Fritz!Box, stylised as FRITZ!Box, is a series of

residential gateway A residential gateway is a small consumer-grade gateway which bridges network access between connected local area network (LAN) hosts to a wide area network (WAN) (such as the Internet) via a modem, or directly connects to a WAN (as in EttH), whi ...

devices produced by the German company

AVM GmbH AVM is a consumer electronics company founded in 1986 in Berlin, Germany. The company produces communications, networking devices such as DSL, ISDN, Wireless and VoIP products. It had sales of €580 million in 2020 with 840 employees. It is we ...

. In 2010 it was estimated the series had a market share of 68% of the

digital subscriber line Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric di ...

(DSL) consumer equipment in Germany.

Functionality

Typical functionality of a Fritz!Box includes: * a built-in

broadband modem In telecommunications, broadband is wide bandwidth data transmission which transports multiple signals at a wide range of frequencies and Internet traffic types, that enables messages to be sent simultaneously, used in fast internet connections. ...

: ** a

DSL modem A digital subscriber line (DSL) modem is a device used to connect a computer or router to a telephone line which provides the digital subscriber line (DSL) service for connection to the Internet, which is often called ''DSL broadband''. The m ...

(most models) ** a

cable modem A cable modem is a type of network bridge that provides bi-directional data communication via radio frequency channels on a hybrid fibre-coaxial (HFC), radio frequency over glass (RFoG) and coaxial cable infrastructure. Cable modems are primaril ...

(6xxx series) ** a 3G or

LTE LTE may refer to: Science and technology * LTE (telecommunication) (Long-Term Evolution), a telephone and mobile broadband standard ** LTE Advanced, an enhancement *** LTE Advanced Pro * Compaq LTE, a line of laptop computers produced by Compaq * ...

modem (68xx series) ** a

fibre broadband Fiber to the ''x'' (FTTX; also spelled "fibre") or fiber in the loop is a generic term for any broadband network architecture using optical fiber to provide all or part of the local loop used for last mile telecommunications. As fiber optic ...

modem (54xx series) * a built-in LAN-WAN router, usually with a

network switch A network switch (also called switching hub, bridging hub, and, by the IEEE, MAC bridge) is networking hardware that connects devices on a computer network by using packet switching to receive and forward data to the destination device. A netw ...

supporting Fast Ethernet or, in newer models,

Gigabit Ethernet In computer networking, Gigabit Ethernet (GbE or 1 GigE) is the term applied to transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second. The most popular variant, 1000BASE-T, is defined by the IEEE 802.3ab standard. It came into use i ...

* in nearly all models, a

wireless access point In computer networking, a wireless access point (WAP), or more generally just access point (AP), is a networking hardware device that allows other Wi-Fi devices to connect to a wired network. As a standalone device, the AP may have a wired co ...

: ** in the 2.4 GHz radio band, in accordance with

IEEE 802.11b IEEE 802.11b-1999 or 802.11b is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless networking specification that extends throughput up to 11 Mbit/s using the same 2.4 GHz band. A related amendment was incorporated into the IEEE 802.11-2007 standard. ...

(11 Mbit/s),

IEEE 802.11g IEEE 802.11g-2003 or 802.11g is an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 specification that operates in the 2.4 GHz microwave band. The standard has extended throughput to up to 54 Mbit/s using the same 20 MHz bandwidth as 802.11b uses to achieve 11 Mbit/ ...

(54 Mbit/s) and

IEEE 802.11n IEEE 802.11n-2009 or 802.11n is a wireless-networking standard that uses multiple antennas to increase data rates. The Wi-Fi Alliance has also retroactively labelled the technology for the standard as Wi-Fi 4. It standardized support for multiple ...

(up to 450 Mbit/s) standards ** in many newer models, also in the 5 GHz radio band, supporting the

IEEE 802.11a IEEE 802.11a-1999 or 802.11a was an amendment to the IEEE 802.11 wireless local network specifications that defined requirements for an orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) communication system. It was originally designed to support ...

(54 Mbit/s),

(54 Mbit/s—450 Mbit/s) and IEEE 802.11ac (up to 1.27 Gbit/s) standards * a PBX, particularly in the 7xxx series models: ** a built-in SIP client for internet telephony ( VoIP) ** a DECT base station to connect cordless handsets ** a SIP server to connect SIP-compliant phones or software devices ** support for physical phones (extensions) connected via ISDN and/or

analog Analog or analogue may refer to: Computing and electronics * Analog signal, in which information is encoded in a continuous variable ** Analog device, an apparatus that operates on analog signals *** Analog electronics, circuits which use analo ...

interfaces ** an answering machine and software-based fax (receiving only) * in most models since 2006, a USB port to connect external storage or printer which may also be used to connect a e.g. a 3G or 4G mobile modem * a

NAS Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

and a DLNA/

UPnP Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) is a set of networking protocols that permits networked devices, such as personal computers, printers, Internet gateways, Wi-Fi access points and mobile devices to seamlessly discover each other's presence on the n ...

compliant media server in most models with newer firmware Many Fritz!Boxes offer

wireless repeater A wireless repeater (also called wireless range extender or wifi extender) is a device that takes an existing signal from a wireless router or wireless access point and rebroadcasts it to create a second network. When two or more hosts have to ...

functionality which, in earlier firmware versions, was compatible with the IEEE 802.11-1999 standard wireless distribution system before being replaced with a proprietary system in more recent firmware versions. IPv6 support was enabled from firmware version 4.90 onwards. Fritz!Box devices operate under the control of Fritz!OS, a specialized Linux distribution, which provides a graphical web interface for user interaction.

Domestic versions

Fritz!Box devices with an integrated DSL modem come in three versions. The version for the German market uses an ISDN interface for voice. For the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

and

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

markets the voice interface use traditional

POTS Pot may refer to: Containers * Flowerpot, a container in which plants are cultivated * Pottery, ceramic ware made by potters * A type of cookware Places * Ken Jones Aerodrome, IATA airport code POT * Palestinian Occupied Territories, the We ...

and also has a German-language user interface. The international version has a multi-language web interface and provides support for POTS and usually ISDN for voice. While the international version supports both the most common ADSL Annex A POTS and ADSL Annex B ISDN, the German version offers hardware support for Annex B only, which is the sole standard used in Germany, with additional support for Annex J in newer models.

References

External links

* {{authority control Broadband Linux-based devices Networking hardware Telephony equipment