New Fritz!Box 7390 firmware released

AVM has finally released the promised new firmware for the Fritz!Box WLAN 7390 which I reviewed a few months ago. I've been using the beta version of this for some time, which still had quite a few rough edges, so I was interested to see the final version (84.04.87).

The biggest visual change is a complete revamp of the opening 'Overview' page, with much more status information clearly displayed.

The new Overview page

The other big and very welcome feature is the addition of Guest Wifi Access. This lets you setup a separate Wifi network (2.4GHz only), with its own security. It uses a separate subnet to the main Wifi network, so users can't access your home network, just the internet.

Guest Wifi Access has been added

Another welcome feature is the return of MAC cloning, something I managed to convince AVM was still something of great use to many users outside Germany.

The return of MAC address cloning

Power consumption should be improved slightly by the addition of a Green Ethernet function that turns off power to unused ports. [UPDATE 4/1/11: No, it doesn't - see this post to find out what it really does]

Green Ethernet function

There are a lot more tweaks and bug fixes, including a new USB printer control that automatically controls the print queue for multiple network users, releasing the printer when a print job finishes. FTP access for NAS devices has also been added. The Night Service for the Wifi can now be scheduled on a daily basis.

The international version of the firmware can be downloaded via the Fritz!Box's automatic update tool in the System menu. The full list of changes can be seen in this text file