Charter Communications has started deploying advanced routers that are compatible with WiFi 7, designed to provide better connectivity and greater speeds with lower latency to the company’s residential and enterprise Spectrum Internet customers.

The deployment marks the first time a major broadband Internet service provider (ISP) has offered routers compatible with the WiFi 7 standard to its customers, a Charter spokesperson said in a statement this week.

“With the introduction of our WiFi 7 routers, Spectrum continues to lead the way in bringing cutting-edge technology to our customers,” said Danny Bowman, the EVP of Product at Charter. “These new routers are designed to support the ever-increasing number of connected devices in homes and businesses, delivering faster speeds, lower latency, and greater capacity to handle the most demanding digital activities. Additionally, WiFi 7’s ability to support multi-gigabit speeds ensures our routers will be ready for future Spectrum innovation.””

WiFi 7 connects to computers, tablets and other devices using additional spectrum in the 6 Gigahertz (GHz) radio band — which is also utilized by WiFi 6E. However, WiFi 7 compatible devices are able to utilize other radio bands, including 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, simultaneously, which allows for faster data transfer, even lower latency and better range compared to WiFi 6E and older standards.

Spectrum’s WiFi 7 routers also include integrated cloud-based security called Security Shield, a feature called Speed Boost that delivers speeds up to 1 Gigabits per second (Gbps) to Spectrum Mobile devices, and managed wireless network tools.

The first batch of Spectrum’s WiFi 7 routers will be delivered to new residential and small business customers who sign up for 1 Gbps or faster speeds, and some customers in North Carolina already have their hands on the devices. Other Spectrum Internet customers will get the new routers based on availability, the company said.