Fritz acknowledges Fritzbox problem under certain conditions

The current router firmware FritzOS 8.20 does not always behave as desired. In recent weeks, reports have increased about speed reductions on some Fritzboxes, such as the DSL model 7690, in a specific configuration: the router is connected behind a separate fiber optic modem. In such cases, download and upload rates can decrease. In an extreme case, speeds of less than 10 instead of 500 Mbit/s are mentioned.

Faulty Packet Management

Tinkerers have already discovered that packet processing in the router is to blame. Normally, this is handled by an optimized logic block in the Fritzbox processor. Apparently, FritzOS 8.20 can cause hiccups here. The manufacturer confirms the problem but generally assumes minor performance losses.

"After updating to FritzOS 8.20, slight performance changes may occur in certain operating states for the mentioned models. We have analyzed the behavior and will provide an update for the models," Fritz writes in a statement to heise online.

"For the Fritzbox 7690, there is already a lab version that addresses the performance change. The behavior only occurs when packet acceleration is activated and mostly only when the Fritzboxes are operated behind a fiber optic modem. With DSL connections, no performance changes occur. As a preliminary, temporary workaround, we recommend deactivating the 'Packet Acceleration' function in the Fritzbox settings (Help and Info > Fritzbox Support > Packet Acceleration)."

The web interface can be accessed by default via the IP address http://192.168.178.1/ in the browser. According to user reports, it is sufficient to deactivate the second menu item 'Hardware Acceleration'. Then packet processing runs via the CPU cores; this can only slightly increase electrical power consumption. The checkbox must be removed with every router restart, otherwise hardware acceleration will reactivate itself. For the Fritzbox 7690, there is the lab version 8.24, which is said to contain a fix.

(mma)