The Future of Wi-Fi Networks: Enhancing Guest and BYOD Connectivity
We are currently operating in an exciting time for wireless, with the rising IoT tide, Wi-Fi 6E/7 and WPA3 taking root, and even more client devices finding their way to the wireless network. More and more companies are upgrading their wireless environment to a complete Wi-Fi architecture to embrace the power of hybrid work and hybrid spaces.
As businesses and public spaces strive to meet the ever-growing demands of connected consumers, advancements in Wi-Fi technology pave the way for faster speeds, improved reliability, and enhanced security. The introduction of Wi-Fi 7 and the expansion into the 6 GHz spectrum with Wi-Fi 6E are poised to transform how guests interact with wireless networks, offering unprecedented performance and capabilities.
With the expectation of 4 billion wireless devices connected to an infrastructure in the next four years (source Wi-Fi Alliance), the new Wi-Fi 7 and 6GHz spectrum represent a major technological leap forward in our ultra-connected ways of working, presenting new challenges for IT managers and Wi-Fi equipment manufacturers.
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This article delves into the evolving landscape of Wi-Fi technology and its impact on guest access. It explores the potential of the Wi-Fi 6E spectrum and Wi-Fi 7 to handle the increasing number of IoT devices and bandwidth-hungry applications. The piece also examines the implementation of cutting-edge security measures like WPA3, which are crucial to protect guest networks in both WPA3-Personal and WPA3-Enterprise configurations.
The evolution of Wi-Fi standards
Wi-Fi technology has come a long way since its inception in 1997, starting with IEEE 802.11 and reaching speeds of 2 Mbps. By 1999, the introduction of 802.11b brought more practical speeds of 11 Mbps for broader use. As technology advanced, standards like 802.11n and 802.11ac further accelerated speeds and improved connectivity, eventually leading to the revolutionary Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) in 2019 with its enhanced Wi-Fi 6 security features. With the opening of the new Wi-Fi 6E frequency range (6GHz), the Wi-Fi 6E standard has been released, unleashing all constraints from previous standards.
But it has not stopped here.
From Wi-Fi 6 to Wi-Fi 7 through Wi-Fi 6E
Wi-Fi 6 greatly enhanced network efficiency, speed, and capacity, utilizing technologies such as OFDMA and MU-MIMO to meet the increasing demands of modern internet usage in crowded environments. Introducing the Wi-Fi 6E band, which operates in the 6GHz spectrum, represents a significant leap forward for Wi-Fi. This new Wi-Fi 6E spectrum offers several advantages that are set to transform clients connectivity:
- Increased Bandwidth: The Wi-Fi 6E frequency range provides an additional 1200 MHz of spectrum across multiple Wi-Fi 6E channels, compared to the crowded 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. This means more channels and less interference, leading to faster speeds and more reliable connections, even in dense office environments.
- Reduced Congestion: The Wi-Fi 6E band is less congested than the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands, which are often crowded with devices ranging from laptops to IoT devices. This reduced congestion translates to more stable connections and better performance, particularly in high-density areas such as conference rooms or open-plan offices. Less interference also improves the Wi-Fi 6E range and outdoor coverage.
- Enhanced Security: All devices operating in the Wi-Fi 6E spectrum are required to support WPA3, ensuring a higher baseline of security across the network. This mandatory implementation of WPA3 helps to prevent older, less secure devices from accessing the 6GHz network, thereby enhancing overall security.
For guest connectivity, the Wi-Fi 6E spectrum allows for creating separate, high-speed guest networks that do not interfere with the leading corporate network. This ensures that guest devices do not impact the performance of critical business operations.
Regarding IoT connectivity, as they increasingly become connected autonomously to Internet, they land naturally on a dedicated network with access to Internet only, identical to guest Wi-Fi. Cloudi-Fi allows to unify various authenticated guests and IoT on the same open SSID, simplifying the network and automating onboarding of all devices and users.
The upcoming Wi-Fi 7 (802.11be) promises to break new ground with even faster speeds, lower latency, improved capacity, and multi-link operation, prepared to address the burgeoning needs of a hyper-connected world. The new multi-link operation (MLO) feature is the main component of the Wi-Fi 7 standard which will allow devices to transmit data simultaneously across multiple frequencies. This capability reduces latency and optimizes the utilization of the available spectrum which will help real-time applications.
WPA3: The Next Standard in Wi-Fi Security
Wi-Fi Protected Access 3 (WPA3) is the latest evolution in Wi-Fi security protocols, designed to address the shortcomings of its predecessor, WPA2, and to meet the growing demands for better security in both WPA3-Personal and WPA3-Enterprise environments. WPA3 introduces several key features that strengthen network protection:
- Enhanced Encryption: WPA3 uses a 192-bit security mode with GCMP encryption in WPA3-Enterprise mode, which offers stronger data protection than the 128-bit encryption used in WPA2. This is particularly important in environments where sensitive data is transmitted, making it significantly harder for attackers to decrypt intercepted traffic.
- Simplified Security for Users: WPA3-Personal introduces Simultaneous Authentication of Equals (SAE), a more secure method for handling the authentication process that replaces the Pre-Shared Key (PSK) method used in WPA2. SAE resists offline dictionary attacks, where an attacker tries to guess a password based on intercepted data. Users can set up WPA3 personal with an SAE passphrase for enhanced security.
