AVM FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN review

The FRITZ!Box is a one-port network hub, ADSL modem and wireless router - and it's a Voice-over-IP box too!

It completed our short file transfer test in just 1 minute and 6 seconds, that's just five seconds behind the US Robotics MAXg router in our Best Buy guides. Nor did performance tail off in our long-range test, which the router completed in 1 minute and 45 seconds; not the best time we've ever seen but still pretty good. However, when we closed the doors between the rooms, transfer speed dropped-off markedly. After five minutes of transferring, Windows told us that there were still 54 minutes to go. It was still fast enough for sharing a broadband connection, but not for streaming audio or video.

Both the wireless and VoIP functions are easy to set up. You simply type your settings into the router's presentation page, which you open by typing the router's IP address into your internet browser. Like most routers with built-in ADSL modems, the FRITZ!Box automatically detected all of our ADSL settings; the only thing we had to enter was our password and username. Once that's done, you plug your normal phone into the FRITZ!Box and you're off. There are two phone connectors, so you could have a separate fax number if you wanted; most VoIP accounts give you more than one phone number. The sipgate account that's bundled with the router comes with 333 minutes (just under six hours) of free calls. When these have been used up you pay 1p a minute for most national and international calls. This compares well with BT, which charges around 3p per minute for national calls and anywhere between 12p and well over a pound for international calls. The FRITZ!Box allows you to switch easily to your landline, simply by pressing '9' before dialling. If you dial 999 or 112 it switches to your landline, so you'll be able to make emergency calls during a power cut. It also means that the emergency services will be able to trace the call if you can't tell them where you are.