AVM - 7581

There was something wonky with the wifi on 7581 VDSL2+ models. You’ll find it was sold very shortly for a Fritz!Box. There are many complaints about it, and a fair share of them was mine.

Both renting or buying are valid options. The telekom routers are not bad. The advantage of renting is that they will replace the router if it breaks or if for reasons of modernization you need a new one, but both of these cases are rare. Fritzbox are generally easy to use and seen as reliable; also they get software updates for a long time usually - at least in the past it was usually 10 years after the introduction of a model, possibly even more. However the manufacturer of Fritzbox (AVM) has been bought by an investor last year (I believe, maybe even 2023), so it is quiet probable that the software update policy will worsen. I still would buy a fritzbox though if I would want to buy a router. Which router you could buy depends on what technology your internet access is. The most common ones are DSL or Glasfaser (fibre). Some buildings have cable internet.

GenieACS works fine with fritzboxes. What exactly does not work for you? How do you feed the ACS URL to your boxes, do they even register in the ACS?

Renting is the better option and Fritz! Box is the way to go (made in Berlin, Germany, for all the r/BuyfromEU reasons).

Used quite a bit by regional ISPs in Ireland

These things are solid. I've been using them for 10 years... Before with copper and now fibre. Never had an issue.

Maybe they send the good ones to Switzerland 😂

I have been using FRITZ!Boxes for 20 years without any issue. Also running FRITZ! smart home stuff, no issues as well.

False, you can also configure it to use TOTP to confirm security settings.

You can also configure it to use TOTP via any Authenticator of your choice.

The speedports work, but they are very basic. If you want a more configurable option, you can use the speedport as a modem and attach e.g. a FRITZ!Box. That seems too much but this way the Telekom support can still check the connection with whatever proprietary thing they do with the speedport.

I still can't comprehend what kind of routers people in other continents like America buy/ have to buy. In Germany, almost everyone uses AVM Fritz!Box', which are way more capable than most 'standard' routers and do not cost $400 or something like that.

I had three or four Fritzboxen die on me over the years. While the software and hardware are great, they tend to have a bit of a reliability issue.

I am completely shocked that a single Fritzbox router manages all of our wireless needs in a mid-size company (a few switches and probably 2 dozen APs). We do not use it for work, only for private devices, still, around 100-500 devices connected every work day.

As an American living in Germany, I have the FRITZ!Box and the RT AX86U pro.

I've had fritz box router in my old apartment and that was by emfar the best router I used from the standpoint of user interface and actual work ability. AFAIK, microtik is really good but not as user friendly compared to many other brands. But don't quote me on that.

Yeah it’s okay for the masses, but it misses the mark if you want more control and have even slight complexity. The most frustrating thing about them is the need to press a button or use your landline to change security settings. Every other router authenticates the user instead of the user and every action. Once I moved away from the FRITZ stuff I finally got options to fix buffer bloat and do proper QoS.

Indeed. That's why most German ISPs use the Fritz!Box as their standard box for customers. Easy to use for the average Joe but with tons of functions for the advanced user, an excellent update philosophy (very long update support, you will find a lot of boxes out there that are 10+ years old and still running the latest OS), as well as a high manufacturing quality that keeps neccessary replacements to a minimum.

Do you have any advice or resources on getting this setup? I tried playing with GenieACS and I could not get it working at all. Also using Fritzboxes.

Honestly it's been over a year since I tried it and gave up. I remember having spent weeks on it and lots of time searching forums. I remember I was able to trigger some kind of authentication thing where the lights on the box would blink, but I wasn't able to push config to it. I also don't think it was showing up in my ACS server at all. I had it directly connected to my laptop and was running GenieACS in a VM with a bridged adapter. I know that's not helpful in the slightest, so I was wondering if there happened to be any step-by-step tutorials on how to get it working with Fritzboxes that I somehow missed when I was looking at this a long time ago.

Had one a few years back and hated it, well maybe my lack of experience had a play in it but the connection was horrid and it always gave us problems.

I always bought the routers. A bought Fritz!Box is a good option. I use a Draytek Vigor in another house. Works fine, too.

You don’t seem to have too much experience with networking or self hosting so far, but that’s totally fine. I would still recommend the Fritz!Box instead of any more complicated router or firewall setups. It’s a solid device, can be extended with Mesh Routers etc, has a simple interface and good knowledgebase articles. Also has wireguard pre installed if you want to get into vpns later on. See what kind of cable connection you have, get the fitting model and enjoy. It’s a good choice

You don’t seem to have too much experience with networking or self hosting so far, but that’s totally fine. I would still recommend the Fritz!Box instead of any more complicated router or firewall setups. It’s a solid device, can be extended with Mesh Routers etc, has a simple interface and good knowledgebase articles. Also has wireguard pre installed if you want to get into vpns later on. See what kind of cable connection you have, get the fitting model and enjoy. It’s a good choice

I've been using AVM products since the 90's, they've always been great. I only remember two issues, one was a faulty power supply (an external one so it was easy to replace) and the other was that the web interface of a FritzBox was getting really slow because they added a lot of features that the CPU couldn't handle. The router function was still working great though, so it wasn't a big deal.

Another vote for Fritzbox. Arguably the best vdsl routers out of the few still doing them. And lots of VoIP/DECT support too.

Au her have had 2