I can see the new line of routers from ASUS becoming the most desired technology of 2019. Canadians aren’t known to get overly excited about routers and home networking. So long as things keep chugging along, there’s nothing to see here. But that’s going to change this year. Smart home technology, the smartphones we all carry, tablets, PCs and streaming music services all take an increasing toll on Wi-Fi bandwidth. Gaming demands are intense and set to become far more intense with new game streaming services. Add the real bandwidth destroyerā€”streaming videoā€”and those old ac routers can begin slowing to a crawl. Get ahead of the curve and enter this contest for a chance at home networking nirvana. We are giving away two ASUS Wi-Fi 6 (also known as 802.11ax) routers: the newest and fastest router tech available.

Why? Because you are going to need it!

Slow home networks are a buffering nightmare

Even with 802.11ac routers, many people are finding their home Wi-Fi networks are inexplicably slowing. The dreading spinning buffer wheel is making a unwelcome return.

Streaming video is currently the biggest consumer of home Wi-Fi bandwidth. It’s been steadily rising as services like Netflix began offering 4K content. Just look at the progression of minimum internet connection speeds as Netflix has bumped its streaming resolution. The recommended speed for SD video is 3.0 Mbps, rising to 5.0 Mbps for HD and then 25 Mbps for Ultra HD. Just imagine what’s going to happen when 8K video starts streaming …. If your Wi-Fi router is causing buffering now, the situation is definitely not going to improve unless you replace it.

Think of all the devices in the average home that might be streaming video, sometimes simultaneously. Smartphones, tablets, computers, TVs, set-top boxes, consolesā€”the list keeps growing. Many people are adding connected video cameras to their homes for security. Then there’s voice chat for video games and streaming music services. All that streaming adds up.

ASUS Wi-Fi 6 router contest

Wi-Fi 6 routers like the pair we’re giving away from ASUS leverage Wi-Fi 6 technology for faster overall speed (or available bandwidth) than 802.11ac routers. But their biggest advantage over previous generation routers will become even more evident over the next few years: support for more connected devices.

These are U.S. numbers, but I think it’s safe to say they are representative of Canada as well. When 802.11ac Wi-Fi first arrived on the scene a typical home had five Wi-Fi connected devices. In 2018, that rose to nine connected devices. With the explosion in popularity of smart home devices, the total is predicated to hit 50 within the next few years.

The problem is that 802.11ac routers can only juggle so many simultaneously connected devices before the network starts to bog down under the demand. The new generation of Wi-Fi 6 routers employ various new technologies to communicate with more connected devices simultaneously. That means your home Wi-Fi network will be faster and more responsive, even as the number of connected devices continues to grow. If you want to learn more about the tech behind Wi-Fi 6 (and why it’s still sometimes referred to as 802.11ax), be sure to read our explainer on the topic.

New Gaming technology will need great Wi-Fi

While video gets the nod for gobbling up the most Wi-Fi bandwidth in typical homes and smart devices are a big part of the growing congestion issue, in some ways gaming can be even more demanding. Not only do online games use significant bandwidth, but speed is critical. Any lag between your gaming PC or game console and the game server can mean the difference between victory and a frustrating defeat. The key to reducing latency is your Wi-Fi router, which manages the traffic between whatever you’re gaming on and the internet-based game serverā€”along with every other Wi-Fi connected device in your home.

ASUS Wi-Fi 6 router contestVideo games also have bursts of extremely high bandwidth demand. Patches and game downloads can be hundreds of GB in size. With a router that’s struggling, those downloads can seem to take forever.

The future of gaming is increasingly online, whether that’s multi-player console and PC games, digital downloads, or what may become the most demanding of all: streaming gaming services.

Yes, streaming. We’ve had a taste of this already with services like Sony’s PlayStation Now, but streaming gaming is going to hit the mainstream in 2019 with Google’s new Stadia platform (covered here by Plug-in’s Jon Scarr). Managing 4K, 60fps action that’s hosted on Google’s web servers and played on local devices means a huge amount of dataā€”both uploads and downloadsā€”is going to be hitting your Wi-Fi router, and at a frenetic pace. This is exactly the scenario that Wi-Fi 6 is going to address.

To make the most of current, coming in 2019, and future gaming technology, you’re going to need the latest generation of routers, with Wi-Fi 6 support.

New routers from ASUS ensures your home is future friendly

Now that the benefits of Wi-Fi 6 are clear, it’s time to get to specifics. Best Buy is giving away two amazing Wi-Fi 6 routers from ASUS, both of which have been positively reviewed by Plug-in contributors.

ASUS Wi-Fi 6 router contestFirst up is the ASUS RT-AX88U Dual-Band Gigabit router. This Wi-Fi 6 router offers up to 6000Mbps of bandwidth, making it over twice the speed of most current 802.11ac routers. Besides speed, it employs the latest implementations of MU-MIMO and OFDMA technology, giving it four times the network capacity and efficiencyā€”in other words, you can connect far more devices and still enjoy faster, lower latency Wi-Fi. Gamers will appreciate the fact this router also includes adaptive QoS and built-in wtfast support, to optimize online gaming. You can read Steven Hill’s review of the router here.

