High-spec, high-performance home
router fun from Germany
We’ve rarely been unimpressed by the Fritz!
Box range and the Fritz! Box 3370 is no exception. Not to be confused with the
Fritz! Box 7360 or Fritz! Box 7330, which can also handle an entire DECT phone
system, this ‘lesser’ 3000 range is a more typical ADSL broadband and wireless
router.
Fritz!
Box 3370’s wireless connectivity actually makes advances over its
top-of-the-range stablemate
So what’s inside the Fritz! Box? To kick
off there’s an ADSL2+ and VDSL broadband modem. The VDSL element is required
for BT Infinity and associated services with its high-speed capabilities. For
straight ADSL2+ use we found the modem to be solid, offering excellent upstream
speeds and good downstream, though we’ve had faster connections. The modem even
reported being capable of a faster connection but connected at a slightly
slower speed.
The box has four Gigabit LAN ports, plus
two USB ports, which work with the integrated NAS and printer servers. This is
a dual-band-capable router, but only exclusively at either 2.4GHz or 5GHz
bands, not both. Speeds are supported up to 450mbps from the triple antennas.
We’re not entirely sure of the thought process for of offering access to only
one band at a time though.
The
box has four Gigabit LAN ports, plus two USB ports, which work with the
integrated NAS and printer servers.
Performance across the board is mostly
excellent. It excelled at distance in both frequencies up and down stream,
matching the top performance of the Netgear DGND3700 with 8MB/s downstream and
11MB/s upstream. At middle and same-room distances upstream speeds are among
the best we’ve seen, even challenging slower 802.11ac routers. The only weakness
was middle-distance downstream speeds at 5GHz.
King of Prussia
A key feature of the Fritz! Box is its
interface. Even in its basic setting it can be overwhelming for a novice, but
for anyone familiar with routers it’s a comprehensive interface. From its detailed
diagnostic and reporting, to its remote management and smartphone app control,
it has an impressive feature list. We particularly liked the ability to set
white and black lists for individual devices connected to the router, rather
than a global one. Further offering include basic VWLAN with guest wireless
access and support for wireless repeaters.
The
3370 retains the UPnP media server capabilities enjoyed by previous Fritz! Box
routers
Another impressive aspect of the Fritz! Box
is its power management. Alongside WLAN schedules it enables you to power down
areas, such as individual ports or switch them to low-power modes. It also
provides a detailed breakdown of its power usage, so you can tweak it further.
The number of VDSL models on the market is
limited and there’s no doubt that this Fritz! Box 3370 should be at the top of
your list if you’re in the market for a high-performance wireless broadband
home router. The big turnoff is the limitation of only running the WLAN at 5GHz
or 2.4GHz band rather than both. But it’s typical of the purist approach AVM
seems to prefer. An alternative would be the Fritz! Box 7390, as it’s also
VDSL.
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Vital
statistics
§ Price:
$215
§ Ratings:
4/5
§ Manufacturer:
AVM
§ Website:
www.fritzbox.eu/en
§ Modem:
VDSL/ADSL2+broadband
§ Wireless
speed: 450Mbps 802.11n wireless
§ Frequency:
Dual-band 2.4GHz or 5GHz
§ Ports:
4x Gigabit LAN, 2xUSB NAS/ print server
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