FRITZ!Box 7270 all-in-one ADSL2+ modem router

FRITZ!Box 7270 review: An all-in-one marvel featuring an ADSL2+ modem, dual-band wireless networking and VoIP

PC World Australia (online)

As far as all-in-one devices are concerned, the FRITZ!Box is a monster. It contains pretty much everything you'll ever need in a home or small home office networking device. It's an ADSL2+ modem, a router, an Ethernet switch, an 802.11n dual-band Wi-Fi access point, a firewall, a VoIP device, a content filter, a file and printer server, and it's even optimised for Internet video streaming (for FetchTV). All this means that you won't need to use multiple devices, which would end up hogging your power points and desk space; there also won't be a complicated setup procedure involved.

Pros

  • Easy to set up, graphical Web interface is useful, built-in DECT base station, printer and file server, reliable performance

Cons

  • Only one USB 2.0 port, only 10/100 Ethernet in this model

Bottom Line

The FRITZ!Box all-in-one networking device contains pretty much everything you'll need to sort out your home or small home office Internet and telephony needs. It's easy to set up and use and we love its graphical Web interface. The main drawback is that there is so much to this device -- it will take you ages to get to know all its features.

Would you buy this?

  • Where to buy

    Priced from: $ 99.95
    Selling at 3 stores
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See how the FRITZ!Box compares to the iiNet BoB.

The FRITZ!Box will initially be available from Internode in February (but it will also work with any ISP), and if you're the type of person who shuns complicated network setups, you should definitely check it out — it's a simple all-in-one solution that will have your entire network up and running in a few minutes. We tested it with an iiNet connection, and we found the setup process to be very smooth (even though we used a pre-shipping version of the interface). It was also a very graphical setup process. In fact, the Web interface of the FRITZ!Box 7270 is the most graphics-heavy we have ever seen in a router to date, and this is helpful.

Looking for a dual-band router? Check out the Linksys E2000 Advanced Wireless N router and the ASUS RT-N56U.

It also has a few features that most routers on the market are missing. For example, you can see at a glance who is currently connected and who has been connected to your network in the past. Furthermore, you can quickly learn how much data has been downloaded and uploaded for different time periods. If you're on a plan with less than 100GB of data per month, then you can even punch in a monthly limit so that the modem will disconnect when you reach that limit.

The performance of the FRITZ!Box was solid in our tests and we experienced good reliability and speed. The modem clocked 15.661MBps (megabytes per second) in our download tests and 850Kbps (kilobytes per second) in our upload tests using the PC World Broadband Speed Test, and while these aren't the fastest speeds we've seen from our connection, they are still very good. In our wireless networking tests, the FRITZ!Box 7270 was able to deliver data to our test laptop at a rate of 8.54MBps from 2m away and at 6.44MBps from 10m away. It's definitely not the fastest performance we've experienced in these tests (for example, the ASUS RT-N56U recorded up to 12MBps), but it's still a good showing for a wireless router. This performance is suitable for a small house or apartment.

Telephony is a huge part of the FRITZ!Box 7270 and while we had a little trouble getting our MyNetFone service to register, once it was all set up the performance of the device was very good. We used a supplied FRITZ!Fon DECT cordless phone, which worked very well with the FRITZ!Box's built-in DECT base station up to 15m away. The voice broke up only when we ventured out onto our balcony and there were plasterboard walls and glass balcony doors between the phone and router. The analog telephone attachment ports on the FRITZ!Box also allow you to use any old phones you have lying around and you can plug in up to two of them; up to six DECT phones are supported.

All up, the FRITZ!Boz 7270 proved to be reliable in our tests and we think it's a great unit for anyone who wants an all-in-one solution. It doesn't look as flash as iiNet's BoB, but the FRITZ!Box is easy to setup and use and it has plenty of great features.

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Read more on these topics: modem routers, Networking, modem, broadband

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