Glossary
MU-MIMO
Multi-User Multiple-Input Multiple-Output — a Wi-Fi feature that lets a router serve several clients on the same channel simultaneously instead of round-robin, improving aggregate throughput.
Traditional Wi-Fi (SU-MIMO) talks to one client at a time, even on a many-antenna router. MU-MIMO uses beamforming to send distinct streams to multiple clients in parallel.
Generations
- Wi-Fi 5 (Wave 2) introduced 4×4 downlink MU-MIMO.
- Wi-Fi 6 added uplink MU-MIMO and OFDMA (better for many small packets — IoT, video calls).
- Wi-Fi 7 widens the matrices and adds tighter coordination.
What it changes in practice
- Houses with 10+ active wireless devices see noticeably better simultaneous throughput.
- Single-user, single-device benchmarks rarely show MU-MIMO benefits — testing requires multiple loaded clients.
What's required
Both router and client must support MU-MIMO. Most Wi-Fi 6/6E/7 hardware does; older Wi-Fi 5 devices may not.
Where this matters
Categories that use mu-mimo
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