Category: Network Connectivity Devices

Freebox Ultra now the technical hallmark for home broadband routers

Article

Freebox Ultra router and extender press image courtesy of Iliad Free

Freebox Ultra Wi-Fi 7 router being defined as the cutting-edge for carrier-supplied customer-premises equipment for home networks

The Freebox Ultra’s First Test: Wi-Fi 7 Surpasses Expectations – GAMINGDEPUTY

French language / Langue française

Freebox Ultra : pourquoi elle est devenue rapidement une référence technique | Freenews.fr

Test de la Freebox Ultra : notre avis complet sur la box Internet de Free (frandroid.com)

My Comments

The competitive telecommunications and Internet market in France has led towards some exciting equipment being offered has led to the local telecommunications providers offering customer premises equipment way above the average for this class of equipment.

One firm I have given space to a lot on this site is Iliad who run their “Free” Internet service in France as something that raised the bar for value there. They ended up offering a highly capable piece of equipment in the form of the Freebox Révolution with a highly-capable router / NAS unit / DECT cordless-telephone base station in one Phillippe-Starck-designed box and a “décodeur” set-top box with Blu-Ray player in another similarly-designed box. It even ended up with features like “box-to-box” or “client-to-box” VPN support, software-defined Wi-Fi 5 support and a gyroscopic remote control and both devices benefited from continual firmware upgrades that offered new functionality.

Freebox Révolution - courtesy Iliad.fr

Previously, the Freebox Révolution was defined as the cutting edge for this class of hardware

Now Iliad have taken things further with the Freebox Ultra which is usurping the role of the Freebox Révolution. This, like the Freebox Révolution uses fibre optic as the WAN connection but can work at 10 Gigabit speed, allowing for a competitive 10G Internet service courtesy of Free.

There is an extraordinary local network offering with a Wi-Fi 7 4-band access point with two streams for all of the bands. This media network is protected using the latest WPA3 security specification and there is the ability to steer client devices to the best band to work with. As for the wired network, this Freebox is about multi-gigabit Ethernet all the way with a 10 Gigabit SFP connection and four 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet sockets as a switch.

The CPU in this Freebox Ultra is an ARM Cortex A73 RISC CPU, something that wouldn’t look out of place in smartphones, tablets or the connected car. Here it is about using less power to handle a lot of data and offer a rich user interface. A user can install a NVM3 2280 SSD stick in to this router to have this work as a NAS the Freebox way with support for UPnP AV / DLNA, Apple Time Machine and other common standards. The other approach for connecting storage to this device is to use a USB-C socket with 60W PowerDelivery power for a USB hard disk or SSD of some sort.

Like the recent Freebox setups since the Révolution, this unit works on the Freebox OS which has a user interface that wouldn’t look out of place on a recent consumer or small-business network-attached storage device  or a desktop operating system’s GUI. Here, I wouldn’t put it past Free to add more functionality with a Freebox OS firmware update, even have it work with newer Wi-Fi or other network standards.

This device even comes with an extender known as the Freebox Répéteur 7 which works on Wi-Fi 7 to cover larger French homes like the “mas en Provence” so you can have continual Wi-Fi coverage through them. There is even an Ethernet connection so you could connect a wired Ethernet device to the extender or, perhaps, run a wired backhaul to the Ereebox 7.

Due to this connectivity and these capabilities, it bas been realised that the Freebox Ultra is about achieving a future-proof home network for your French home. This device is typically offered for EUR€49.99 per month with a fibre-optic broadband service that offers Internet, TV and fixed-line telephony of the kind expected in a French competitive telecommunications market.

Once you have the French telecommunications providers and AVM continually offering cutting-edge consumer-premises network equipment, it wouldn’t take long for these firms to compete with Silicon Valley and become an “Airbus” or “Arianespace” equivalent.

Melco introduces an audiophile-grade Ethernet switch to Australia

Previous coverage on audiophile Ethernet switches

Melco S100 Series audiophile Ethernet switch front press image courtesy of Melco Audio

Melco S100 Series audiophile Ethernet switch

An unmanaged Ethernet switch engineered for media streaming now available

– describing the English Electric 8Switch Audiophile Ethernet Switch and its product class

From the horse’s mouth

Melco Audio

S100 Series Entry Level Audiophile Data Switch

Product Page

Distributor Page – Hi Fi Collective

My Comments

Melco S100/2 Audiophile Ethernet Switch rear view press image courtesy of Melco Audio

Melco S100/2 Audiophile Ethernet Switch (rear view – 2 100Mbps Ethernet for media streamers, 6 Gigabit Ethernet and 2 SFP (optical fibre) for media servers and other network hardware)

The multimedia-optimised Ethernet switch, which is an unmanaged Ethernet switch pitched towards network segments that handle primarily audio-video traffic, is becoming a significant product niche as far as unmanaged Ethernet switches are concerned.

