What is HBS (High Band Simultaneous) Multi-Link?

HBS (High Band Simultaneous) Multi-Link Technology from Qualcomm is a Wi-Fi 7 feature that leverages two Wi-Fi radios simultaneously for four streams of high band connectivity in 5 GHz and/or 6 GHz bands. HBS Multi-Link enables minimized latency and interference, jitter-free connections, and blazing-fast speeds for Wi-Fi 7.

Experiencing the full potential of Wi-Fi 7 requires utilizing the 6 GHz spectrum made available for it using 320 MHz channels for peak performance. However, if 320 MHz channels are unavailable due to congestion or inaccessible in certain regions because the 6 GHz spectrum itself is not yet available or for any other reason, then Wi-Fi 7 would perform at par with Wi-Fi 6. 

In such scenarios, Wi-Fi 7’s HBS Multi-Link feature uses two radios to combine two 160 MHz channels of the 6 GHz band to provide 320 MHz channel performance, or one 160 MHz and one 80 MHz channel of 5 GHz band to produce 240 MHz channel performance. The 160+160 MHz HBS Multi-Link can deliver 5 Gbps of over-the-air throughput by aggregating those two 160 MHz channels - which is over twice the performance of Wi-Fi 6/6E - in regions where the 6 GHz spectrum is available but inaccessible due to congestion. In regions where the 6 GHz spectrum is not available yet, the 160 + 80 MHz HBS Multi-Link aggregation still provides speeds of up to 50 percent faster than Wi-Fi 6/6E.

HBS Multi-Link enables the next-generation performance required for most advanced use cases in XR, Metaverse, cloud-based gaming, 8K video streaming, video conferencing, etc. This essential Wi-Fi 7 feature is currently available only in Qualcomm’s FastConnect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System.