This week, NCTA hosted We All Rely on Wi-Fi: A Connectivity Showcase, celebrating the bipartisan, bicameral Congressional Wi-Fi Caucus and the leaders advancing policies that keep Americans connected.
Bringing together Members of Congress, industry innovators, policymakers and stakeholders, the event underscored a simple but powerful truth: Wi-Fi is how Americans experience the internet — at home, at work, at school and in their communities.
As NCTA President & CEO Cory Gardner emphasized, Wi-Fi drives opportunity across the country through “the permissionless innovation that is created by Wi-Fi, the American ingenuity and opportunity created by Wi-Fi, the $2.4 trillion economic impact created by Wi-Fi [and] the 13 million jobs and opportunities created by Wi-Fi.”
A bipartisan, bicameral commitment to connectivity
The event honored the four co-chairs of the Wi-Fi Caucus: Senators Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Pete Ricketts (R-NE), and Representatives Bob Latta (R-OH) and Troy Carter (D-LA). Together, they represent a rare bipartisan and bicameral commitment to ensuring Wi-Fi continues to power innovation and opportunity nationwide.
Senator Rosen captured the urgency of that mission, emphasizing that “access to affordable, reliable, high-speed internet is no longer a luxury — it’s actually a necessity.”
Representative Carter reinforced the real-world stakes of connectivity, noting that “whether its telehealth, opportunities for distant learning, opportunities for jobs, small businesses. It’s so critically important that we stay ahead of the curve and making sure that no part of our community is left behind.” Members spoke about the importance of ensuring rural and underserved communities have access to reliable, high-performance connectivity — and the role Wi-Fi plays in bridging those gaps.
Senator Ricketts highlighted the broader competitive stakes, stressing the importance of “making sure that we are winning on the technology front with our technology of Wi Fi… in our competition against communist China,” and emphasizing that innovation and technological leadership are critical to America’s economic and national security.
Representative Latta underscored the urgency of continued action, stating, “The future is today, but we’ve got to do more, and that’s why this Caucus is so important. We want to make sure it’s [Wi-Fi] out there, and so it’s getting it across the country, and that’s one of the things we want to get better.”
Across agriculture, advanced manufacturing, telehealth, education and small business, lawmakers highlighted how Wi-Fi enables precision tools, real-time data and digital services that strengthen communities and keep the United States competitive.
Showcasing the future of Wi-Fi
The event also featured live demonstrations from Comcast, Charter and Broadcom, and Amazon’s eero — offering a hands-on look at how next-generation Wi-Fi is transforming connectivity experiences.
Broadcom and Charter demonstrated what they described as “Wi-Fi speeds of the future,” highlighting experimental next-generation technology that pairs the full 6 GHz band with an additional 125 MHz of unlicensed spectrum in the 7.125–7.25 GHz range. By leveraging this expanded spectrum, the technology enables ultra-wide channels designed to significantly boost speed, capacity and reliability — helping networks keep pace with record levels of wireless data consumption and supporting high-traffic environments such as stadiums, airports and large residential and commercial buildings.
Comcast’s demonstration, titled “Comcast Wi-Fi: Delivering Value for American Consumers Today and Tomorrow,” focused on how advanced Wi-Fi supports secure, high-performance and resilient connectivity in millions of homes. Attendees saw how innovations like Wi-Fi Motion provide whole-home awareness, how device prioritization ensures peak performance when it matters most and how next-generation gateways and extenders are engineered to support multigig speeds and an ever-growing number of connected devices.
eero, an Amazon company, showcased a lineup of Wi-Fi 7 devices available at retail, reinforcing that cutting-edge wireless technology is already accessible to consumers. The display highlighted strong demand for premium home connectivity, with eero representatives explaining how Wi-Fi 7 enhances speed, reliability and performance for today’s connected households.
As Dave Rodrian, Group Vice President of Wi-Fi and Connected Home at Charter, noted, this progress “was only possible because policymakers made a bold choice years ago… to enable unlicensed spectrum in the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands – and, more recently, in 6 GHz.” Those decisions, he said, “unlocked one of the greatest technology success stories of our time — technology that touches nearly every aspect of our daily lives.”
Looking ahead
The bipartisan, bicameral Wi-Fi Caucus arrives at a pivotal moment for America’s connectivity future.
From supporting telehealth visits in rural communities to enabling precision agriculture and powering small businesses, Wi-Fi is foundational to modern life and economic growth. By elevating the importance of Wi-Fi policy and innovation, the caucus will help ensure Congress continues to recognize the role connectivity plays in strengthening America’s competitiveness and expanding opportunity nationwide.
