FRITZ!Field 7690: 30-second overview
The AVM FRITZ!Field model enjoys widespread recognition in Europe but stays a lower-profile model in different areas. AVM has established itself as a maker of dependable, high-quality merchandise that prioritise efficiency over superficial design.
It’s been a protracted eight years for the reason that FRITZ!Field 7590 AX and AVM have now launched a brand new mannequin that appears oddly comparable, the 7690.
This FRITZ!Field router maintains the styling of their predecessors however with fully new inner electronics that now assist a 4×4 antenna array and WiFi 7 communications.
As well as, the wired networking has additionally been revamped with a 2.5GbE WAN port, making this router splendid for a variety of broadband situations with connections over 1GbE.
And, for many who shouldn’t have entry to fibre, an inbuilt ADSL2+ modem can get you related shortly.
Different options embody assist for DECT telephones, Good residence networking, Zigbee networking, and even analogue telephony.
General, this isn’t the most cost effective method so as to add WiFi 7 to a community, but it surely presents a lot of the bells and whistles thought of good in a enterprise atmosphere. Nevertheless, with out 6GHz assist, it doesn’t present the entire WiFi 7 expertise for many who can use these bands.
As with all FRITZ!Field {hardware}, the 7690 is a chic software with a large characteristic set linked to a great assist community. Nevertheless, these points won’t justify the worth if they’re applied sciences you don’t intend to make use of.
This router might be extra enticing to residence customers, and in consequence, it won’t make it into our best business router choice.
FRITZ!Field 7690: Worth and availability
- How a lot does it price? £334/€264
- When is it out? Out there now in Europe
- The place are you able to get it? You may get it from Amazon and plenty of different on-line retailers.
As routers made for each residence and enterprise customers go, the AVM FRITZ!Field 7690 isn’t overly costly, however it’s a cut price, both.
The fee within the UK is £333.67 by means of Amazon.co.uk, which is provided straight from AVM, although it could be doable to get it cheaper from different sources.
A kind of cheaper choices is to get it from Germany, the place it sells for less than €263.99 on Amazon.de. However watch out as a result of this can be a German model of the router, and the cabling provided for phone connections could not work in your area.
It’s barely dearer in different EU nations, being round €310, usually.
On the time of writing, FRITZ!Field 7690 isn’t listed on American Amazon.com, though different merchandise from this model are bought at this outlet.
FRITZ!Field 7690: Specs
|
Function |
Spec |
|---|---|
|
Mannequin: |
FRITZ!Field 7690 Worldwide model |
|
2.4GHz: |
4×4 as much as 1376 Mbit/s (20/40MHz) |
|
5GHz: |
4×4 as much as 5760 Mbit/s (20/40/80/160MHz) |
|
6GHz: |
N/A |
|
Ports: |
1 x DSL (ASDL2+, supervectoring)1 x 2.5GbE WAN1 x 2.5GbE LAN2x 1GbE LAN1 x USB 2.0 1 x Reset button2 x RJ11 DECT Cellphone |
|
Mesh: |
Sure |
|
MLO |
Sure |
|
AFC |
No (no 6GHz) |
|
Wired Hyperlink Aggregation |
No |
|
Modes |
Router Mode, Entry Level Mode |
|
Firmware: |
FRITZ!OS 8.02 |
|
Dimensions: |
254 x 63 x 191 mm |
|
Weight: |
600g |
FRITZ!Field 7690: Design
- Retro styling with enclosed antenna
- 2.5GbE WAN and LAN
- 802.11be selections
Whereas the FRITZ!Field routers’ retro styling would possibly irk some, but it surely’s preferable to a number of the extra excessive ‘spiders from Mars’ aesthetics that some manufacturers favour. It’s additionally good that it makes use of a completely enclosed antenna array, making the machine simpler to wall-mount and fewer apparent.
In comparison with the prior 7590 AX, the skin of the 7690 is sort of similar, though some ports have enhanced specs. All the numerous modifications are inside, with an enormous revision of the wi-fi providers supplied and the broadband providers this router is supposed to work together.
One exterior change is that the ethernet port format has been fully revised. Within the 7590 AX there have been 5 ethernet ports cut up into one WAN and 4 LAN, and these all had a specification of 1GbE. Within the new 7690, there are solely 4 ports in complete, cut up right into a single 2.5GbE WAN, a single 2.5GbE LAN and two 1GbE LANs.
The lack of a port is supposed to be offset by the upper speeds on supply, however solely three LAN ports appear to be limiting, and there’s no assist for hyperlink aggregation of those ports.
It additionally caps the very best broadband velocity at 2.5GbE, a efficiency stage prone to be overtaken within the subsequent yr for some areas.
Whereas a step up from the 7590 AX and plenty of different routers, the WAN/LAN choices on this router don’t present a lot in the best way of future-proofing.
