AVM Fritz!Box 7590
A complete one-box comms station
There are routers, and then there are ‘supervector’ routers.
AVM’s new flagship brings the latest ‘Wave 2’ MU-MIMO version of the 802.11ac standard, supports ADSL/VDSL broadband connections, has USB for drive sharing, features guest network support for guests or company visitors, and even supports ISDN, analogue phone connections and IP phones, too. It’s probably better to think of it as a home or small office solution.
The appeal of the phone support is that you can use the Fritz!Box 7590 as a DECT base station for up to six handsets. You can then set rules on incoming calls, collect voicemails, or divert calls – like a corporate-level telephone system – and it’ll store your contacts as well. There’s fax support, too.
Everything is controlled from an easy-to-use browserbased interface, although the router management is also accessible via the AVM iOS app, even if you’re not on your own network. And if you have the app and use the Fritz!Box 7590 for phone calls, you can retrieve your voicemails from anywhere. The router even supports 35b supervectoring for faster broadband data reception (not yet supported by UK ISPs). The future possibility of this isn’t enough to plump for the router alone, but the phone support might be. Otherwise, go for a less expensive 802.11ac router that offers similar features.
£250 FROM AVM, avm.de FEATURES 4x4 802.11ac Wave 2 Wi-Fi, 2x USB 3,0, 4x Gigabit Ethernet, 1x WAN Ethernet, DECT base station, DSL/VDSL support