ASUS has been building reliable networking hardware for years, but the ZenWiFi BT6 is their first serious attempt at making WiFi 7 practical for home use. The tri-band design uses the 6 GHz band to handle the heavy lifting, with a dedicated 5 GHz backhaul that keeps your devices from fighting for bandwidth. It works as a router, an AiMesh node, or an access point, which gives you flexibility if you already have a wired network in place.

In real use, the BT6 handles a household of 20+ connected devices without breaking a sweat. The 6 GHz speeds hit up to 8.6 Gbps on paper, but in practice you’ll see consistent gigabit-plus throughput within 50 feet. The 2.4 GHz band still caps at 688 Mbps, which is fine for smart home gadgets that don’t need speed. AiProtection runs on the router itself, blocking known malicious sites and scanning for intrusions without slowing down your connection.

The single-pack covers about 2,200 square feet, so larger homes will need a second unit. Setup through the ASUS app takes about 10 minutes, and the interface is straightforward. VPN support is built in, which is rare at this price point. The only real downside is the lack of a dedicated 6 GHz backhaul if you add more nodes, but the tri-band design handles that limitation better than most competitors.