And, the irony of the WiFi 7 on this expertise is that it may distribute extra information over wi-fi connections than it may over Ethernet. Absolutely, LAN must be sooner than the WiFi?
In accordance with my calculations, this router must be designated as a BE7200 class machine, though I didn’t discover this ranking in any of its documentation.
What’s attention-grabbing is to check this router with a less expensive WiFi 7 one from a competitor, like one from Asus.
FRITZ!Field went with a dual-band configuration and put all its eggs within the 5GHz basket, whereas the Asus RT-BE92U is a Tri-band design, with a lot of the bandwidth allotted to 6GHz and solely 2882Mbps on 5GHz. On paper, the Asus router is BE9700, implying a a lot better bandwidth if you should use these channels and have adapters that may entry them.
Due to this fact, the 7690 is without doubt one of the extra conservative WiFi 7 choices, however maybe it is simply being extra sensible.
Design rating: 3.5/5
FRITZ!Field 7690: In use
- Net or telephone app interface
- No bridging or hyperlink aggregation
- Fritz!OS Apps
What’s good about FRITZ!Field expertise is that you’re not compelled to make use of a cellular software to initially configure the router, as the online interface is accessible both over wired or wi-fi networking. As soon as the system is up and operating, it may be related to a cloud service to offer distant monitoring and entry, however once more, this isn’t obligatory.
Relying on which of the particular options of this machine you need to use, further configuration is required past getting a WiFi service that hyperlinks techniques to the Web.
The online interface isn’t as elegant as some I’ve seen, however it’s completely packaged with options that permit remarkably granular management over customers, providers and safety.
It shares with the earlier 7590 AX that telephone connections could be run utilizing DECT by means of the router with out having a selected landline as a part of your connection package deal. This works no matter whether or not you might be utilizing a cable modem and the WAN port or the inbuilt DSL modem.
As a UK cable buyer, I nonetheless have the identical home telephone quantity that I’ve at all times had, however no RJ11 wiring round the home or a month-to-month telephone line cost. How helpful this is likely to be in different nations, I’m uncertain, however in lots of European places it’s the best way that residence telephony has gone.
One other growth additionally oriented to residence customers is that this router embraces Good residence applied sciences, like HomeAssistant, and with this {hardware} FRITZ!Field has included the Zigbee networking customary as a default characteristic.
Zigbee is a low-power 2.4GHz community protocol designed for IoT gadgets like good switches and lightbulbs. It permits as much as forty gadgets to be simply linked to the community after which managed by Alexa, Google Residence, or good working techniques like HomeAssistant.
Whereas companies are considerably sluggish on the uptake of this expertise, it is changing into more and more well-liked with residence customers. What would possibly enhance enterprise curiosity is that FRITZ!Field has promised that it’ll even be supporting the Matter protocol customary by way of a firmware replace, however when this may arrive isn’t clear.
These options elevate the 7690 from being a WiFi 7 router to creating it the hub of a wise residence (or enterprise), the place a myriad of management expertise and providers could be centrally managed.
It could possibly be higher with hyperlink aggregation on the LAN ports, and the router solely operates as an Entry Level or as a Router; it doesn’t assist being a bridge. That final side is much less widespread lately, largely as a result of safety issues, but it surely’s value figuring out what this {hardware} can and can’t do.
One place the place the 7690 goes above and past is the FRITZ!Field functions for Android and iOS. The place most router manufacturers have software program apps to regulate the router from a telephone or pill, however there isn’t only one app, however a set of genuinely helpful instruments.
These embody FRITZ!App Fon, a software to reply and make landline calls by way of the router, and FRITZ!App TV that allows unencrypted cable TV to be watched in your telephone. How helpful these are will rely in your broadband circumstances, they usually’re not meant for enterprise use however greater than most router makers are supplying.
FRITZ!Field 7690: Efficiency
When evaluating the WiFi efficiency of the prior 7590 AX, one would possibly assume that as these are each 4×4 antenna routers, the bandwidth can be largely comparable.
Nevertheless, the 7590 AX was an AC2400 class design, with a most theoretical throughput of 1733 + 800 Mbit/s utilizing each 5GHz and a pair of.4GHz bands.
The brand new 7690 makes use of a WiFi 7 association the place a number of components of the identical bands could be aggregated to extend the movement of information considerably. With this performance, as much as 1376 Mbit/s could be extracted from the two.4GHz channels, and an enormous 5760 Mbit/s could be extracted from the 5GHz vary.
There are two caveats to this wi-fi aggregation, the primary being that it assumes that these bands aren’t already utilized by different networks, probably from different native WiFi {hardware} or bleed from adjoining companies or properties.
This was actually one thing that closely impacted my testing since different WiFi {hardware}, DECT telephones, and different impartial 2.4GHz gadgets curbed the perfect speeds considerably.
Consequently, the quickest connection I managed utilizing a Comfast WiFi 7 USB adapter was 2,882 Mbit/s up and down utilizing 2x in every path, properly beneath the theoretical peak.
