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 destroyer—streaming video—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, consoles—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 server—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 data—both uploads and downloads—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 efficiency—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 Rapture 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 so check out the “contests in progress” page for more great contests to enter.
Brad Moon
Brad Moon
Editor Computing solutions
I’m a long-time electronics and gadget geek who’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. I’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

  1. I have all the consoles, 3 computers, 2 Laptops, and everyone has a phone. The main bandwidth hogger though is the Plex Server I have setup for the family that has digital copies of the 4K movies we own and sometimes you can have 2 people in the house streaming 4K while everything else WiFi related is still happening. Right now I have the Asus ROG Rapture 5300 the 11000 would be a very nice upgrade.

  2. I’ve got a slew of SmartHome devices, let alone the laptops, computers, tablets, and phones that all have multiple tabs open running anything from YouTube to compiling code. Not to mention my tv/Chromecast running Netflix all hours of the day.
    Plus, I’ve got to get something set up for Google Stadia!

  3. My Android TV could use all the bandwidth it can handle. 4K video is pretty huge. Thanks for the opportunity, Best Buy!

  6. I would be using it with me and my wife’s wifi 6 Samsung s10 and for streaming 4k Netflix. I have lots of streaming issues and not enough ports on my modem to handle all my devices in the house. always buffering on Netflix upstairs.

  7. This would be great to carry the load when working from home. Especially my wife who is a teacher and constantly has multiple tabs open on the browser to get new content to teach.

    Any of these 2 should be able to carry the load and ask for more.

  8. I stream a lot plus play a fair amount of fps games on my rog laptop. A sexy new router will help reduce my latency and ensure I win the melee lottery on bfv

  10. I’d say my desktop is the biggest hog in the house. It serves as the ‘main TV’ with streaming TV from bell (use the online streaming instead of a top box), but also Netflix, Plex, YouTube, and at times video calls to family members, and with 4k content, my connection struggles forcing me to dumb things down.
    With a growing number of smart devices, as well as other media devices throughout the house, it’s easy to say our router gets very little rest in a 24 hour period (yes, even overnight as I compile images for work and transfer it as we sleep).

  11. In my home, I have quite a few wireless devices, my biggest hog on WiFi is my Nvidia Shield TV, being physically disabled I stream alot from morning to evening, mainly IPTV and VOD, and YouTube.

    Having this Asus Router would benefit me a great deal, especially my nest video doorbell.

    Thank you for this opportunity.

  12. Gaming. I do a lot of gaming and video editing. Streaming it to my 4k tv is the best way for me to see the true finished project. I also do a lot of gaming and a super faster router like this would make sure I win more and lose out less from lag.

  13. I would say PS4 game updates and their big size files be hogging our bandwidth. That ASUS rapture looks amazing would love to win that one.

  16. Probably tv box, everytime I add a new smart home device lagging seems to get worse and worse

  18. All my devices i have about 15 devices connected at a time. Including a teen that is always playing games

  20. my laptop lol Usually i have about 15 tabs open at once and i’m running all sorts of pages
    I would love this so that they would all load faster

  22. I’ve got over 20 WiFi devices on my network with just under 10 of them streaming video (Nest cameras, Chromecasts, Pixel phones, an iPad, a Shield TV and a very decent Gaming computer). With recent telecom services installing multiple 5Ghz APs per home, a premium router isn’t something to skimp on. One of these would really take my smart home to the next level!

  23. Accessing a nas stotage unit from laptops with wifi can and have to get better

    The nas is on a managed switch with link aggragation so need to maximize client connections

  25. Neyflix and streaming video along with gaming are using up all the bandwidth in my house. Along with all the smart devices, I’m getting swamped.

  29. My kids namely… The most bandwidth hungry “applications” that exist. They came after the advent of the internet and don’t know the days of metered internet connections. They’re able to single handedly bring my network to it’s knees with multiple streams of YouTube kids which they leave running unattended and unwatched for hours on end. I need a router able to handle the rigorous workout my family is able to put it through. The Asus AX line looks like the first one that can actually deliver.

  30. My Xbox One will definitely benefit the most from a new ASUS router in my home. Specifically, Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass use up most of the bandwidth.

  33. Hi… the kids Netflix, and VoIP, and YouTube, they all use bandwidth…. would love a new asus router…

  37. My webserver with a PHP video player running content off my sperate wd cloud storage drive. Really kills the network transfering content to the webserver then out to the internet.

    Gaming? Wut forget about it when a lot of videos are in use.

  38. Omg this would be amazing to have since we have 10 household devices connected at all times plus the neighborhood kids devices as our boy seems to bring everyone over to play his PS4 lol

  39. I’m about to bring wifi into my workshop from the house and the current router is already struggling with Netflix, two laptops and two phones. I’m about to push it past its limits with the shop having another laptop, another screen for Netflix and a music streaming service .

  42. Video streaming sucks. It probably doesn’t help what with all the wifi smart home devices I have – 25 at last count, but more to be installed. I could really use a new
    high speed router!

  46. GeForce NOW gaming on my Nvidia Shield needs all the reliable bandwidth it can get. I wonder how much Google Stadia may need.

  48. At this moment, it’s video streaming that’s hogging all the bandwidth; simultaneously too, I might add

  49. The wireless devices in our home are starting to add up, and our very old router cannot keep up with them sometimes. Dropped signals are a problem. This new Asus router should solve all that.

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