AVM Fritz! Box 3490 review

Performance, stability and customization.

We couldn't have picked better words to start talking about Fritz! Box 3490 di Shopping Mall. The router of the well-known German giant, in fact, was tested by us thanks to a sample provided by the company itself, which allowed us to verify with our own hands what it was made of. We remind you that we have had the opportunity to try other Fritz! Box models and that you can find the reviews of the 7490 and 7390 HERE and HERE respectively.

Returning now to the track and to the center of the topic of this article, let's start by listing what AVM's technological gem makes available to us, along the lines of the company's best-known and best-performing models:

- VDSL and ADSL2 + connectivity with Vectoring support;

- Wireless AC and AC + N support;

- Ability to function as a NAS via the 2 convenient USB 3.0 ports, backward compatible with the 2.0 standard;

- Routing functionality even when connected to a cable modem or external modem for fiber connectivity or with a UMTS key (UMTS / HSPA);

- Multimedia server for the reproduction of videos, images and music on the network;

- Cloud functionality;

A mix of functions and features that will please geeks and technology lovers smart, and which will also prove useful in creating a single, large, Multimedia HUB from which to draw from different sources.

Packaging and aesthetics

The packaging of the Fritz! Box 3490 is pretty Spartan, but quite immediate and convincing. The outer box, blue in color, contains in fact all the information we need when purchasing, emphasizing on wireless connectivity and on potential offered by the varied options of the router. Upon opening, we will immediately find inside it in plain sight our router and a manual, finally in a small compartment all the cables necessary for operation: power supply, Ethernet cable-> Telephone (4 meters) for the connection of our DSL and finally a comfortable one Ethernet cable di 1,5 meters which can always be useful.

Aesthetically, the router looks quite elegant and well-sized, despite being as large as Fritz! Box 7490, actually measuring 245 x 55 x 175 mm. Externally, at the top of the router, you can find the keys WPS e Wifi; in the part back instead, there are the 4 Ethernet ports, the socket for the power supply, an 3.0 USB port and port DSL; on side leftfinally, the second of the two doors USB 3.0.

First "road" tests

It is always good to remember that the speeds of the standards AC ed N are, respectively, of 1300 Mbps e 450 Mbps and having started talking about wireless technologies insists inside the router, we cannot fail to mention the incredible coverage offered by Fritz! Box 3490. Although not enlarged compared to the well-known Fritz! Box 7490, the model we tested was found to be superior to most of the router models in circulation on the market in the same price range, resulting not only super-fast, thanks to the latest generation connection standards used, but also stable ed efficient thanks to one signal coverage incredibly wide.

The differences in data transfer are also small and almost non-existent, taking advantage of the wireless technologies offered by the product, which allowed us to transfer files to a full speed di about 70MBps wirelessly AC it's about 30MBps wirelessly N; we also found some degradation in the data transfer speed with increasing distance between the router and the devices, less accentuated on Wireless AC than on Wireless N, as can be verified in the graphic to follow within which it is possible to ascertain theefficiency of the wireless at a distance of 1 Meter, 5 Meters and 10 Meters, as well as the consequent degradation of the data transfer speed.

More specifically, the wireless AC it behaved like this in our tests:

1 Meter: Data transfer rate of about 70 MegaBytes per Second;
5 Meters: Data transfer rate of about 62 MegaBytes per Second;
10 Meters: Data transfer rate of about 45 MegaBytes per Second;

making use of technology wireless Ninstead:

1 Meter: Data transfer rate of about 30 MegaBytes per Second;
5 Meters: Data transfer rate of about 20 MegaBytes per Second;
10 Meters: Data transfer rate of about 12 MegaBytes per Second.

The functions are also very convenient "NAS" offered by the router, which allow file sharing within the home network and not thanks to the use of MyFritz, the AVM application for smartphones Android ed iOS which allows access to the storage devices connected to the router even from external networks, effectively becoming a storage space "in cloud".

Infinite possibilities for customization and calibration of the router which, thanks to the incredible and well-known proprietary operating system of the German company, provides users with a vast number of tools ranging from advanced connectivity to real protection against cyber attacks.