No matter you may take into consideration the marginally startling identify, the newest FRITZ!Field (and we do insist on replicating that styling accurately as a result of, come on, it is hilarious) does greater than its jaunty emblem and wacky, dated styling may counsel.

In reality, it appears it is completely insistent on doing all the things it probably can. It routes wi-fi visitors, it routes wired visitors, it routes DSL and analogue telephone traces, it manages DECT telephones, printers, community storage. 

Plug in a 4G dongle and it will even present fallback connectivity on your community in case of a primary connection outage. You might be totally unlikely to want at the least half of its options, however if you happen to’re craving a router with flexibility you have undoubtedly discovered it.

The actual query, although, is do we would like this in our home? Does that flexibility warrant the value? Are we actually ready for guests to ask what a FRITZ!Field does? 

These questions are answered not simply by the FRITZ!Field 7590’s wide selection of just about enterprise-level options, however by the truth that it virtually retains tempo with similarly-priced opponents by way of efficiency and energy.

Value and availability

The German-made FRITZ!Field 7590 is, as you may anticipate, broadly obtainable throughout Europe, coming in at someplace round £265. 

That is an entire lot of cash for a router, notably if you happen to’re not on the lookout for greater than its base options, however if you happen to’re administering a SOHO (small workplace or dwelling workplace) state of affairs, otherwise you’re simply actually critical about your own home connection, its myriad ports and prospects may simply make cheap outlay.

We’re but to search out it listed on the market within the USA (although its significantly uglier 7490 predecessor did land on these shores, so there’s an opportunity), and Australia can also be ready; anticipate an identical US greenback worth, and the same old hefty Australia markup.

Design and setup

We might have muttered barely facetiously earlier on concerning the variety of options the FRITZ!Field 7590 squashes in to its small body, however AVM has at the least executed a superb job of placing them in a small house. 

The brand new-look design, which adopts a few styling options from its traditional predecessors however chucks out the retro-futuristic fins, is smooth, gives good airflow beneath, and might be wall mounted if you happen to select. 

It is also visually very totally different from most routing , choosing a gray/darkish gray/darkish purple combo that is uniquely FRITZ!Field.

It is a nice router for VDSL customers – together with BT Infinity subscribers – or at the least it is going to be, due to its help for VDSL 35b tremendous vectoring. Primarily it is a technique to tease as much as 300Mbit/s out of twisted pair cabling, presuming you are on a brief sufficient hop to the cupboard. No UK ISP helps it at the moment, however it’s good to be ready for the longer term. 

The 7950’s fairly distinctive DECT telephone help can also be a fairly large deal, notably when tied in to AVM’s wonderful FRITZ!OS firmware and FRITZ!App telephone software; help for Fon means you can route your calls as you want, and even make landline calls, after a style, by means of your cellular.

That is not the one app that may handle the router’s options – there are 4 or 5 on provide masking a bunch of various features.

Efficiency

All of these options plus world-beating efficiency might need been an excessive amount of to ask, and so it proved, because the FRITZ!Field 7590 did not blow away our efficiency assessments. 

It isn’t dangerous, by any means, however middling Wi-Fi efficiency places all these extra extras (and the 7590’s fairly excessive worth) into perspective if you happen to’re not going to take full benefit of them.

With out entry to VDSL we weren’t in a position to check the tremendous vectoring efficiency, however realistically you must be capable to take the theoretical most of 300Mbit/s with the identical pinch of salt utilized to most web velocity rankings – it is all going to rely upon the gap to the cupboard, the standard of the cabling used in your native loop, your ISP’s temperament on any given day. All issues that the FRITZ!Field has no management over.

Management, although, is its actual robust level. FRITZ!OS is a good firmware frontend full of wizards and diagnostic instruments that make configuration simple, and it continues the enterprise-aping characteristic set with some pro-level tweaks. Fancy dropping the Ethernet ports from gigabit to 100Mbit to avoid wasting a little bit of energy? Disabling Wi-fi on a schedule? Blocking pings, filtering ports, and all the things in between? Performed.

We preferred

It is nice to have so many choices and the FRITZ!Field 7590 gives greater than you may ever actually want. 

For a SOHO state of affairs, it is a good one-stop store that is simple sufficient to micromanage and broaden because the state of affairs dictates – and the app administration and complete firmware put these controls at your fingertips.

We disliked

That raft of options, outdoors of very particular use circumstances, simply is not required, so paying somewhat additional for mid-range Wi-Fi energy may sting.

Credit score to AVM for constructing a router that, like its forebears, would not appear to be another router on the market, however its visible enchantment is questionable at finest.

Closing verdict

The FRITZ!Field 7590 (we’re nonetheless tickled by the shouty capitalisation of that identify) is a little bit of a shock. It isn’t the characteristic set, or the putting look, or the excellent firmware that does it – it is that that is an inherently likeable, succesful, versatile router that makes us wish to experiment. 

What dwelling would not want its landline become one thing truly helpful? Why not centralise storage, printers, and the like? This modifications our view of what a router needs to be – the one downside is that it isn’t, in its worth bracket, fairly pretty much as good on the bits that basically matter.