INTRODUCTION

   Even though large urban centers all across the globe offer both wired and wireless high speed internet that's certainly not always the case when you're away on vacation or a business trip (or if you don't happen to live in a large city at all). This is the main reason manufacturers came up with LTE (Long Term Evolution) modems which effectively use a 3/4/5G (this depends on the model - 3G is quickly becoming obsolete however all over the world) SIM card to provide you and if need be, those around you with mobile internet/data. Well just like with everything else in the electronics market there are many such LTE modems one can choose from but after numerous awards the FRITZ!Box 6850 4G LTE modem released by AVM in late 2020 has since become very popular among European consumers and since some of you asked long ago today that's what i have here with me.

   AVM is one of Europe's leading manufacturers of products for broadband connections and the digital home. FRITZ! brand products are easy to use for everyone. They enable fast internet access, easy networking, convenient telephony and versatile Smart Home applications. The FRITZ!OS software regularly offers new features and keeps all FRITZ! products up-to-date and secure. Since starting out in Berlin in 1986, AVM' has focused on developing innovative products in-house. In 2020 the Berlin-based communications specialist had 840 employees and generated a turnover of 580 million euros.

   4G stands for 4th generation broadband cellular network technology and since 4G LTE wireless technology has been around for almost a decade now that clearly means it's far more widely used and thus "compatible" than 5G currently. 5G networks do bring more things on the table compared to 4G LTE (support for more devices on the network, much wider frequency ranges and increased speeds are the most important) but the really significant performance jumps have yet to come so a 4G LTE modem might actually be a better choice right now. The FRITZ!Box 6850 is an 4G LTE/3G UMTS/HSPA+ only modem (lacks wired VDSL connectivity) that sports AC1300 dual-band Wi-Fi connectivity (5GHz 802.11ac at 866Mbps and 2.4GHz 802.11n at 400Mbps with Multi-User MIMO support), integrated DECT base station (with support for up to 6 cordless handsets), IP telephony, Media Server and NAS functionality (with remote access), WPS easy connect, Green mode for decreased power consumption (USB & Wi-Fi), support for Smart Home Devices (either via FRITZ! devices or third-party devices with support for the DECT ULE/HAN FUN standard) and of course for AVM's MESH function. Under the hood of the FRITZ!Box 6850 LTE 4G we find the IPQ4019 single-chip Wi-Fi SoC (quad-core ARM Cortex A7 CPU with support for Wave-2 802.11ac) together with 256MB DDR3L SDRAM by NANYA and 512MB flash memory by Macronix. Finally in terms of available connections the FRITZ!Box 6850 LTE has a single USB 3.0 port, Mini SIM slot, both analog and digital telephony ports and 4 gigabit Ethernet ports.