German manufacturer targets smart homes with FRITZ!Box 7-90

Never judge a router by its name. While the full name of the FRITZ!Box DSL/Fiber 7-90 is such a mouthful that it makes traditional tongue twisters look tame, this cleverly designed router provides everything that a demanding smart home user could wish for.

While I criticise the name, the German manufacturer says it “follows a clear logic: first the connection type (Fiber, DSL, Cable, Mobile, WAN), then a combination of numbers that reflects the WLAN generation and the series”.

So, “7” because it’s Wi-Fi 7 and 90 because it sits at the top of the range (presumably).

FRITZ!Box 7-90: core appeal

The first thing to like about the FRITZ!Box 7-90 is its design. Farewell the wavy styling of previous FRITZ!Box routers, welcome to a modern and clean shape fit for a show home. You can slot it into a bookshelf or mount it – and Fritz! sensibly places the drill holes in the same position as previous models.

There are 11 antennas inside, so it should be no surprise that this router supports triple-band Wi-Fi. While cheaper Wi-Fi routers stick to 2.4GHz and 5GHz radios, this one also supports 6GHz.

That provides a total bandwidth of 12.2Gbits/sec in theory, with almost half of that coming from the 6GHz channel. And if you need any reminding that 2.4GHz is slow, consider that 5,760Mbits/sec comes from the 5GHz channel (4 x 4 MIMO) while a mere 688Mbits/sec is offered via the 2GHz channel.

Dual connections and extra features

The final big feature to discuss is support for both DSL and fibre optic connections (up to 1Gbit/sec for AON, 2.5Gbits/sec for GPON). However, to take advantage your ISP must allow you to connect direct to fibre – and this varies by country. For instance, in the UK no domestic ISP allows this. The good news for Zen Internet customers is that the company does supply Fritz!Box routers, so at some point you may benefit from a Fritz!Box DSL/Fiber 7-90 router.

Here’s the final bunch of features to note:

• Support for DECT and IP/SIP telephony
• Mesh Wi-Fi support
• Zigbee radio for smart home devices
• One 2.5GbE LAN port and one 2.5GbE WAN/LAN combo port
• Two 1GbE ports
• FRITZ!OS with VPN, parental controls, media server, FRITZ!NAS, Wi-Fi guest access

Importance of security

During the event announcing the FRITZ!Box 7-90 Fritz CEO Jan Oetjen revealed that while Chinese-made routers had been hit by around 100 serious vulnerabilities, even before Mythos, the Fritz!Boxes were trouble-free. Even on the rare occasion that vulnerabilities were found, they were trivial.

The bad news for any security-conscious customers looking to buy the FRITZ!Box 7-90 is that we don’t yet have a price for the router. But, as this is a top-end model, we expect that price to be high. It’s due to launch at the end of the year.