INTRODUCTION

   The world may be filled with all types of people from casual everyday consumers, gamers and overclockers and up to enthusiasts, professionals and enterprise users all of which have different priorities but if i had to think of something common that every single person out there wants to have (when it comes to computers that is) that would probably be the fastest possible internet connection. Now it goes without saying that most casual users who just like to surf the internet can do so with very basic speeds (once upon a time we all did that and even more with just 14.4 Kbit/s dial-up modems) but anything extra like downloading media content, preloading new game titles, playing demanding MMO games and/or even sharing your work with several colleagues all around the globe simultaneously (successfully that is) requires a lot more juice from your internet connection. The secret however behind a fast internet connection is not only the type you have installed and paying for but also the equipment you're using with it and this is where manufacturers like AVM come in with their state of the art modem/routers like the FRITZ!Box 7490.

   AVM offers a wide range of products for high-speed broadband connectivity and smart home networking. With the FRITZ! product family, AVM is a leading manufacturer of broadband devices for ADSL, cable, and LTE as well as Smart Home products for wireless LAN, DECT, and Powerline in Germany and Europe. The FRITZ!Box is the best known brand for wireless routers in Germany. In 2014 the communications specialist had 500 employees and generated a turnover of 340 million euros. Founded in Berlin in 1986, from the outset the company has focused on developing its own secure, innovative products for broadband connections. FRITZ! stands for fast Internet, the networked home and convenient telephony. Millions of satisfied customers and hundreds of award-winning products confirm AVM’s commitment to high-quality FRITZ! products and first-class customer service.

   AVM's top of the line FRITZ!Box 7490 combines many functions in one unit since not only is it both a router and a VDSL/ADSL2+ modem (this is not something we haven't seen many times in the past but the 7490 is compatible with both Annex A/B and analogue/IDSN lines out of the box) but it's also a repeater, DECT phone base station for up to 6 handsets (4 for the international version which we have here with us), incoming/outgoing call handler (also allows you to access your landline from your smartphone by using the FRITZ!AppFon android/iOS app), answering machine (5 available ones), fax machine (includes email forwarding), NAS server (has 512MB of internal memory) and a media server (SMB/FTP/UPNP AV). The FRITZ!Box 7490 broadcasts two concurrent wireless signals (1300Mbit 802.11ac & 450Mbit 802.11n), supports VDSL lines up to 100Mbit (full vectoring), is compatible with 17a and 30a VDSL2 profiles and has a total of 4 gigabit Ethernet ports and two USB 3.0 ports (side and rear). The FRITZ!Box 7490 sure looks perfect on paper but what about real use?