AVM Fritz!Box 7390

Connections? The 7390 has a few. This is a fully fledged VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol)-enabled modem/router, with many features above the norm. One thing it doesn't have, although, is a power button, requiring you to pull the power cord to force restart it. You can even tell the first LAN port to act as a WAN port if you so desire, meaning that if one day the fabled National Broadband Network does come to your house you'll potentially be able to pull the fabled 1Gbps that should one day be available using this very box.

The two USB ports are flexible

The two USB ports are flexible by router standards, understanding storage, printers and 3G broadband sticks. It even has a "remote" feature if the router doesn't understand the device, making it act as if it's connected directly to a machine on the network. Nevertheless, you'll need to install AVM's software on the intended client computer for this to work.

DSL/telephone line in, phone 1 and 2 connections, ISDN connection, USB port, 4x gigabit Ethernet ports and power socket. There's another USB port on the right-hand side.(Credit: AVM)

What you can't see is like as not the most interesting part of the Fritz!Box 7390: a DECT base station, which can sync with up to six phones. During the Fritz!Box already commands a hefty fee, if you want a Fritz!-branded phone that handles both PSTN and VoIP calls it'll set you back AU$129 per handset and base station. The Fritz!Fon is excellent, with an easy to understand key layout, high resolution screen and the ability to make phone calls using the G.722 codec for higher quality audio — so long as the receiver's handset is as well capable of this. The weedy ear speaker on the Fon doesn't do G.722 justice over the standard telephone call quality; nevertheless, if you pop it into speaker mode or use your own headphones through the 3.5mm jack, you can gain an appreciation for new-found quality. It's not a revelation by any means, nevertheless it does make phone calls much more pleasant.

Fritz!Fon abilities, like the Box, go beyond the norm. On top of the usual phone book, call history and answering machine settings, you can check your email on it, get internet radio on it, read RSS feeds or playback podcasts. You can even control the Fritz!Box from the Fritz!Fon, allowing you to turn off the wireless, or update the firmware. We're not finished but, although — you can as well get the Fon to act as an alarm to give you a wake-up call, and a baby monitor that reacts to sound. Exceed a certain noise level for long enough, and the Fritz!Fon calls a predefined phone number.

If all this isn't compelling enough for you, the Fritz!Box will talk to a number of existing DECT phones, supports SIP calls, and there are even apps available for Android- and iOS-based devices so you can make calls through your mobile phone. During it doesn't pull in your mobile phone's phone book, it does list your most recent calls and pulls the phone book you've created on the Fritz!Box itself.

Everything attached to the Fritz!Box will be treated as part of an internal network as then. Sick of yelling to the kids upstairs that it's time for dinner? Just ring their phone for thoroughly no charge, as everything's being conducted over your local network.

The modem/router offers more options on top of this

The modem/router offers more options on top of this. Call diversion is included as is call through; in other words, you can call the Fritz!Box first, enter a PIN and at the time a destination number to be routed to. This is mainly used as a way of turning a fixed line call into an internet call, potentially reducing costs.

There are a myriad of other options for the configuring and setting up of voice services on the Fritz!Box, nevertheless the remaining big feature is simply blocking: allowing you to either block incoming numbers, or block phones that are connected to the Fritz!Box from calling certain numbers. There's even support for ranges, so you can easily prevent calls to things just as premium phone services or the local Domino's pizza.

Live updated diagnostic graphs are everywhere, as is information you'd mostly have to pull out through SNMP or set up some sort of intermediate Linux box to grab. Even stuff you for the most part wouldn't see, like who the manufacturer of your DSLAM is. For diagnostics, the Fritz!Box as well separates your logs into Telephony, Internet, USB devices, WLAN and System, so you can quickly track down your problem. It's all incredibly readable and useful. The AVM engineers deserve a round of applause.

It can as well measure internet traffic for those who are mindful of their quota — with our tested firmware, even though, it was oddly limited to 99GB. We have been told this has been fixed in the latest firmware, along with the addition of a South Australian time zone — which, considering the distributor and the ISP partner, are SA based, is quite a thing to have omitted.

You have more information here than you'll likely ever use. Nevertheless gosh will it make ISP support calls easier.(Screenshot by CBS Interactive)

Huge load of power-saving features

There's a huge load of power-saving features, too, though considering a router doesn't pull that much energy, you likely will want to turn them off, as they can affect performance. Especially notable is the power saving for the Ethernet ports — if you leave it on, you'll be throttled to 100 megabit speeds instead of gigabit, not something that's fun for the whole family. Because AVM loves stats, you can find CPU and RAM usage, along with a temperature log here.

Impressively, the Fritz!Box as well shows you your neighbouring Wi-Fi networks, their relative strengths and what channels they're on, and auto selects the best Wi-Fi channel for you. It'll even run a guest account on your Wi-Fi for you, so people can access the internet, however not your LAN.

The usual smattering of features are if not included

The usual smattering of features are if not included, just as QoS, network and router configuration tools — nevertheless this is by a long way one of the most powerful routers we've seen to date.

Still, our perfect box, as we're sure many others would be, would be the 7390 without the DECT component, cutting unneeded cost out of the equation. AVM does offer a junior version, the 7270, which comes with 100Mb Ethernet, selectable dual-band, one USB port and 3MB internal storage compared to the 7390's 512MB, however it all in all has DECT. What do you reckon AVM — could we have a 7350?

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