One of the key technologies introduced by the Wi-Fi 7 standard is Multi-Link Operation or MLO. It allows devices to connect to several frequency bands simultaneously, instead of just one. For example, with typical Wi-Fi 5 or Wi-Fi 6 routers, a laptop connects to the wireless network using either the 2.4 GHz band or the 5 GHz band. While the router can switch between bands, the laptop is always connected to the router using just one link. With Wi-Fi 7, the same laptop can connect to the wireless network using two simultaneous links: on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, on 2.4 GHz and 6 GHz, or 5 GHz and 6 GHz. If one band gets congested, one of the links is automatically switched to another band. This can provide higher bandwidth, faster transfers, and lower latency. But this is all theoretical, so I decided to run an experiment on an extendable ASUS router with Wi-Fi 7. This is what I’ve learned: How to enable Multi-Link Operation (MLO) on an ASUS router or ZenWiFi system Before getting into the experiment’s details and measuring the benefits offered by MLO, you first need to enable this feature. On a laptop or PC connected to the network managed by your ASUS router or ZenWiFi system, open a web browser and navigate to asusrouter.com or your router\'s IP address. Then, log in with your admin username and password. In the left sidebar, choose Wireless. On the right, you see a list of tabs. Click or tap MLO. If you don’t have this tab, the Multi-Link Operation (MLO) feature is unavailable on your extendable ASUS router or ZenWiFi system. Go to Wireless > MLO You now see the Multi-Link Operation (MLO) page. This feature is turned off by default. To turn it on, click or tap the MLO switch. Click or tap the MLO switch You are informed that your ASUS router or ZenWiFi is going to reboot. Click or tap OK to proceed. The reboot process takes a while (usually about two minutes), and your Wi-Fi is unavailable during this time. Confirm that you want to proceed Wait patiently, and when your Wi-Fi is back on, log in again to your ASUS router (or ZenWiFi) and go to Wireless > MLO. The MLO switch is now enabled, as shown in the screenshot below. Click or tap Add a Network to start using this feature. Go to Wireless > MLO > Add a Network Next, you should see the wizard for creating a new Wi-Fi that uses MLO. Type the desired Network Name (SSID) and the connection password in the Wireless Security field. Ensure that you use a strong password and not something that can be easily guessed or cracked. For more configuration options, click or tap More Config. Click or tap More Config This shows you which bands will be used by the new MLO-enabled Wi-Fi. I’m using ASUS RT-BE92U, an excellent tri-band wireless router. Therefore, all three bands are selected automatically: 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz. If you’re using a dual-band router, you’ll see only 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz selected. You can also schedule your Wi-Fi if you want it working on a specific schedule, set bandwidth limits, and other options. Click or tap Apply, and your ASUS router will create the new Wi-Fi. Configure your Wi-Fi and click or tap Apply Wait while your ASUS router (or ZenWiFi) reboots one more time. When you see the new MLO-based network available, connect your devices. You can then remove the other Wi-Fi networks emitted by your router or change their settings and enable MLO for each of them. TIP: If you have several IoT devices in your home or office, here’s how to set up the Wi-Fi on your ASUS router for IoT devices. The speed and bandwidth improvements provided by Multi-Link Operation (MLO) To evaluate the bandwidth and speed improvements provided by MLO, I used an ASUS RT-BE92U - one of the best Wi-Fi 7 routers I’ve tested so far. I ran my tests in an apartment set up like the diagram below. I’ve placed the ASUS RT-BE92U in a central position to provide good coverage in as large an area as possible. The apartment where I tested ASUS RT-BE92U For my measurements, I first used a desktop PC with an ASUS ProArt X870E-CREATOR WIFI motherboard that has Wi-Fi 7 connectivity. This computer was placed in the same room as the router, and when connecting to the MLO-enabled Wi-Fi, Windows 11 reported an aggregated link speed of 6453 Mbps. That’s because my PC connected to the Wi-Fi simultaneously through the 2.4 GHz and 6 GHz bands. As a result, I had a 12% improvement in link speed compared to using only the 6 GHz band, and a 124% improvement compared to using only the 5 GHz band. Comparing the Aggregated link speed Next, I took my ASUS Zenbook S 16 laptop and made a few measurements in the following rooms: Main room - I record the maximum speeds when no walls absorb the wireless signal, in the room where the router is placed. Room 1 - is separated by one wall from the router, so the wireless signal and the Wi-Fi speed I get is a bit lower. Room 2 - is separated from the router by two walls. Furthermore, the wall between Room 1 and Room 2 is twice as thick as the wall between the Main room and Room 1. As a result, Room 2 can be a difficult challenge for many routers. I have an internet connection that offers a maximum download speed of 1 Gbps (typically, around 900 Mbps) and an upload speed that ranges from 600 to 800 Mbps. First, I ran SpeedTest to measure my internet connection speed while using Wi-Fi on the 2.4 GHz band, 5 GHz, 6 GHz, and when connecting to the MLO-enabled Wi-Fi. As you can see, the highest download speed was reached when using MLO in the room where the router is located and in Room 2, which is the furthest from the router. The download speed measured by SpeedTest MLO offered improvements for the upload speed everywhere in my apartment. However, they were significant in the room furthest from the router, which is great news for people who want better speeds over a wider area. The upload speed measured by SpeedTest For the next set of measurements, I used the PassMark Performance Test to transfer data between the laptop I mentioned earlier, which was connected via Wi-Fi, and the PC that was linked to the router through an Ethernet cable using a 2.5 Gbps Ethernet connection. The download speed was higher when using MLO, both in the room where the router was placed and in the room farthest away from the router. In Room 2, I observed an improvement of 17% when using MLO, compared to the 5 GHz band, and of 404% compared to the 2.4 GHz band. The download speed measured by PassMark Performance Test When measuring the upload speed, MLO delivered faster transfers than the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands only in Room 2. The upload speed measured by PassMark Performance Test As you can see, while MLO provides additional bandwidth, it can also sometimes provide significant speed improvements. However, the most important advantage of MLO lies in its ability to provide more reliable connections and lower latency. A Wi-Fi 7 router like the ASUS RT-BE92U can intelligently switch the bands used by each connected device to optimize the utilization of your internet bandwidth. When one band becomes congested, some devices are automatically switched to another band, ensuring an improved Wi-Fi experience. As a result, the benefits of MLO become more apparent when multiple devices are connected simultaneously. What do you think about MLO? Did you enable it on your ASUS router? Now that you\'ve grasped the step-by-step process of enabling Multi-Link Operation (MLO) on any extendable ASUS router or ZenWiFi system with Wi-Fi 7, I’m eager to hear your insights. Having witnessed the speed enhancements I measured on my particular router, I’m curious: Do you find the concept of MLO intriguing? Have you taken the plunge and activated this feature on your ASUS router? I invite you to share your thoughts and experiences using the comments below.
