Don’t buy a router until you read this: making the case for ASUS extendable routers

My family and I are in a bit of an unusual internet usage situation. We live somewhere extremely rural—dirt roads going between mountains covered in hundreds of acres of nothing but trees levels of rural—but we have somehow managed to luck our way into having reliable, fast broadband internet connectivity despite our relative isolation out here in the woods. High speed access means little, however, if my router can not provide the coverage I need to move around my home and property.

I work from home as a writer, but I also enjoy hobby-farming and gardening so I’m frequently outside. Cell phone service isn’t even a thing out here in the mountains, and so I rely heavily on my home WiFi network to keep in touch both in my home and out on my farm. For far too long I had to worry about missing an important message from family or a work call if I strayed too far from my home router, but an extendable network of routers ended up being the solution to my need for sprawling connectivity.

What is an extendable router?

To make a long answer short, an extendable network is a series of routers scattered throughout your home (or in my case, the farm!) that provide a wider array of WiFi coverage than a standalone router can. The traditional method of dealing with the need for extended WiFi coverage involved using a regular router paired with one or more WiFi extenders. These extenders came with a downfall, however, as they required your device to disconnect from one router or extender in order to connect with another. In today’s world of FaceTime, content streaming and remote work that kind of disruption isn’t really acceptable anymore.

New extendable routers allow for a more seamless WiFi network capable of covering your home and property fully. Should the need arise for your network to go beyond what it currently does you can simply add another extendable router unit and enjoy additional coverage. These routers are capable of working in tandem to determine which one is going to give your connected devices the best signal without requiring you to disconnect and reconnect or disrupting your usage in any way. In my case, for example, we were able to add an extendable router to our network when my partner added a workshop to our property and further grow our network’s coverage so that we could remain in contact even when we were away from our main router.

ASUS makes it easy to extend and protect your network 

I can hear you now — home networking sounds complicated. There’s routers and wires and set up and devices and so on and so forth. It doesn’t have to be, though. ASUS uses AiMesh technology with compatible wireless routers that make it easy to connect them to additional compatible routers, allowing you to further extend your network as you see fit with no hassle. Coupled with the ASUS Router app on your smartphone, setup can be easy and breezy.

Not only is it easy to link your AiMesh compatible routers, it's also easy to keep them safe and secure on the web. The ASUS Router app allows you to monitor the traffic on your home network and to optimize your network so that high bandwidth devices like gaming consoles and computers are prioritized further ensuring that every user on your network is getting the best connection possible for their needs. ASUS AiProtection further shields your home network by detecting and blocking malicious sites, isolating infected devices, and locking up your data to keep things secure even when you’re away from home.

Parental controls are also a must have for good home network management, and ASUS makes keeping an eye on your kids’ online activity simple. The need for parental controls are as unique as the children you’re monitoring, and ASUS’s suite of options allow you to customize settings for each connected device so that you can monitor online behavior and set reasonable limitations.

Choosing an ASUS router for your needs

It may seem easy to scoff at the idea of an extendable network if you don’t see an immediate need for one, but you never really know how life will play out nor where you will end up. If you had told me 10 years ago that one day I’d be sitting by a creek surrounded by chickens while hammering away at a keyboard all day for an internet-based job I probably would have laughed, too. Circumstances are ever evolving, though, and you never know when you’re going to find yourself in a predicament where you need to change with it. If it's your network coverage that is changing — like if you were to move to a bigger home or finish your basement out into a top tier gaming lounge — you could find yourself grateful down the road for going with an extendable router now. There’s no need to replace your network when these situations arise as you can just grow it, instead.

If you’ve used an ASUS router within the last few years, it's entirely likely your existing network is AiMesh compatible and can be easily extended with another compatible router. If not, however, ASUS has an impressive range of routers that can be used to grow your home network and give you the coverage and protection you need.

ASUS’s specialized family of routers can help you create an extendable network no matter what your use case scenario may look like. The gamers in your household are sure to appreciate the ASUS ROG line of extendable gaming routers which feature triple-level game acceleration to optimize traffic, therefore reducing lag and latency for better connectivity. 

Even mobile gamers benefit when they pick up one of the ASUS ROG or TUF lines of gaming routers.  ASUS gaming routers feature a unique Mobile Game Mode that can be activated with a simple click in the Router app. With Mobile Game Mode turned on, competitive online gamers can enjoy less lag and improved latency when playing on a smartphone or a handheld device. You can even move seamlessly between routers around your home without any unnecessary interruptions keeping you in the game without sacrificing your win streak. 

That same one-click ease of use also applies to other ASUS products, allowing small business owners and advanced users alike to enjoy steady, reliable network connectivity and a host of protective software including VPN support.

Your network needs may change, but with an extendable network powered by ASUS that doesn’t mean your router needs to.