These devices assure reliability when it comes to sequenced data packet streames associated with multimedia content. This includes buffers and clock circuitry that is optimised for real-time data handling associated with an audio or video data stream.

There is also extra physical and electrical engineering to minimise electrical noise in the Ethernet network path between the main network and any multimedia endpoints. This may manifest in more sophisticated power-supply, filter or similar circuitry in the device along with the housing being designed to cut down on physical noise and electrical interference. The power supply is even designed to assure voltage stability and clean DC current to the Ethernet switch.

These devices are appealing to audiophiles who listen to file-based audio content held on a media server or NAS, or content streamed through an online music service. As well, some hi-fi names are dabbling in “network-to-the-speaker” setups where your home network is a packet-based digital audio path to the speakers.

But they also appeal to people who use connected TV setups to assure reliability with video-on-demand and FST video services, especially where these services use 4K UHDTV or object-based surround sound. Similarly, as more digital DJ platforms come on board with network-based or Internet-based streaming functionality, these devices will come in to their own with DJs, especially the mobile DJs who perform at weddings, parties or festivals where they need to be sure of reliable network operation in unpredictable locations.

The creator community would also take a shine to multimedia Ethernet switches especially when it comes to streaming content to online services or using cameras, mixers and the like that implement network and Internet connectivity to stream audio or video content. This will become a significant trend as such network-based equipment becomes affordable for project studios and other small-time creators.

I would see this extend towards the increasing trend for Internet-based small-time location-broadcast setups that a wide range of broadcasters, community organisations and individual content producers are taking a shine towards as they engage in traditional or Internet-based broadcast activity. You may have heard or seen these small-time location broadcast setups in action during the COVID plague. This is where radio or TV talent did their shows from home or places of worship broadcast their services online to the faithful at home in order to be compliant with the various stay-at-home restrictions that were in place.

This is due to Internet services that have very high bandwidth becoming available to households and small businesses at increasingly-affordable prices. That is leading to the idea of doing away with the need for broadcasters to set up dedicated wired or wireless audio or audio-video links back to the broadcast studio when they are on location.

Previously I came across the English Electric 8Switch which was one of these audiophile Ethernet switches, But, when I attended the StereoNET HiFi and AV Show at the Pullman & Mercure Melbourne Albert Park hotel on 20-22 October 2023, I saw the Melco S100/2 audiophile Ethernet switch being demonstrated.

This example appears to be designed to an “audio-first” philosophy compared to the previously-mentioned English Electric 8Switch which is engineered for audio and video content. There is the creation of a “slow path” within this switch with 100Mbps Fast Ethernet ports to pass audio content to audio streamer devices, compared to a Gigabit fast path for your NAS, media server, computer or router. There is also a 1.5Mb buffer to assure stable and reliable data transfer across the network connections.

It is perceived that “slow path” engineering for audio-based network traffic is better for master-grade stereo audio files and streams which are considered more delicate than the typical video stream that is part of connected TV. But it could also be a way to extend towards other multimedia streams like video or surround-sound audio.

Like other audiopbile Ethernet switches, this unit is engineered for mechanical stability, has a very low noise circuit and even uses an outboard power supply that is about clean DC power to the device. There is support for optical-fibre Ethernet connections thanks to SFP sockets on the back of these devices. This is primarily to cater to some audiophiles who see fibre-optic links as being cleaner and more robust than copper-based twisted-pair Ethernet links.

The demonstration network setup involved Melco media server and an Auralic media streamer connected via this switch and there was a Wi-Fi segment connected to this switch primarily for control using an app on an iPad. This device was powered by a Melco power supply unit that was audio grade.

Here, it is preferred to connect the multimedia equipment to these switches and have that switch act as a so-called “regional” network switch in your home or small-business network. If you are dealing with a device like the Melco S100, you would need to connect the media-streaming devices to the Ethernet sockets that are optimised for multimedia traffic.

Personally, I see these devices come in to their own with areas where you come across a noisy AC supply or an unstable network that underperforms particularly with multimedia use cases. The Melco S100 demonstrated the former use case during a hotel-based hi-fi show when you think of what happens in a typical hotel such as a large busy commercial kitchen, many heavy-duty refrigeration and HVAC systems, frequently-used lifts and the like across the building. Here, the switch was able to “keep it clean and robust” as far as the audio network was concerned.

