FRITZ! BOX 7590 AND FRITZ! REPEATER 2: HOW TO SET UP A MESH NETWORK

How many time have you found yourself with the Wi-Fi network icon marked with a few notches? AVM may have the solution for you. The German company, which produces the popular FRITZ! Products, has two complementary devices in its list, FRITZ! Box 7590 and FRITZ! Repeater 2400 , which are able to offer optimal coverage of the Wi-Fi network.

For more details on price and product availability, you can refer to the official AVM website, this page for the modem router and this page for the repeater . At the time of writing this guide, the total price of the two products does not exceed 360 euros (269.99 euros for FRITZ! Box 7590 and 89.99 euros for FRITZ! Repeater 2400).

WHAT A MESH NETWORK IS AND WHY IT CAN BE USEFUL

Giving Wi-Fi coverage in larger homes isn't easy at all. This is where the mesh network comes into play , which uses a mesh structure to better reach even the furthest points from the router. FRITZ! Box 7590 and Repeater 2400 can be placed in different parts of the building, passing the signal to each other and expanding it.

The simplest practical example is that of a user living in a multi-storey house. Generally, especially in older buildings with thicker walls, it is difficult to get the Wi-Fi signal to full strength in all rooms.

Think, for example, of a modem router located in the living room, which cannot reach the bedroom on the upper floor by itself. Although the home Internet connection is able to reach a certain speed in download and upload, the Wi-Fi signal is "damped", so much so that it is unable to repeat the performances obtained by using a device in the room where it is placed. the modem router.

Instead, by placing a repeater between the living room and the bedroom, perhaps in an intermediate room where the Wi-Fi signal is still optimal, the device will "collect" what is received by the modem router and expand it into the other rooms . This mechanism can also be performed with multiple repeaters, depending on the size of the building involved.

For some environments a mesh network could be a godsend and solve many problems in terms of Internet connection. We are not referring only to private homes, but also to working environments such as an office. What is certain is that you need the right devices to set up a stable mesh network, since not all routers and repeaters support the same Wi-Fi standard or are actually compatible with each other.

For this reason, it is important for the effectiveness of the network to purchase products designed to "collaborate" with each other , just like the FRITZ! Box 7590 and FRITZ! Repeater 2400, which both support 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks. This also make the installation process much easier.

CONFIGURATION IN A FLASH WITH FRITZ! BOX 7590 AND FRITZ! REPEATER 2400

Once the two products had been extracted from the package, we immediately connected the modem router to the power socket and inserted the DSL / VDSL cable to the appropriate port, that is the leftmost one on the back of the FRITZ! Box 7590. After the lights of the router turned on, we moved to the PC and accessed the appropriate Wi-Fi network created by the modem-router, using the unique password located under the device. Once you have reached the fritz.box configuration portal and entered the appropriate password, also written on a sticker under the modem router, the setting of the FRITZ! Box 7590 has begun.

 

A few simple steps have guided us in the choice of language, update method and provider. Here is an interesting gem: all the main Italian providers are already selectable, without the need to manually enter the from. A few more clicks on the "Next" button, a connection check, the possible setting of your own numbers (the product can also act as a switchboard for DECT, IP, ISDN and analogue) and the choice of SSID and network key have us quickly led to the main modem-router management page, as well as to a functioning network.

To do everything precisely, the user can already carry out a software update here , since FRITZ! are supported and improved over time.

At this point in the configuration, one of the historically most "tough" rooms in the building where we performed the test did not have an optimal connection. So we took the FRITZ! Repeater 2400 and plugged it into a socket halfway between the modem router and the room with low coverage. As soon as the status LED started flashing, we pressed the red Connect button, went to the modem router room and used the WPS button placed in plain sight.

By doing so, the two devices were paired in no time and the FRITZ! Repeater 2400 became operational as a wireless bridge, finally making our room reach the maximum of the Wi-Fi signal notches, reaching the best even at those devices that are far from the modem router, which in this case acts as the master of the mesh network.

SSID and network key are the same for both the router and the repeater , so the terminals have no problem connecting to the device which guarantees them the best Wi-Fi signal. Furthermore, the configuration of the mesh network can be done directly from the fritz.box portal, although the repetear also has its fritz.repeater, so that the user can independently access his settings (the access key for the portal configuration may be different between the two products). In short, FRITZ! Box 7590 and FRITZ! Repeater 2400 allow you to create a mesh network in a few minutes, for an easy configuration that is anything but obvious.

 

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