In the next few blog posts, we will explore the Wi‑Fi 7 MLO capabilities of several common Wi‑Fi 7 client devices. To begin, this post focuses on the Google Pixel 8, which introduced Wi‑Fi 7 support to the Pixel lineup.

In our previous video, we looked at the different MLO modes and explained that most clients operate in single‑radio modes (MLSR or eMLSR). Higher‑end clients, however, can use multi‑radio operation (MLMR‑STR). Typically, most clients combine either 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz or 2.4 GHz + 6 GHz, while only a limited number of devices can operate using 5 GHz + 6 GHz simultaneously.

So the question is: which MLO mode can the Google Pixel 8 actually use? When my SSID is configured with all three bands (2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and 6 GHz), I noticed that the Pixel 8 most often establishes an MLMR‑STR connection using the 2.4 GHz + 5 GHz bands. Occasionally, it also connects using 2.4 GHz + 6 GHz, but this happens less frequently. Here is the PCAP took during this demonstration.

Since we don’t want our critical SSIDs operating on the 2.4 GHz band, I disabled 2.4 GHz for this SSID. As a result, the Pixel 8 began establishing its MLO connection in eMLSR mode.

Interestingly, I noticed that it even switched to MLMR‑STR mode across the 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands, which was great to see.

Here is the video talking about PCAP details which talks about Pixel 8 MLO operation capabilities. Here are the captures took during testing of the following video.

In conclution, it appears Google Pixel 8 support both MLMR-STR (mostly 2.4GHz & 5GHz or 6GHz, it also do it 5GHz and 6GHz when SSID is dual band) and eMLSR mode of operation. It is not very clear conditions that make these operations.

I would like to hear if you observing different behaviour with Google Pixel client.