You may find audiophile / multimedia Ethernet switches of benefit if you run a demanding multimedia-centric network setup like a project studio, listening-room / home-theatre or small-time location broadcast / streaming setup and want or need to work around a sub-par or unpredictable power or network setup.

But I see multimedia-grade Ethernet switches and similar network hardware become a significant small-network product niche for those of us who are involved in creating or enjoying multimedia content and want to get the most robust network connection for that purpose.

Devolo uses G.Hn as part of an Gigabit Ethernet bridge setup

Devolo Giga Bridge G.Hn access network extender kit press image courtesy of Devolo

Devolo Giga Bridge access network extender kit

Article – From the horse’s mouth

Devolo

Giga Bridge

(Product Page (Deutsch / English)

Press Release (German – Deutsch)

My Comments

Devolo have become the first manufacture to exploit G.Hn HomeGrid “no-new-wires” technology in a retail setting. Here, they have exploited this in their Magic range of powerline-network devices that use this technology rather than HomePlug AV2 technology which their dLAN range of powerline network devices support.

Devolo GigaBridge setup diagram

Why is this so? There is continued development of G.Hn HomeGrid technology with on-premises powerline technology moving towards 2.4GHz bandwidth as well as improved operation for “simple yet secure” network setup. This includes improved performance for powerline-network setups within apartments and similar single-building many-premises developments. Another factor is that G.Hn HomeGrid technology isn’t dependent on a particular wired physical connection medium – it can work with traditional phone-line cabling or TV coaxial cabling.

This was thanks to the HomePNA phone-line-based home-network technology being absorbed by the HomeGrid Alliance and brought in to the ITU G.Hn standards.

But Devolo are taking this further by offering a G.Hn HomeGrid kit that uses either TV coaxial cabling or phone-line cabling to establish a Gigabit point-to-point link using no new wires. But who are they pitching this kit to?

In Germany at least, a significant number of fibre-to-the-premises installations for single-family homes or terrace-style (townhouse-style) homes have the optical-network terminal installed in the house’s basement. The householders then end up installing the home-network Wi-Fi broadband router downstairs in that basement. But they lose out on Wi-Fi performance thanks to the ground floor being made of dense materials that absorb radio waves associated with the Wi-Fi network segment.

A very similar installation scenario affecting some single-family houses with an attached garage is to have the optical network terminal for a fibre-to-the-premises setup installed in that garage. Some of these dwellings may have the wall between the garage and the house proper heavily insulated or thickened because the garage isn’t seen as living space and that wall may be built out of or insulated with material that attenuates radio waves.

The household then has to consider using a Wi-Fi range extender, a powerline-based Wi-Fi access point kit or a mesh network setup to improve the Wi-Fi reception in their living spaces upstairs. This may be good enough if the basement is being purposed as some form of living space like a games room or young adult child’s bedroom.

But this device is designed to connect to the Ethernet WAN connection between the ONT and the Wi-Fi broadband router and “extend” that so the router is installed in the living areas. As well, it is meant to use the telephone cabling or the coaxial cabling associated with a TV aerial, cable TV service or satellite dish.

Here, it is built on the assumption that a lot of the telephone wiring or the TV-aerial wiring is consolidated and exposed within the basement or garage, typically for the convenience of the installers. This will usually be the sign of a properly-installed TV or telephony setup where these spaces were taken advantage of rather than a series of splitters or junction boxes installed downstream to cater for ad-hoc installation of extra phone or TV points.

They offer a similar device that uses G.Hn HomeGrid powerline connectivity for this same purpose. This device, known as the Fiber Connect, isn’t compatible with the HomePlug powerline connectivity standards and is focused as a point-to-point device

At the moment, the Devolo Giga Bridge device is focused on a point-to-point setup primarily for extending the Ethernet (WAN) connection further out. As Devolo works on implementing the G.Hn HomeGrid standard further for home networks, it could be about developing it to work with their Magic G.Hn powerline implementation or implementing it as a multipoint setup for phone-line or TV coaxial setups.

What is showing up here is that Devolo are putting their faith in the G.Hn HomeGrid home-network approach especially in the retail and direct-to-consumer marketspace. This is compared to only marketing devices based on that technology to ISPs, telco and professional installers who supply and install these devices.

When should you consider upgrading your home network router?

Article

Broadband router lights

There are situations that will occur which will require you to replace your home network’s router

How to tell when it’s time to upgrade your router – CNET

My Comments

There are factors that may drive you towards upgrading your home network’s router at some point in its life. Here, you may think that it is still performing adequately for your current needs including your current Internet service level.

