“That might be true for well be haved network kit, but the real world’s just not like that”

Thanks for all of your feedback regarding my “moving to full fibre” column a couple of months ago (see issue 334, p111). It drew a bigger than normal post bag – or whatever the electronic equivalent is – and it’s great to know that so many readers found it interesting. I promised that I’d give you some updates on switching to a “digital voice” product, and also about adding mesh repeaters to improve the Wi-Fi range. So, let’s start with the latter.

You may recall from the previous column that if you want to use Zen’s digital voice product, you need to stick with its AVM Fritz!Box 7530 wireless router – Zen doesn’t support digital voice on any other kit, although more about that shortly.

I have mixed feelings about the supplied 7530. It’s packed with features (how many other Wi-Fi routers contain a DECT base station?), but it’s also a bit underpowered on the Wi-Fi front. Not just the lack of Wi-Fi 6, which I mentioned in the previous column, but also its range. The 7530 sits in the middle of AVM’s 75xx series: there’s a 7510 that is even more underpowered, although annoyingly it does support Wi-Fi 6, and a 7590 that has more USB and Ethernet ports, and which boosts the Wi-Fi speed, although I’m not convinced that the range is any better. The higher-end models tend to have additional Wi-Fi channels available, so for example the 7530