Next is the mighty ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Tri-Band gaming router. If you live and breathe video games, this is the Wi-Fi 6 router you want. One of its 5GHz bands is dedicated to gaming traffic, and if you prefer to go wired there’s a wicked fast 2.5Gbps Ethernet port (in addition to Gigabit Ethernet ports). A powerful 1.8GHz quad-core CPU does the heavy lifting, and gaming traffic is automatically accelerated from the device to the game server for a superior experience. This ASUS router also offers all the big Wi-Fi 6 wins, including blistering speed (combined throughput of up to 11000Mbps) and support for four times the simultaneous connected devices. With its array of eight external antennas, the ROG Rapture can also blast that high performance Wi-Fi across even large homes. To learn more about the ROG RaptureĀ GT-AX11000, be sure to read Chris Loblaw’s review.

Both of these new routers also support ASUS AiMesh, an optional feature that can turn them into a whole-home mesh Wi-Fi network when used with a compatible ASUS router.

So how about it? If your Wi-Fi network isn’t already underperforming, odds are you’ll be cursing it before too long. Enter the contest and you could win one of these two ASUS Wi-Fi 6 routers and start enjoying the ultimate in cutting-edge Wi-Fi performance.

HOW TO ENTER

Entering is easy but you can only enter once. In a comment below this post tell us which bandwidth hogging technology in your home will benefit the most from one of the new ASUS routers. Perhaps it’s video streaming Netflix; or it might be you want to be ready when Google Stadia is available later this year!

WHAT YOU CAN WIN

At the end of this contest we will randomly select two eligible entries to receive a new ASUS router. One person will win the ASUS RT-AX88U Dual-Band Gigabit router and the other winner will get the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Tri-Band gaming router. They are both amazing prizes that will make your home network ready for 2019 and beyond.

This contest runs from March 22nd until April 8th.

You can only enter once, but you can tell your family and friends about this contest. Do you think they could benefit from faster Wi-Fi in their homes? Remember, that means you will also have a better Wi-Fi experience when you visit them …. If so, let them know so they too can enter.

Win an ASUS Wi-Fi 6 Router Contest Rules and Regulations

Good Luck!

We frequently have many contests running at Best Buy soĀ check out the “contests in progress” page for more great contests to enter.
Brad Moon
Brad Moon
Editor Computing solutions
Iā€™m a long-time electronics and gadget geek whoā€™s been fortunate enough to enjoy a career that lets me indulge this interest. I have been writing about technology for several decades for a wide range of outlets including Wired, Gizmodo, Lifehacker, MSN, About.com, Kiplinger, and GeekDad. Iā€™m in my 10th year as a senior contributor for Forbes with a focus on reviewing music-related tech, Apple gear, battery power stations and other consumer electronics. My day job is with the Malware Research Center at AI-native cybersecurity pioneer CrowdStrike.
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724 COMMENTS

  8. My wife’s usage of her tablet when she watches movies is a huge hog of bandwidth and slows everything down.

  9. iPads and smartphones and laptops; oh my!!! Its the amount of devices connected to my wifi that can cause issues.

  13. I can honestly say the biggest thing for me is that my kids are 100% 21st century, meaning they live on youtube and don’t even watch television anymore so this would help alleviate some of the congestion on my network as they stream videos CONSTANTLY! I would have to go with the ASUS ROG Rapture GT-AX11000 Tri-Band gaming router of course just need that extra bit of UMPH!

  26. would like to not be bogged down while the wife is streaming netflix and im gaming at the same time. that rapture would be most excellent

  27. We are 6 gamers in a house that plan on streaming some games, netflix, etc.
    We want to make a 6 persons big streaming setup!!! šŸ˜›

  29. When 3 people are streaming 4k Netflix at the same time on a regular basis, my router definately deserves a break as it becomes hot enough to cook food on! So yes definitely streaming 4k content.

  31. With 8 people in the home our networking is already stretched. With the kids getting into online gaming and streaming I’m going to need the best. Hope to win, but good luck to everyone.

  32. So I can take my streaming career to the next level by not having my wife and child steal my bandwidth giving me priority over them on the tv phones and tablets

  37. The bandwidth hogging right now is streaming .my 2 kids are on the tables and wife watching movies on Netflix while Iā€™m trying to play pc.

  39. I have many streaming services in my home, like Netflix, and Twitch, and because I am a high level gamer, who has the mindset of a champion, but alas is limited by under performing network equipment well IT SICKENS ME!!. That’s why when I built my new PC I went with an Asus Hero motherboard, and a ASUS 1080 ti GPU. The only roadblock in my path to constant online gaming victory is a TOP TIER Asus router that I know will get the job done, I feel that Asus and myself have the same mindset and that is, by putting an accent on excellence on everything. I know this is the best comment you got yet,

  43. Rogers broadband router just ain’t cutting it. Time for an upgrade and this would put me ahead of the curve. I mainly need video streaming for Netflix.

  44. Netflix for sure, 4K content is a beast on our new TCL but everyone in the house suffers for it currently.

  46. I will be getting a new house and I want to make sure that my gaming and Netflix streaming is top notch as I will be using quite often

  48. We need this for the combination effect around this house. Only 3 of living here, but between our video editor moving files on and off the server, the 1 or 2 screens playing Netflix, and 1 to all 3 of us gaming… Most nights all at the same time!

  50. Definitely Netflix – especially when I’m watching my show and the 8-year-old is watching movies!

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