You may find that when you sign on to a new Internet service, you may be offered a new Wi-Fi router for your home network as part of the deal. In most cases, this may see you through quite a number of years with your service. But on the other hand, you may choose a “bring-your-own-router” option for your new Internet service so you could keep your existing equipment going for the long haul. But going down that path may not be ideal unless you intend to use up-to-date equipment that can support your new Internet service and current computing devices to the best it can.

Reliability

If you find yourself frequently turning your network’s router and modem off and on to reset your Internet connection, this may be an indicator that your equipment is on its last legs. A good indicator would be if you are on average doing this routine more than once a week.

Another factor to observe is whether your online experience has degraded especially with multimedia content that you are streaming or when you engage in videocalls. Look for situations like excessive buffering or stalled connections that can indicate your router is becoming unreliable.

Speed

You may want to make sure that you are taking advantage of the bandwidth you are paying for so you get your money’s worth.

This would be important if you are upgrading to a service tier that offers more bandwidth for example. For that matter, you may find that after two or three years on the same service plan, you may be aware that your telco or ISP is offering a deal that has more bandwidth for the same price you are currently paying.

Another factor is how sluggish is your home network. This may be noticed with use of network-based media setups like AirPlay or Chromecast yielding substandard performance or print jobs taking too long when you print via your home network. Similarly, it can be noticed if you have many people in your household or business and the network’s performance is sub-par while they use it at once especially for multimedia.

If you Internet connection is provided using a separate modem and router setup, you may want to check if the router is at fault by connecting a computer to the modem directly via Ethernet and using that to assess speed and latency.

Network Security and Software Quality

AVM FritzBox 5530 Fiber FTTP fibre-optic router product image courtesy of AVM

You may find that some devices like the FritzBox 5530 Fiber will have continual firmware updates and keep themselves secure

Another factor that may be worth considering is whether the router’s vendor is supplying regular firmware updates for your unit. This is important in relationship to bugfixes or patches to rectify security exploits discovered within the firmware.

This factor is important due to data-security issues because a bug or security exploit within the router’s firmware can increase the risk of a cyberattack on the network or its devices.

Some vendors may continue to supply software-quality and security updates for their older equipment but cease to provide feature updates that add functionality to these devices. But you have to be careful where the vendor ceases to supply any updated firmware after they have declared end-of-life on that device.

Newer network technology arriving

Telstra Smarty Modem Generation 2 modem router press picture courtesy of Telstra

Newer routers like the carrier-supplied Telstra Smart Modem 2 are most likely to be engineered for today’s Internet service and home network expectations

Increasingly your Internet service may be upgraded to newer technology in order to allow for faster throughput. It is something that will be continuing to happen as Internet service providers increase capacity and speed for newer use cases and applications. You may even find that you have to upgrade your home network router if you are revising your Internet service or moving premises to an area with better Internet service.

If you are using a modem router and you upgrade your Internet service to something that uses newer technology, you may have to replace the modem router with different equipment that supports the new technology properly.

In the case of some fibre-copper setups like fibre-to-the-node, fibre-to-the-cabinet or fibre-to-the-basement that implement DSL-based connectivity, you would have to make sure the modem-router can support the latest DSL specifications fully and properly for that link. Here, a lot of older DSL modem routers support ADSL2 at the best but you need equipment to work with VDSL2 or G.Fast links that a DSL-based fibre-copper link would use.

In some cases, the installation may require the use of a separate modem connected to a broadband router that has an Ethernet WAN connection. Examples of this would include satellite, fibre-to-the-premises or most cable-modem installations.

As well, you may want to improve your network’s speed and security. This is more so with Wi-Fi networks where you may find that you have relatively up-to-date smartphones, tablets and computers on your network. In this case, you would be thinking of Wi-Fi 5 or 6 with WPA2-AES or WPA3 for security.

Distributed Wi-Fi

NETGEAR Orbi with Wi-Fi 6 press picture courtesy of NETGEAR

You may even be considering the use of a distributed-Wi-Fi setup like the NETGEAR Orbi to increase Wi-Fi coverage

Another thing worth considering is whether to implement distributed-Wi-Fi technology a.k.a mesh Wi-Fi to increase coverage of your home network’s Wi-Fi segment across your home or small business.

But most distributed-Wi-Fi setups are dependent on working with equipment sold by the same vendor. That is unless the equipment supports Wi-Fi EasyMesh which offers a vendor-independent approach. At the moment, there are still some early teething points with the EasyMesh standard with some vendors not running with software that is polished for true interoperability.

