HomeNetworkingGuidesUpgrade your home network in time for the holidays

Upgrade your home network in time for the holidays

When family and friends are visiting for the holiday season, the last thing you need is a failing, outdated wireless router. Older units weren’t as well-equipped for handling the bandwidth needs for all the devices that we have in modern homes, let alone the additional tech that folks will bring along with them to your holiday celebrations. But it’s not just increased transfer speeds and bandwidth that you’ll get with a home router upgrade. Modern ASUS routers have an advanced feature set that goes above and beyond, letting you easily set up a guest network for visiting loved ones, prioritize traffic for your most important devices, and more.

Ready to find your perfect router? We have what you need with our wide family of gaming routers, mesh routers, and extendable routers. Whether you’re looking for a next-gen WiFi 7 upgrade, a whole-home mesh WiFi system, or an all-around excellent upgrade with enough future-proofing to last you years, we’ll help you find what you’re looking for.

The best wireless routers for gamers

Rock-solid networking is too important for gamers to ignore. If you’re still struggling with dropped connections, slowdowns, or dead zones, it’s time to reassess your networking equipment and consider an upgrade to one of the best gaming routers. The good news is that you’re spoiled for options in 2024. Our latest routers feature cutting-edge WiFi 7 tech, and it’s available across a wide range of models so that everyone from networking enthusiasts to PC gaming newcomers can take advantage of the next-gen speeds and features. Mesh WiFi systems and across-the-series support for AiMesh make it easy to blanket every room in your house with high-quality coverage. And for gamers on a budget, our WiFi 6 lineup still has plenty to offer.

ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Pro router on an end table

Our favorite gaming router for larger homes with plenty of connected devices is the premium ROG Rapture GT-BE98 Pro. This router goes all-in on WiFi 7 tech, giving you not one but two 6GHz bands. That lets you allocate one 6GHz band as a dedicated wireless backhaul while leaving the second 6GHz band wide-open for your devices. It’s loaded with high-end wired networking options, including a pair of 10G Ethernet ports. Triple-level game acceleration lets you say goodbye to high ping, as this router can boost your PC gaming traffic every step of the way all the way from your PC gaming port to the game server.

A person playing games on a smartphone near the ASUS RT-AX82U mesh router

If you’re shopping during Black Friday 2024, here’s a gaming router to keep an eye on: the ASUS RT-AX82U. This price of this affordable dual-band WiFi 6 gaming router has been slashed by over $50 (USD) during this sales event. It’s stylish and loaded with gaming-first features, and it’s sure to be a drop-in upgrade for many homes. If this router meets your needs, don’t miss out on this special sales price.

In our gaming router lineup, you’ll find even more options that make sure you can get everything you need and nothing that you don’t. With options that cater to wired networking enthusiasts, folks who live in smaller apartments, and people who’d get a lot of value out of a WiFi 6 upgrade, we offer something for everyone. Click here to browse our best wireless router options for gamers in 2024.

The best mesh routers

Traditional wireless routers work well for many homes, but others require specialized hardware. If your router has to reckon with multiple stories, brick walls, an outbuilding, an attached garage, or outdoor living spaces, odds are that you’ve been dealing with dead zones. Try as you might, you can’t find a position for your standalone router that ensures great WiFi coverage for every room.

You have some options for this problem, but this one might be the most convenient: one of the best mesh routers. Our ZenWiFi mesh routers eliminate dead zones throughout your home, and they’re available in a wide range of options so you can find one that best fits your bandwidth needs, the décor of your home, and the construction of your building.

An ASUS ZenWiFi BT10 mesh router on a table in a festive room

Here’s a mesh router that we think is a great all-around choice for a wide range of homes: the ZenWiFi BT10. Even though it’s not the most advanced model in the series – that honor goes to the quad-band ZenWiFi BQ16 Pro – the ZenWiFi BT10 offers an excellent balance of features. It’s a tri-band unit that will let your compatible devices communicate over the low-interference 6GHz band. WiFi 7 tech delivers excellent networking speeds. Equipped with both a 10G WAN/LAN port and a 10G LAN port, the ZenWiFi BT10 kicks off your ambitions for a 10G smart home. And Smart Home Master gives you an easy way to create separate SSIDs for devices, like a subnetwork devoted to your kids’ devices.

ZenWiFi XT8 mesh routers on an end table in a living room

Black Friday 2024 shoppers might take a look at the ZenWiFi ET9. This WiFi 6E system offers plenty-fast networking speeds, enough bandwidth for a home full of devices, easy security, and simple parental controls. For a limited time, it’s available for 23% off MSRP, so move quickly if this mesh router has what you need.

Our mesh router lineup includes many options ranging from premium units for professionals and power users to affordable models ready for any home. Click here to browse even more options in the ASUS ZenWiFi mesh router family.

The best extendable routers

A single router in a centralized location often works fine in smaller homes and apartments, but once you start to throw multiple stories, dense building materials, additions, finished basements, outdoor patios, and attached garages into the mix, it can be hard to find one solution that provides reliable WiFi connections to every space. For these hard-to-reach rooms and spaces, many people find themselves hunting for a solution to extend their network. Repeaters or range extenders can help eliminate internet dead zones, but often with a penalty to performance and convenience. Instead, we recommend creating a mesh network with two or more extendable ASUS routers.

This is an especially attractive approach if you’re already using an ASUS extendable router. The key tech that your routers will need to communicate with each other is AiMesh. Since we’ve been integrating AiMesh into most of our routers for many years, the odds are quite good that your existing ASUS router is ready to be part of your new mesh network.

The ASUS RT-BE58U router on a desk in an office

An easy router to recommend for this scenario is the ASUS RT-BE58U. We think that most people right now are best off selecting a WiFi 7 router, and this unit is one of your most affordable yet feature-rich options for getting onboard with WiFi 7. As a dual-band router, it doesn’t offer access to the 6GHz band, but it offers a welcome boost in bandwidth over comparable last-gen options. It’s ready for your multi-gig internet connection with dual 2.5G Ethernet ports, and it’s equipped with a modern feature set including Smart Home Master and AiProtection.

The ASUS RT-AX86U Pro wireless router

Black Friday 2024 shoppers ought to take a look at the ASUS RT-AX86U Pro. It’s been one of our most popular WiFi 6 options. With a 2.5G port, a dedicated gaming port, subscription-free network security, and easy integration with popular VPN services like NordVPN, it’s still a tempting option for folks who need a home network upgrade. And while it’s 26% off for Black Friday 2024, it’s an even better value than ever.

If you’re looking to learn more about how extendable routers work, or if you’d like to browse even more ASUS extendable router options, click here.

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