Fritz! Lab now open to international Fritz! Box users

AVM has opened up its beta firmware site, Fritz! Lab, to owners of international versions of the Fritz! Box series of routers. This lets users download and try out beta versions of upcoming firmware revisions, giving them an early look at planned new features. The Lab has been operating for some time, but only for German users.

At the moment there are beta firmware updates for the 7390 and 7340 models on the site, and I will be trying out the 7390 version as soon as I have time. It promises the following new features and improvements, the most interesting of which are the improvements to the NAS storage features:

• DECT: NEW – secure DECT repeating mode for the FRITZ!Box
• DECT: NEW – displays RSS feeds including the images they contain in the FRITZ!Fon MT-F and C3
• DECT: NEW – customized MP3 ringtone with FRITZ!Fon C3 and MT-F
• DECT: accelerated menu and list display and improved use of telephone book, call history and answering machine for the FRITZ!Fon C3, MT-F and MT-D
• Internet: NEW – child protection software with filters for website and Internet applications
• Internet: NEW – DS Lite support for connections to IPv4 nodes via native IPv6 access
• Internet: automatic setup through supplier via TR-069 expanded to include IPv6 connections
• Internet: IPv6 – new RFC 5969 tunnel protocol: IPv6 Rapid Deployment on IPv4 Infrastructures (6rd)
• Internet: IPv6 workaround: until rebooted, Windows 7 will no longer accept the same prefix once it has been invalidated
• Internet: support for VPN connections to the Microsoft Forefront TMG server
• Internet: sporadically accumulated dynamic DNS updates eliminated
• System: NEW – settings selectively transferred, even from older FRITZ!Box models and select Speedport devices
• System: NEW – current calls and network activities displayed on the homepage
• Telephony: option to open received faxes and listen to messages via the call history
• Storage (NAS): NEW – media server and memory sharing (SMB) can be renamed
• Storage (NAS): NEW – media sharing can be restricted to select USB storage partition (UPnP AV)
• Storage (NAS): NEW – separate passwords for memory sharing in the home network and online
• Storage (NAS): NEW – display of FRITZ!Box storage space in the Windows network environment (SMB share announcement)
• Storage (NAS): fully revised UPnP AV media server 4.0