Most systems that support this functionality may have the ability to work as access points for an existing router or as broadband routers in their own right. You may also find that some home-network routers, especially some of the units made in Europe like the AVM FritzBox devices can support distributed Wi-Fi after a firmware upgrade.

This solution may come in to its own if you are thinking of bringing your home network up-to-date by replacing an old router that uses very old technologies on the LAN side.

Conclusion

If you are dealing with a very old home-network router that is becoming very unreliable or slow, you may have to look at these factors when considering whether to replace that router with a newer unit.

One of AVM’s FritzBoxes is a sign of what a modem router would be about

Article

AVM FritzBox 5530 Fiber FTTP fibre-optic router product image courtesy of AVM

AVM shows an example of what the home network router will be about with the FritzBox 5530 Fiber

Neue FritzBox: AVM bringt neuen Router in den Handel (New FritzBox: AVM brings new router to market) | Inside Digital (German language / Deutsche Sprache)

From the horse’s mouth

AVM

FritzBox 5530 Fiber (Product Page – English / Deutsch)

My Comments

AVM is offering to the German market a Wi-Fi router that is a sign of things to come for home-network routers.

This unit, known as the Fritz!Box 5530 Fiber has a built-in optical-network modem that works with current-specification fibre-to-the-premises networks. It doesn’t matter whether the network implements active or passive topology, which would cater for situations where the infrastructure provider or ISP upgrades the service to active technology for increased capacity.

The fibre-optic cable for the network would have to be equipped with SFP fibre-optic plugs which allow the user to plug it in to the FTTP service. Depending on the FTTP installation, this may be a captive fibre-optic flylead that you plug in to the modem or fibre-optic cable you plug in to the equipment and a wall socket.

Here, this kind of router would come in handy where fibre-to-the-premises services are able to be delivered on a “bring-your-own-equipment” basis. Here, this may be a self-install setup for those premises which have extant FTTP infrastructure for the network that provides the desired service. Or it could be for professionally-installed “new-infrastructure” services where the customer supplies their own equipment or the equipment is supplied under separate delivery.

It would also appeal to ISPs who want to provide a router with integrated optical-network-terminal functionality as their customer-premises equipment.

Connections on AVM FritzBox FF30 Fiber router image courtesy of AVM

On the left is the SFP fibre-optic connection for your FTTP fibre-optic Internet service while the Ethernet socket in the middle outlined in white is the 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet socket.

On the LAN side, there are three Ethernet connections with one being a 2.5 Gigabit connection for “multiple-Gigabit” Ethernet networks along with two Gigabit Ethernet connections. The Wi-Fi segment is a two-stream Wi-Fi 6 setup which allows for high-throughput wireless networking. Of course, these connections work at the stated speed if equipment matching these specifications is connected to them.

The Fritz!Box 5530 Fiber has VoIP adaptor functionality including a DECT base station for six handsets along with an analogue-telephony-adaptor for one regular telephony device, including a fax machine. This setup is SIP compliant for setup with most Fixed-Line IP services that are the way to provide landline telephony in the era of fibre-to-the-premises broadband.

It runs the AVM FritzOS operating system and like other Fritzbox devices, implements automatic software updating. There is support for the AVM FritzMesh arrangement that allows the use of AVM’s network-infrastructure hardware to become part of a wired and/or wireless mesh setup to assure proper network coverage across your home.

At the moment, the Fritz!Box 5530 Fiber sells to the German market for a recommended-retail price of EUR€169. But the fact that it provides a fibre-optic WAN and at least one multi-gigabit Ethernet LAN connection to answer the trend of high-throughput Internet and home-network connectivity.

This could become in the near future the path to go for home-network routers as fibre-to-the-premises Gigabit broadband Internet takes hold. It also underscores what is going on with the design of consumer IT hardware within Europe.

Deutsche Telekom fields their first Wi-Fi 6 DSL modem router

Article (German language / Deutsche Sprache)

Deutsche Telekom Speedport Pro Plus DSL modem router press picture courtesy of Deutsche Telekom GmBH

Deutsche Telekom Speedport Pro Plus – a DSL modem router that uses Wi-Fi 6

Telekom Speedport Pro Plus: Erster DSL-Router mit Wi-Fi 6 (Telekom Speedport Pro Plus First DSL router with Wi-Fi 6) | Computer Bild

From the horse’s mouth

Deutsche Telekom

Speedport Pro Plus: the premium router for Wi-Fi 6 networks (Press Release)

My Comments

Interest still exists in DSL-based WAN technology especially in VDSL-based fibre-copper setups like fibre-to-the-basement or fibre-to-the-cabinet / fibre-to-the-node. Here this is to utilise existing telephone cabling between the fibre-copper point and the customer’s premises while it is worth it to keep this cable in use.