The opposite lacking piece of this puzzle is that WiFi 7 can use the 6GHz vary, however the 7690 doesn’t assist this third frequency vary.
Whereas I’ve included this as one of many limitations of this {hardware}, within the UK, comparatively little of the 6GHz vary is accessible for residence or enterprise customers to entry for the reason that MOD, amongst others, was allowed to make use of it a very long time in the past.
I’m undecided what worth a frequency with such a brief sensible vary is to these providers, however till 6GHz is cleared to be used, it’s of extraordinarily restricted worth in some areas and, subsequently not an enormous downside that this {hardware} doesn’t assist it.
The extra important challenge right here is most actually the overlaps from different wi-fi customers, and the additional away you journey from the router, lowering the 5GHz slice of the bandwidth pie, it appears much less helpful.
Even should you flip off each different wi-fi supply within the constructing, together with DECT telephones and even the Zigbee alerts that the router generates, and get your neighbours to cooperate by not blanketing all of the channels, the very best quoted speeds are solely doable at remarkably quick ranges. These are ranges the place an Ethernet cable could possibly be simply related.
In my exams, strolling to the subsequent room solely 5 metres away resulted in a efficiency drop to 1,729 down and 1,153 Mbit up. However what’s most complicated is that by reverting from the Comfast WiFi 7 adapter to the Intel AX201 WiFi 6 adapter on the laptop computer, I used to be in a position to get sooner speeds at this vary. The theoretical peak was decrease, at simply 2,402Mbit/s in each up and down, however the speeds have been larger.
This demonstrates that in a congested atmosphere, WiFi 7 isn’t at all times the perfect method.
What I’m not saying right here is that the FRITZ!!Field 7690 isn’t a great WiFi 7 router. I’m simply stating that, not like an Ethernet cable, mileage will range, and what’s nice in a single scenario (bodily remoted property) is likely to be much less fascinating. And, my location took away a lot of some great benefits of this {hardware}, in all probability unfairly.
This {hardware} is unquestionably for these websites the place wi-fi networking could be strategically managed and never simply lumped in with numerous different model {hardware} that wasn’t designed to work collectively.
FRITZ!Field 7690: Ultimate verdict
I’ve two points with the FRITZ!Field 7690, and neither of them is the retro styling.
My first challenge is that this router needs to be all issues to all potential prospects, and whereas spreading the web large is at all times a sound technique, it leaves the 2 potential buyer bases paying for options they may by no means use.
For residence customers, the inclusion of analogue telephony interfaces to hook up with an alternate is irrelevant, and conversely, nearly all of enterprise customers received’t care about Zigbee gadgets.
It’s 2025, and {hardware} makers shouldn’t be encouraging companies to nonetheless have fax machines to allow them to flip completely legible paperwork into low-resolution junk utilizing a massively inefficient technological throwback to the Nineteen Eighties.
Perhaps FRITZ!Field doesn’t need to be the folks to inform their ageing prospects that the Fax and the analogue telephone alternate went the best way of the Dodo a long time in the past, but it surely’s excessive time somebody did.
My second downside with FRITZ!Field 7690 is the time that handed for the reason that prior design and the way lengthy it is likely to be earlier than the 7690 is outdated. Even when the 7790 mannequin comes alongside in 5 years, the wired networking on the 7690 will likely be outdated properly earlier than then.
Fibre broadband suppliers wish to supply 5GbE and even 10GbE to residence customers within the subsequent couple of years, however at this level, the 7690 isn’t appropriate for distributing these connections.
What FRITZ!Field wanted was a router with SFP+ module assist in order that it could possibly be provided with 2.5GbE WAN and LAN however upgraded to 5GbE or 10GbE when required.
If the upgrades to this router line don’t come alongside as usually, then longevity must be maximised. Whereas the 7690 is a wonderful piece of {hardware} immediately, it is likely to be much less spectacular two years from now.
With merchandise just like the beforehand talked about Netgear Nighthawk RS300 priced at £259.99 within the UK and $279.99 within the USA, that gives as much as 9.3Gbps of wi-fi bandwidth and an additional 2.5GbE LAN port, the FRITZ!Field 7690 have to be cheaper, even when it presents some options that the RS300 and others can’t match.
Ought to I purchase a FRITZ!Field 7690?
|
Attributes |
Notes |
Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Worth |
Not low-cost however acceptable worth for the options |
3.5/5 |
|
Design |
Retro styling but it surely might do with extra LAN ports. |
3.5/5 |
|
In Use |
Simple to configure and have wealthy |
4/5 |
|
Efficiency |
WiFi 7 is fantastic however not in all places |
4/5 |
|
General |
An aesthetic router, however lacks future-proofing |
4/5 |
Purchase it if…
Do not buy it if…
For extra {hardware}, we have reviewed the best mesh Wi-Fi systems and the best WiFi routers.
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