The ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 gaming router opens the Wi-Fi 6E frontier

Articles: NETWORKING
Sep 02, 2020 Written by:Chris_Barr

Say hello to the world’s first Wi-Fi 6E gaming router: the ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000. This ultra-powerful, cutting-edge router is the world’s first to grant access to new and potentially game-changing 6GHz spectrum. 

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A new spectrum for wireless supremacy

Wi-Fi connectivity is a battleground where devices compete for signal in an increasingly crowded airspace. Until now, these wireless wars were waged solely in the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. The 2.4GHz band offers the best range and wide compatibility, but it’s an extremely crowded space where interference can hinder its already limited performance. 

The 5GHz band is less crowded and offers higher performance, but it too has a trade-off. It has less range, and there’s not as much of it to go around—only six 80MHz channels or two 160MHz channels. That’s a limitation for the number of devices on a network that can simultaneously use wider channel widths to achieve high transfer rates.

The 5GHz band also has another drawback with further-reaching consequences. 5GHz Wi-Fi can interfere with other important signals in the 5GHz airspace such as weather radars, necessitating the use of a protocol called Dynamic Frequency Selection to prevent interference. This requirement can limit the usage of certain channels in certain regions, further constraining available bands.

Since the current Wi-Fi bands are already so crowded, some regulators, like the United States Federal Communications Commission, have already granted access to a new 6GHz band for use with Wi-Fi 6. This new spectrum, referred to as Wi-Fi 6E, unlocks 14 80MHz channels or 7 160MHz channels for compatible devices—a huge allocation of new airspace.

The Wi-Fi 6 protocol already allowed compatible devices and routers to deliver more equitable and lower-latency access to existing bandwidth on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Wi-Fi 6E takes those same benefits and applies them to the much less crowded 6GHz band, making much more room for compatible devices to connect and enjoy high performance. 

As more and more gamers use Wi-Fi to connect to their games through laptops, phones, and consoles, access to high-performance and low-latency wireless signals will only become more important with time. And since the 6GHz band will only be available to Wi-Fi 6E clients, gamers can be sure they’re sharing the airspace with other devices that can work together for better performance using the features of the Wi-Fi 6 protocol.

Dominate wirelessly with the ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000

The Republic of Gamers has a long history of delivering leading wireless routers for demanding gamers, and our products are loved by enthusiasts the world over. The performance potential and broad airspace of Wi-Fi 6E excites us, and we want to give gamers access to this new spectrum as soon as possible. After all, this uncharted territory has tons of untapped potential and doesn’t compete with existing wireless devices. It’s an especially appealing frontier to conquer.

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The first step in rolling out access to the new 6GHz spectrum starts with the heart of your network: the router. The ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 is the first of its kind in the world to transmit wireless signals on the untapped 6GHz Wi-Fi spectrum, allowing it to deliver the fastest and lowest-latency signals around.

There is one caveat: you will need a client device with a compatible Wi-Fi 6E radio to tap into the 6GHz airspace, as older adapters aren’t ready for this spectrum. As more and more Wi-Fi 6E devices become available, however, you’ll want the Rapture GT-AXE11000 at the center of your network to enjoy full performance from day one. 

The GT-AXE11000 doesn’t just take advantage of the new 6GHz spectrum to increase speeds and lower your latency wirelessly. We went all-out to make the most of the available bandwidth and cutting-edge connections from ISPs and client PCs. That focus on speed starts at the GameFirst 2.5G Ethernet port. It’ll deliver maximum performance to compatible wired devices like our 2.5 GbE-equipped motherboards, and the router’s GameBoost QoS will give traffic from this port top priority to avoid delays behind packets from other clients. Additionally, you can connect bandwidth-heavy devices like network-attached storage appliances to this port to enable the fastest access possible over Wi-Fi 6E.

For those that will go to extraordinary lengths for maximum bandwidth, we include 2 WAN ports so you can aggregate multiple 1Gbps ISP connections using an IEEE 802.3ad-compatible modem to unlock the full potential of Wi-Fi 6E. The powerful 1.8GHz quad-core CPU with 64-bit support brings the computational power needed to make use of the fastest available Internet connections with many devices.

Power users can prioritize their packets using our triple-level gaming acceleration. Level 1 uses the 2.5GbE GameFirst port to ensure the highest priority for your network traffic. Level 2 uses our Game Boost firmware to prioritize gaming packets regardless of the source. And Level 3 comes from access to the Outfox Gamers Private Network (GPN), a service that lets you optimize your ping by accessing servers closest to your city or region.

Everything you need to win without wires

A Wi-Fi network is only as good as its weakest signal, which is why we’ve given the ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 AiMesh support. Using AiMesh, you can connect other compatible ASUS routers to extend range and boost performance in the far-flung corners of houses or buildings. The GT-AXE11000 will automatically monitor the signal strength of the 5GHz and 6GHz bands and choose the one that’s best suited to use as a backhaul.

The GT-AXE11000 also includes AiProtection Pro intelligence to block intruders and hostile traffic from your network using Trend Micro’s trusted security resources. And VPN Fusion lets advanced users run both a VPN and typical Internet connection at the same time so that traffic that would otherwise be slowed down by the VPN can still go out to the open Internet for maximum performance.

Dedicated buttons for Wi-Fi Protected Setup, wireless radio enable/disable, and a one-touch boost for gaming traffic make more common actions as easy as pressing a button. And no ROG product would be complete without accent lighting. An Aura RGB illuminated ROG logo adds the perfect touch to any space. You can adjust the color and lighting effects through the ASUS Router app or the web GUI to match your room’s color scheme.

The ASUS Router app gives you quick access to network monitoring and Game Mode features so you can tune your performance from your mobile device of choice—no logging into a browser-based admin interface every time you want to tweak something.

For more information on the ROG Rapture GT-AXE11000 in your region, please contact your local ASUS representative.