But Deutsche Telekom have offered to their German market the SpeedProt Pro Plus DSL modem router which is the first of its kind for that market to have Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) for the Wi-Fi segment. For network security, this router works to the WPA3 security standards for Wi-Fi networks, and it can support meshed operation with Deutsche Telekom’s Speedport equipment. It is answering a reality that an increasing number of Wi-Fi client devices like smartphones, tablets and laptops are being equipped with Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking.

The use of Wi-Fi 6 network technology is being seen as very important within Europe where most people who live in the cities live in apartments. It also will underscore for countries like Australia where apartment dwelling within urban areas is gaining acceptance.

This device has 12 antennas compared to the AVM Fritz!Box 7590 having eight antennas. This allows for higher local-network-level throughput and increasingly-robust operation. There is also for Gigabit Ethernet connections for the local network and a Gigabit Ethernet connection as an alternative Internet connection. That is important for fibre-to-the-premises connections or fibre-copper setups implementing cable-TV or Ethernet technology and dependent on an external modem.

As is the trend nowadays with European-made home-network routers, the Telekom Speedport Pro Plus has a VoIP endpoint including a fully-featured DECT cordless-telephone base station. This device supports smart-home functionality for smart-home peripherals that work according to Wi-Fi, Zigbee or the European favourite technology that is DECT-ULE. That is part of their Magenta SmartHome platform that they are offering within Germany.

This is an example of Wi-Fi 6 coming to a carrier-supplied modem router and proving its case with Internet subscribers who stick with the equipment offering that their telco or ISP provide. Who knows when your local telco or ISP will offer their service with Wi-Fi 6 equipment in tow?

AT&T moves towards a Mi-Fi with full 5G and Wi-Fi 6 for the American market

Article AT&T Netgear Nighthawk 5G Pro MiFi router press picture courtesy of AT&T

AT&T adds new a Netgear 5G hotspot that you will actually be able to buy | CNet

From the horse’s mouth

AT&T

NETGEAR Nighthawk 5G Hotspot Pro Arrives at AT&T Sept. 18 (Press Release)

5G Product Page (announcing pending arrival of this Mi-Fi hotspot)

NETGEAR

NIGHTHAWK® M5 MOBILE ROUTER (MR5200) – Product Page

My Comments

Telstra has become the first telco in the world to offer a “Mi-Fi” mobile-broadband router that supports both 5G mobile broadband across all bands including mmWave on the Internet side and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity on the LAN side. This was offered when they initially launched their 5G mobile broadband service and this kind of coverage was important for Australian use where 5G services are likely to be deployed in sparsely-populated regional and rural areas.

AT&T now is offering to the general American public a Mi-Fi device that works on the full 5G waveband for its Internet connection side, and Wi-Fi 6 for its local network side. Here, that covers the lower frequencies of the 5G waveband along with the higher frequencies associated with mmWave coverage.

They previously offered a 5G Mi-Fi device but this was offered to a very limited customer base. Also Verizon offers a similar device with 5G and Wi-Fi 6 but their device only works the mmWave bands rather than the whole of the 5G band.

In addition, the Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro, also known as the MR5200,  that AT&T offers has an Ethernet LAN connection for use with printers, network-attached storage devices, desktop computers and smart TVs. It has USB-C connectivity, most likely for power and data (5G modem) functionality.

The Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro is fit for purpose with American emergency service thanks to its ability to work with FirstNet, which is AT&T’s LTE emergency-services communications network,

This device is expected to cost US$510 upfront or US$17 / month over 30 months before service costs. As well, AT&T are offering data service plans for this device with you paying US$60 per month for a 15Gb monthly data allowance or US$85 per month for 35Gb.

Their overage fee is US$10 for every 2Gb over your plan’s limit and, at the moment, they don’t have a “throttled bandwidth” option available for their plans in lieu of that. That will limit AT&T’s 5G mobile-broadband service’s role to a secondary or temporary Internet service. It is symptomatic of an American telecommunications and Internet-service that has become highly concentrated over the last five years with it heading slowly back to the “Ma Bell” days.

AT&T is rolling out 5G mobile-broadband coverage over most of the key cities in the USA that matter with this coverage increasing at the moment.

But AT&T’s Netgear Nighthawk 5G Mobile Hotspot Pro is one of the first devices of this kind offered to a dense Northern-Hemisphere country that ticks all the boxes for the latest wireless mobile-communications technologies. That is to provide 5G mobile broadband across the low frequency bands and high-frequency mmWave bands and supply this data across a Wi-Fi 6 LAN.

