CES 2017: Asus HiveSpot, HiveDot Mesh Wi-Fi Routers Launched

After Linksys, Asus has now announced its own set of mesh wireless routers, namely HiveSpot and HiveDot, at CES 2017. Among the newly-launched devices, HiveSpot is a tri-band AC2134 router and more capable out of the two while HiveDot is a dual-band AC1300 router with comparatively lower speeds. These mesh wireless routers can essentially be used to ensure that there is no signal-loss in any part of your home or office.

At least three nodes of either HiveSpot or HiveDot (up to five nodes are possible) are required for a system to be set up and any one of the nodes can be configured to be the router device and connected to your Gigabit LAN port, while the others are slave nodes. In case users already have a router, they can opt to connect the master device to the existing router.

The HiveSpot mesh wireless router comes with seven smart antennas and apart from 802.11ac 5GHz and 2.4GHz networks, it features a third 5GHz band that provides an 867Mbps connection between its nodes.

The new mesh wireless routers from Asus make use of company's "AiRadar" beamforming tech to direct wireless signals towards devices using them. Each system is capable of supporting up to five separate nodes but has not made it clear if users can use a combination of HiveSpot and HiveDot nodes for their setup. The company has not announced the pricing of the routers.

Setting up and installation of the routers can be done through the Asus Hive mobile app. Further, there is a 'Smart Family Insights' feature that provides parental controls for monitoring and restricting web access.

Earlier this week, Linksys announced its Velop mesh Wi-Fi modules that are shaped like tower with introductory prices of a single module at $200 (about Rs. 13,600). The packs of two and three have been priced at $350 and $500 (about Rs. 23,850 and Rs. 34,000) respectively by the company.

Disclosure: CES travel and accommodation for a Gadgets 360 correspondent were sponsored by Asus.