The Fritzbox is celebrating its birthday today: on March 18, 2004, AVM introduced the first Fritzbox. This is what she looked like and she could do it.
18 years ago, the Berlin communications specialist AVM presented its first Fritzbox. To be more precise: On March 18, 2004, AVM presented the first Fritzbox at the then still successful Cebit. Written the product name idiosyncratically in the advertising texts as “FRITZ!Box”.
The first Fritzbox: Still without WLAN
Up until Cebit 2004, AVM was primarily known for its Fritz Card for ISDN connections. The first Fritzbox had a DSL modem with an integrated router on board and offered two LAN ports and a USB port. The maximum data transmission rate that could be achieved at that time on a DSL connection was 8 Mbit/s downstream and 1 Mbit/s upstream.
Shortly after the presentation of this device, AVM presented two more models in 2004: the Fritzbox Fon with an integrated telephone system for landline and VoIP and the Fritzbox SL WLAN – the first model to use WLAN for home networking.
AVM has been introducing new Fritzbox models for 18 years. In 2009 the Fritzbox 7390 for VDSL appeared, which was also suitable for later VDSL vectoring. With the Fritzbox 7590, AVM presented its current DSL flagship in 2017, which supports fast supervectoring technology for 250 Mbit/s.
The first Fritzbox for the cable connection came onto the market in 2010. However, this market only became really exciting for cable customers after the fall of the router requirement in 2016. Since 2018, the Fritzbox 6591 Cable has been in use in the first cable networks, a model that enables data rates of up to 1 GBit/s. There are now Fritzbox models for all connection technologies: DSL, cable, fiber optics and LTE.
In the German-speaking area, the Fritzbox was an undisputed huge success. Especially since many Fritz boxes were and are not only sold freely, but often also belong to the hardware supplied by the respective Internet provider. Reason enough for PC-WELT to test the Fritz boxes regularly and also to publish numerous tips and tricks.
One of the special features of the Fritzbox router is the standard 5-year manufacturer’s guarantee from AVM. Buyers of an Apple iPhone or a Samsung Galaxy Sxx can only dream of this. Experience has shown that AVM also provides firmware updates for its Fritzbox models for a long time, which give the Fritzboxes new functions even after purchase. And on top of that security gaps are closed. This convenience and security gain through the updates can be compared with Apple’s update policy for iOS. Fritzbox owners who are keen to experiment can also try out new functions during the beta phase with the so-called laboratory versions of Fritz OS (as the firmware of the Fritz devices is called).
In recent years, the Fritzbox has continued to penetrate the smart home market. Thanks to DECT ULE Han Fun, the Fritzbox has increasingly become the control center in an intelligent home. Thanks to suitable accessories such as Fritz Dect 300/301 or Fritz Dect 200 or 210 as well as Fritz Dect 400 or Fritz Dect 500. A powerful WLAN mesh system can also be set up around a Fritzbox.
According to AVM, the Fritzbox has been developed in Berlin since 2004, produced in the EU and sold in over 40 countries.
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