It is showing that mobile-telephony carriers are fronting up with Mi-Fi devices that work the 5G mobile broadband and WI-Fi 6 standards, leading to some very capable devices and services.

AVM moves towards value-priced Wi-Fi 6 with the FritzBox 7530 AX

Article – German Language / Deutsche Sprache

AVM FritzBox 7530 press image courtesy of AVM GmBH

AVM to launch the Wi-Fi 6 version of the FritzBox 7530 modem router in Germany as the FritzBox 7530 AX – an affordable Wi-Fi 6 option

AVM Fritz!Box 7530 AX kann vorbestellt werden | Caschy’s Blog

Das ist die neue AVM Fritz!Box 7530 AX | Caschy’s Blog

My Comments

This year is being the year where some home-network hardware manufacturers are offering Wi-Fi routers equipped with Wi-Fi 6 to the mainstream user segment. This includes some of these devices being offered either at an affordable price or as carrier-supplied equipment when you sign up to Internet service. As well some of the devices being offered are infact modem routers that have an integrated modem for the broadband service.

Now AVM has joined the party by offering the FritzBox 7530 AX home Internet gateway router initially to the German market. This unit, which will retail there from 1 September for approximately EUR€169 is based on the FritzBox 7530 modem-router family.

But its Wi-Fi access point is compliant to Wi-Fi 6 (IEEE 802.11ax) wireless-networking standards and uses a 2-stream approach for each waveband. This means it will offer 1200Mb/s data transfer speed on the 5GHz waveband and 600Mb/s on the legacy 2.4GHz waveband. It has a VDSL modem along with the ability to have one of the four Gigabit Ethernet LAN ports as a WAN (Internet service) port for fibre-optic connectivity.

There is VoIP capability with a built-in analogue telephony adaptor for legacy handsets along with a DECT base station for DECT cordless handsets. It supports DECT-ULE-based home automation with a primary intention to work with AVM’s DECT-ULE home-automation devices, namely their smart plugs and thermostatic radiator valves.

Of course, there will be the secure reliable home-network expectations that AVM is know for. This includes keeping these devices automatically updated with the latest firmware, something that was considered out of the ordinary for this class of device.

What is being highlighted is the idea of more companies providing Wi-Fi 6 as part of a commodity-priced home-network router, which will lead to this wireless-network technology becoming more ubiquitous.

Telstra’s latest Mi-Fi router ticks the boxes for future-proof operation

Article Telstra 5G Wi-Fi Pro mobile broadband router product picture courtesy of Telstra

Telstra now have a mmWave-capable 5G hotspot | PC World

From the horse’s mouth

Telstra

Telstra 5G Wi-Fi Pro router

Press Release

Product Page – has latest pricing and mobile-broadband service contracts

5G mmWave Mobile Broadband Technology

White Paper

My Comments

Telstra has fronted up with their latest premium portable mobile broadband router for the 5G mobile-broadband infrastructure. But this “Mi-Fi” known as the Telstra 5G Wi-Fi Pro ticks all the boxes as far as being future-proof is concerned.

Here, on the WAN (Internet) side, this device supports 5G with mmWave technology while on the LAN (local network) side, it works on the latest Wi-Fi 6 standard for 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands thus bringing your mobile network up to date with the latest standards.Of course it can work with existing 4G LTE networks and exploits what Telstra has to offer in this context.  This has a 4500mAh battery that can be removed and can run for nine hours providing full data transfer. It can be charged via a USB-C connection according to the QC 3.0 protocol and the open-frame Power Delivery 2.0 protocol, meaning you can charge it with your brand-new Ultrabook’s charger or run it for a long time using a USB-C PD powerbank.

The Telstra 5G Wi-Fi Pro costs AUD$599 straight up. Or you could buy this device on a post-paid Telstra service plan for AUD$24.95 / month on 24-month plan plus mobile data plan the cost of the mobile-broadband data service.

What is this mmWave 5G mobile broadband all about?

The mmWave 5G mobile broadband technology is an extremely-high-frequency variant of 5G mobile broadband technology which works between 24GHz to 100GHz. Telstra’s initial trial run of this technology at Gold Coast worked on 26GHz. The same technology has been sued with various fixed point-to-point wireless links and satellite-Internet services but is use as a mobile broadband technology is what is being identified here.

