Product Reviews

Although internet telephony is cheap, a regular landline is still a necessity. With AVM's FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7050, you can integrate a host of functions into one box, including the ability to control how your landline and VoIP calls are routed to your handsets.

Based on an 802.11g WLAN broadband router with a built-in DSL modem, it's allegedly ADSL 2+ ready, but currently it only supports speeds up to 8Mb/sec. The WLAN offers standard 802.11g plus an enhanced 125Mb/sec 802.11g++ mode, although you'll need AVM's own adapters to use it.

Wireless security measures include 128-bit WEP, WPA with TKIP or AES keys, plus hiding the SSID and blocking new WLAN devices. Port forwarding is only available when you enable Expert mode, which also reveals dynamic DNS support for

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DynDNS, plus a number of others.

You can connect the FRITZ!Box to your regular landline, ADSL or ISDN line. An ISDN-based PBX can go in another port, plus up to three regular analog phones. Two of these use RJ-11 connectors, with the third attaching via a two-pin connection. PCs can be attached via USB, WLAN or via the two RJ-45 LAN ports.

Your analog phones will go straight through to your existing landlines - until you configure your SIP settings. You can use a number of services, and 500 free minutes for www.gradwell.com's service are included in the box.

You can set up numbers to be passed through to your landline, routed to different SIP accounts or simply blocked. One global plus nine additional carrier prefixes can be added to calls. You can also set up rules for redirection.

The night service function allows you to turn off the WLAN to conserve power and to silence your phone. There's a huge amount of monitoring information too, including a full list of calls through the device, plus statistics for data volume and time. The information on the ADSL connection is beyond that provided by most routers too.

Although the FRITZ!Box Fon WLAN 7050 is relatively pricey, it has some unique features. If you're looking to integrate your landline and internet telephony into one seamless system, AVM has pretty much every base covered.