Asus has launched the ROG Rapture GT BN98 series, marking the official retail debut of consumer grade WiFi 8 networking hardware. The flagship router features a quad band design capable of theoretical speeds reaching 30,000 Mbps alongside dual 10 Gbps wired networking ports. Preorders are currently live on the official Asus Canada online store for 1,299.99 CAD ahead of a wider worldwide release scheduled for next month.
This early hardware launch arrives while the underlying IEEE 802.11bn wireless standard is still in draft stages, with final ratification expected in a few years. Asus is addressing regional wireless regulations by releasing 2 distinct hardware models. The North American GT BN98 Pro utilizes two 6GHz bands alongside 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands to achieve its 30,000 Mbps total throughput. International buyers in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia will receive the standard GT BN98 model, which swaps one 6GHz band for an additional 5GHz band to provide 25,000 Mbps total bandwidth.
Under the shell, the router runs on a 2.6GHz quad core processor backed by 2GB of system memory and 256MB of flash storage. Each wireless band features a 4T4R antenna configuration with 4096 QAM signal modulation to maximize data density. Physical connectivity includes 2 ethernet ports running at 10 Gbps and 4 ports operating at 2.5 Gbps, with support for 20 Gbps link aggregation for high demand wired setups.
Asus stated that current WiFi 7 devices will experience measurable speed improvements when connected to the new router. Future client hardware supporting native WiFi 8 protocols will unlock deeper performance gains through unequal modulation and non primary channel access, both of which reduce wireless interference in dense environments.
Asus also revealed the ZenWiFi BN12 tri band mesh system for large properties, which will arrive alongside the router next month. The mesh setup includes 12 data streams, 8 internal antennas, and 12 high power signal amplifiers to cover up to 7,000 square feet. It delivers 19 Gbps of total wireless capacity with dual 10 Gbps ports to maintain high speed backhaul connections across the entire home.