Due to the very short wavelength, mmWave 5G technology will have a short operating range of a few hundred metres from the base station. This means that to cover a significant area, the service provider will need to install many “femtocell” base stations across the area and they will typically operate at a signal strength similar to a Wi-Fi access point or router. It means that the electromagnetic energy levels are 1000 times below the maximum energy level expected for safe operation.

Therefore mmWave 5G technology is pitched for operating environments where there is a high concentration of users so as to avoid “loading” very few base stations with many users, thus denying the users adequate bandwidth. This is a situation most of us will have experienced when attempting to benefit from an Internet resource on our mobile devices while on a packed commuter train.

Here, you will see this technology be used at busy public-transport interchanges including airports; event venues like convention centres or sports stadiums; or shopping centres. You may even find it being used in high-rise residential, commercial and hotel developments where there is expected to be many people within the development.

At the moment, Telstra has to license the necessary spectrum in order to set up a mmWave 5G service and will need to see other devices come on board prepared for this technology.

mmWave 5G mobile broadband will simply be pressed in to service as a complementary technology to the existing 5G mobile broadband technologies. In this case it is about highly-concentrated operating environments with many devices.

An unmanaged Ethernet switch engineered for media streaming now available

Article

English Electric 8Switch audiophile Ethernet switch press picture courtesy of The Chord Company

English Electric 8Switch audiophile Gigabit Ethernet switch

English Electric’s NEW 8Switch Audiophile Ethernet Switch | Audio Bacon

From the horse’s mouth

English Electric

8Switch (Product Page)

My Comments

I have covered on HomeNetworking01.info the fact that the home network is being considered part of the home audio and video scene, even in the context of high-end applications where excellence is considered paramount. This is due to the rise of  audio-video content-streaming services including Spotify and Internet radio; along with the use of DLNA/UPnP-AV to facilitate the use of network-attached storage devices to share multimedia with dedicated home AV equipment. Have a look at these articles, and this one highlighting the Naim NDX audiophile network media player in order to see what I am about with this trend.

Naim NDS network audio player

… fit or audiophile network media players like the Naim NDX and NDS network media players

In the UK, where there is a significant small industry around esoteric hi-fi, a company has come forward with an unmanaged Gigabit Ethernet switch optimised for streaming multimedia, especially high-end music content. It is one of the first network-infrastructure devices targeted to the home or other small networks that is optimised for this purpose.

English Electric, a historic electrical-engineering brand resurrected by the Chord audiophile hi-fi connections brand, has answered the reality of the home network being part of a hi-fi setup. This is due to streaming content services like Internet radio, Spotify and Tidal along with the use of NAS units and DLNA-compliant network media players to play master-quality audio files through hi-fi setups.

Dish Joey 4K set-top box press picture courtesy of Dish Networks America

or set-top boxes and smart TVs associated with Netflix and similar online video services

This switch, known as the 8Switch, has been engineered for high data-packet reliability and resistance to electrical noise and mechanical vibration.

It uses a power supply of a similar standard to what would be used to power medical equipment in a hospital which is about providing clean reliable smooth power to the device while keeping AC-borne electrical interference out of the circuitry and network. The aluminium housing is designed to isolate the circuitry from surrounding mechanical vibration to assure reliable operation. Even the Ethernet sockets are optimised for high reliability and low noise in order to satisfy demanding audiophile/multimedia applications.

The clock circuitry that sequences the flow of data through the switch is specially optimised for real-time media streaming. This is thanks to a highly-optimised custom-designed crystal oscillator that assures high accuracy and reduced electrical noise, which yields reduced jitter and packet loss.

At the moment, the English Electric 8Switch is available in the UK for GBP£450 and is being sold through some UK-based hi-fi boutiques who sell Chord high-end audio cables. They will even throw in one of Chord’s audiophile/multimedia-grade Ethernet patch cords so you can connect it to your home network or a network AV component with the right cable.

Chord initially pitches the English Electric 8Switch being pitched to be used as a regional switch to interlink a cluster of network-enabled AV components include a NAS like a ripping NAS used primarily for storing multimedia content. It would be uplinked to your existing home-network router for Internet access when it comes to using streaming services or the rest of your home network.

I also see it of benefit for small-business and community-organisation audio/video setups that are heading towards using IP networks as an interconnection method. This would include those churches heading towards online livestreaming of services or small production teams using the latest network-based audio-video technology. It can even appeal to broadcast-LAN subsystems like Sat>IP where you are using multiple devices and want assured reliability for your devices’ network connection.

The English Electric 8Switch is another example of a home-network Ethernet switch that has been designed for a specific niche and devices like this could pave the way for companies to design network-infrastructure hardware that answer these specific needs.