Starting from April 1, 2024, we will no longer support FritzBox routers in our network.
For a short while now, we’ve had all the permissions needed to tackle the ongoing issue with FritzBox routers.
We’ve been advising against using FritzBox routers for a while due to their cost and features that are unnecessary for a student dormitory setting. We’ve also linked to this advice in our guide since 2022.
Besides the wasted money, we’ve received complaints from various dorm areas saying, “when I’m away for a while and come back, I have to unplug and replug my router to get online.”
We were able to reproduce this issue widely when we upgraded a slightly neglected dormitory to Gigabit at the beginning of the year. During the upgrade, the dormitory also received Alcatel switches, which we’ve been exclusively using since 2012. With these switches, those with compatible routers could now enjoy Gigabit, but for those using FritzBox, the situation got worse.
Currently, it seems that FritzBox routers are the only ones unable to obtain an IP from our DHCP server a second time, eventually going offline.
We are conducting a small test setup to try and replicate this phenomenon observed in the wild, but it’s taking time.
We should invest in the next generation of switches, but that takes too long considering the short time residents stay in the dormitory, making it unreasonable to ask anyone to daily reset their FritzBox.
Therefore, we’ve decided to phase out FritzBox routers from our network by April 1, 2024, the start of the summer semester.
Those with older devices can receive a special configuration for their connection from us. Old devices are defined as: FritzBox routers that were in use in either of the two dormitories before their upgrade (Konrad-A-Str. and Viktor-R-Str.), i.e., the winter semester of 2023-2024.
In all other dorm areas, FritzBox routers haven’t worked for almost a decade, so we see no legitimate reason for complaints.
Anyone buying a FritzBox, despite our advice since 2022, will have to live with potentially needing to reconnect it daily. We will not invest our volunteer time into a special connection configuration just because someone chose to spend more money on a product we advise against.
When and how we will deploy our next generation of switches, which manufacturer they will be from, and whether FritzBox routers will work with them is not yet decided, and we ask that you refrain from inquiries about this.
Those interested in network technology are, of course, welcome to discuss and research this issue with us, but “I paid a lot of money and want my device to work” is not an argument here!
In short: from the summer semester of 2024, we will no longer support FritzBox routers in our network.