a mere US$99. We've even found it for less than that in some countries, although we've also seen the BE230 model for twice as much, so the pricing varies quite a lot depending on where you live. You might be wondering how much router you get for your money, since there has to be some trade-offs, right?

Well, you wouldn't be wrong, but there are fewer trade-offs than we expected. As the model name implies, the combined WiFi speed is 3600 Mbps in theory, with the 5 GHz radio delivering up to 2882 Mbps and the 2.4 GHz radio delivering up to 688 Mbps. Both the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radios are 2x2, but at least the 5 GHz radio supports up to 240 MHz channel width, although 160 MHz is far more common on the device side. However, there's no 6 GHz radio to be found at this price, which isn't entirely unexpected at this price point. However, new features like Multi-Link Operation (MLO) are supported. You also get a pair of 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, something only routers at around twice the price of the Archer BE3600 has featured so far. There's even a USB 3.0 for those that want to connect up a storage device to their router as a makeshift network drive. According to a teardown done by the FCC, the Archer BE3600 is based on a Broadcom SoC with integrated WiFi and a Realtek switch for the Gigabit ports.

ASUS today announced availability of the ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro and ZenWiFi BT10, premium Wi-Fi 7 mesh systems that feature powerful 6 GHz Wi-Fi and whose 2-pack versions offer speeds of up to 30 Gbps (BQ16 Pro) and coverage of up to 8,000 square feet (2-pack BQ16 Pro). Dual 10 Gbps Ethernet ports enable future-ready 10 Gbps Internet and 10 Gbps wired backhaul for fast, stable, and seamless whole home Wi-Fi for next-gen smart home entertainment and home studio productivity.

The ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro and ZenWiFi BT10 boast exclusive ASUS Smart AiMesh technology to intelligently harness WiFi 7 Multi-Link Operation (MLO) and AI for both fronthaul and backhaul, Multi-Link Operation—automatically aggregating or switching across multiple bands for minimized latency and efficient transmission. By leveraging MLO, Smart AiMesh MLO backhaul automatically switches to the fastest band while its fronthaul also intelligently prioritizes demanding packets for max connectivity and efficiency. Smart AiMesh also empowers loads of advanced network features such as security, parental controls, and VPNs in the extendable network while offering full compatibility with all ASUS AiMesh-compatible ZenWiFi and standalone routers.

MSI announced a new range of wireless mesh WiFi 7 products at Computex called the Roamii and with the press release being somewhat feature light, we'll try and fill the blanks here. MSI will offer three different variants of the Roamii mesh system which will be the Roamii BE Lite, Roamii Be Pro and Roamii BE Max. Starting with the Lite which sports a combined WiFi speed of up to 5 Gbps, but the division between the supported bands is unclear, although it's likely to lack the 6 GHz radio, but it supports Multi-Link Operation (MLO). It only has one 2.5 Gbps and two Gigabit Ethernet ports. The Pro model ups the game with 11 Gbps WiFi and four 2.5 Gbps Ethernet ports, as well as a single USB 3.0 port.

Finally the Max dial things up to 21 Gbps on the wireless side of things and adds one 10 Gbps Ethernet port to the mix. In addition to the Roamii products, MSI was also showing off the BE6500 WiFi 7 USB adapter which is a tri-band dongle and the first of its kind that we've seen. It supports speeds of up to 2880 Mbps on the 6 and 5 GHz bands and 688 Mbps on the 2.4 GHz band, assuming you have a suitable WiFi 7 router or access point. It also offers support for MLO and interestingly enough, it also has built in drives, which means you don't need to download drivers to get it up and running. Finally MSI is promising support for Windows 10 and 11, as well as Linux. So far Windows 10 has lacked proper support for WiFi 7 devices, so this is an interesting development.