- Forward Secrecy: WPA3 security ensures that even if an attacker were to obtain a network’s encryption keys, they wouldn’t be able to decrypt previous sessions. This is crucial for protecting historical data and communication.
In the context of guest connectivity in an office environment, WPA3 provides a more secure foundation by ensuring that each user's data remains private and isolated from others on the same network, even if they are using the same Wi-Fi credentials. WPA3 transition modes allow for backward compatibility with legacy client devices while meeting WPA3 requirements.
Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE): Secure Guest Networks Without the Hassle
Opportunistic Wireless Encryption (OWE), also known as Enhanced Open Wi-Fi, is a key development explicitly aimed at improving the security of open Wi-Fi networks, such as those often used for guest access. Traditional open networks, which do not require authentication, have been notoriously insecure, allowing attackers to intercept and tamper with data.
OWE addresses this by automatically encrypting data between the device and the access point, even on open networks. This encryption occurs without requiring the user to enter a password, offering a seamless experience that does not compromise security.
Key benefits of Enhanced Open for guest connectivity include:
- Automated Encryption: OWE ensures that data transmitted over the network is encrypted using AES encryption, preventing eavesdropping and man-in-the-middle attacks. This is particularly important in environments where guests may access sensitive information or conduct business transactions.
- No User Friction: Since Enhanced Open does not require a password, guests can connect to the network quickly and easily, without sacrificing security. This is ideal for offices that frequently host clients, vendors, or partners who need quick access to Wi-Fi.
- Protection Against Malicious Actors: OWE helps to mitigate the risk of rogue access points, where an attacker sets up a fake Wi-Fi network to lure unsuspecting users. With Enhanced Open, even if a guest connects to an open network, their data remains encrypted, making it much harder for attackers to exploit.
WPA3 and OWE are innovative security technologies that promise to add numerous additional security features to the Wi-Fi infrastructure. It is a major challenge for IT managers to implement such technologies while enabling older-generation equipment that does not consider these standards to maintain optimal connectivity on the infrastructure.
The challenge will lie with BYOD equipment that is not mastered by IT managers. Renewing IT devices in terms of infrastructure, hardware, and team training can represent a significant cost for these managers, which presents them with the dual challenge of ensuring optimum security thanks to new technologies while at the same time securing a dedicated budget enabling them to implement them.
Revolutionizing Guest and BYOD Connectivity
Seamless Onboarding
The future of Wi-Fi is transforming guest and BYOD connectivity through seamless onboarding processes. A BYOD device refers to personal devices, such as phones or laptops, that employees or guests bring into a workplace or network environment. These devices connect to the company’s Wi-Fi network in wireless infrastructure, requiring secure access management and network segmentation to protect organizational resources.
Wi-Fi onboarding refers to incorporating new users into a network, facilitating easy access and utilizing Wi-Fi services. Effective onboarding procedures are crucial for enhancing user experience and network security. By implementing captive portals with various authentications, organizations can create a personalized gateway for each user, offering targeted content at the point of access. OWE allows guests to connect to the Wi-Fi network without entering a password, delivering a frictionless experience ideal for high-traffic areas or events. Despite the lack of a password, OWE automatically encrypts the data between the guest’s device and the access point, ensuring that their connection is secure from the moment they connect.
Enhanced Security Measures
Security is paramount in revolutionizing guest connectivity. Providing secure Wi-Fi access is essential for protecting guest privacy and ensuring a safe browsing experience. This involves implementing encryption, security policies like management frame protection, and intrusion detection systems to minimize the risk of unauthorized access and protect guest data. By having a zero-trust security model, no user or device is trusted on the network. Instead, they must be verified before granting access to network resources, often through 802.1X authentication in WPA3-Enterprise setups.
A Secure Future for Office Wireless Connectivity
As the office environment continues to change and a growing number of corporate devices connected to the wireless infrastructure appears, the importance of secure and reliable Wi-Fi cannot be overstated. WPA3, the 6GHz spectrum, and OWE are at the forefront of this transformation, each playing a critical role in enhancing the security and performance of office networks.
By adopting these Wi-Fi technologies, businesses can ensure that both employees and guests have access to fast and secure Wi-Fi, laying the groundwork for a more connected and productive future. These improvements also enable businesses to support more devices and users efficiently, making their networks more scalable and future-proof. Proper network design, AP placement, PoE requirements, global operations, adjacent band restrictions, and security optimization are all critical considerations for enterprise networks looking to deploy these cutting-edge Wi-Fi solutions. By having a cloud-based solution, businesses make sure to prepare the future of their wireless infrastructure with the ability to have a scalable solution with the growth of wireless devices connected to all office and branch locations.
To complete this reflection on the future of Wi-Fi networks, and read about real-world cloud wireless connectivity transformation projects, you can follow-up with a concrete use case example of how global organizations are evolving their Guest, BYOD connectivity with scalable and secure cloud-based framework, simplifying network administration operations while reducing the number of SSIDs to maintain (use case) while improving user experience and network access security from admins across all buildings, locations and countries.
This post was written by Simon Mesnage.
Simon is a Senior Network Engineer and passionate Wi-Fi specialist, based in Paris and helping large enterprises transform and secure their Wi-Fi networks.
Simon also runs a Blog on Wi-Fi in French.
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