ASUS ZENWIFI
WHAT’S THE IDEAL MESH F OR YOUR HOME?
The ‘home office’ is here to stay. For many, working at least partially at home will be a way of life going forward, and a strong Wi-Fi solution that lets you maintain a fast, secure connection from anywhere in the house is important. Whether you want to take your laptop outside for a meeting, upload huge, important files, download the latest games on a home PC or console while doing data-heavy work, or even just scroll your social media on your phone from a bedroom far away from the router, it can be difficult to feel fully connected when your Wi-Fi setup isn’t as strong as it could be.
ASUS’ range of ZenWiFi Mesh systems presents an ideal solution for a data-heavy home. A mesh system involves a series of strategically placed routers within your home that provide full coverage: it’s especially handy for large, multi-level homes, or if you have multiple heavy data-use devices spread between different rooms. The ZenWiFi XT8, XD6, and XD4 models each offer unique benefits, depending on your needs, and are each compatible and compliant with Wi-Fi 6, the latest standard in wireless internet. The big advantage of Wi-Fi 6 is that it allows for many more simultaneous devices to connect than previous iterations: extremely useful as our homes become increasingly ‘smart’. Thanks to Wi-Fi 6, congestion and signal interference can be a thing of the past. ASUS’ ZenWiFi mesh systems also support other advanced features, such as two-way OFDMA (which reduces latency for a more responsive Wi-Fi experience communicating with multiple clients.) and MU-MIMO (which allows each antenna stream to communicate with different clients at the same time) as well.
The ideal choice of equipment varies between different environment and application the MESH setup needs to serve. For instances, you may want to have 4x4 stream over 5GHz band such as the ZenWiFi XD6 in traffic intensive environment to service these demanding clients without delay. If you desire for the absolute top performance without wired backhaul (link between nodes), tri-band MESH setup such as the ZenWiFi XT8 is the way to go. ASUS ZenWiFi is designed to cater different environment and applications in needs.
DITCH THE WIRES
Tri-band solutions such as the ZenWiFi XT8 are most ideal for environments without the luxury to run cables between each node, whether for practical or aesthetic reasons. Thanks to its dedicated 4x4 stream wireless backhaul, traffic gets to travel between nodes without delay. The connection speed on satellite units is mostly the same as those to the main router. You won’t suffer a loss in speed even when you’re connected to the node serving the wireless communication at the other end of the house. It’s also equipped with a USB 3.1 GEN1 port,
meaning it’s the one you should get if you would like to access features such as 4G/LTE backup. Even in an entirely wired ethernet backhaul setup with heavy data use across multiple devices in the same room – in a shared office, for example – this system has a key advantage. Both 5GHz bands can be made available, meaning that you have access to more of the 5GHz spectrum, allowing even more devices to be connected at once. The XT8 is a great choice whether the nodes work with or without cable between them.
If this doesn’t describe your home environment, the ZenWiFi XD6 could be a better fit for you. If your most traffic-intensive tasks are going to be performed closest to the main unit rather than the satellites, then the XD6 gives you the advantage of opening up four streams 5GHz for devices, compared to two in the XT8. This means that you’ll see better performance when working near the main router: ideal for homes where the router is set up in a data-heavy workspace. If you need 160MHz bandwidth support in either a fully wireless or ethernet environment, the XD6 also has you covered. This lets you tap into higher speeds across low channels, which is excellent when you really need the best speeds possible for the device you’re working on. The XD6 is ideal for a network that is partly wired and partly wireless too, with some more flexible options depending on your setup.
The ZenWiFi XD4 is a great option for a less intensive home environment that isn’t quite as data heavy. If you’re working with an NBN speed below 250Mbps, for instance, and don’t require too much local transmission, and not needing to go through multiple nodes to reach the primary node (main router), this will make a good starting point to prevent loss of speed further from the hub. If you have an Ethernet connection but do not require 160MHz bandwidth, or are running fewer than 20 devices on each node at the same time, then this could be the mesh solution for you. While not as intensive as the other two models, the ZenWiFi XD4 still has many of ASUS’ high-quality features, including AI Protection Classic (which is available in the other models), auto-sync support, and full access to WiFi 6 features and benefits.
SIMPLE TO SET UP
Whichever system you choose, you can also rest easy knowing that the set-up process is extremely straightforward. It’s a simple three-step process: turn your new ZenWiFi on, create a new WiFi network name and admin account, and wait a few minutes for the system to start working its magic. This one-time setup auto-syncs across every hub in the package, meaning that you need almost no tech knowledge to set it up and dramatically improve your wireless internet. Each unit can work as either the main router or an extended node, giving you a lot of flexibility over your layout. The ZenWifi range is also compatible with numerous other compliant AiMesh routers, including ASUS gaming routers.
If you’re looking to improve your work-from-home set-up and handle data-heavy workloads with ease, an ASUS ZenWifi Wi-Fi 6 MESH system will give you a wider coverage and more flexible, more secure, faster home Internet environment. Wi-Fi 6 MESH setups are ideal for handling multiple data-heavy tasks at once, so you can stream HD media and download the latest games without worrying about the speed of your uploads or the possibility of a laggy Zoom call. For many people, secure home internet is becoming more and more of a necessity: with ASUS ZenWifi, you can rest easy knowing that your needs will be met.