Fibre and VOIP options

I am a bit unsure what to do about broadband and phone. I hope someone can help.

My current setup is:
-BT Openreach FTTC modem
-TP-link Ax-50 router connected to modem
-Panasonic cordless phone connect to copper phone line
with Zen as my ISP.

It all works fine and I get ~37Mbs download speed.

But the copper phone line is going to be discontinued, so I need to move to digital voice at some point. Also CityFibre have put in a fibre connection to the house (although they haven't told us how to connect to it yet). A faster connection would be quite nice.

Zen have told me they only support a Fritzbox 7530 router, which looks very basic.

My TP-link Ax-50 router doesn't have a plug for plugging the phone socket and I don't think it supports DECT (nor does my phone).

Is it possible to plug the Fritzbox into the TPLink router? Then plug the phone cable into the Fritzbox? Has anyone done it? Is there some special configuration required?

Is a Fritzbox 7530 going to be able to support a gigabit fibre connection to the house?

You could get an analog telephone adaptor (ATA) such as the Cisco ATA190 and connect your Panasonic cordless phone base station to it. You would need a Voip account with the likes of Voipfone, A&A etc. Alternatively there is the Gigaset N300 DECT base station which works well with Gigaset DECT phones. Your Panasonic DECT phones could make calls via the N300 but any advance functions such as transferring numbers between hand sets likely won't work. The N300 can have several VOIP accounts.

Both the ATA190 and the N300 just need a wired connection to the internet via a router which likely wont have to be changed in any way.

Have you had a look at the Zen website, where it seems to indicate you can plug your DECT phone into the FritzBox router?
https://www.zen.co.uk/phone/digital-voice
Hope that's of help.

Edited by dtinstaffs (Fri 24-Feb-23 17:54:09)

I understand I can switch to just using a Fritzbox. But I don't particularly want to. The question is whether I can use the Fritzbox with the existing phone AND the existing router.

Don't underestimate the Fritz box. Zen supplies the latest 7530 AX with a Fibre 900 connection, and it's a very capable device, unless you have some unusual requirement. It allows a landline phone (or cordless base unit) to be connected via the FON socket for use with Zen's Digital Voice service. It can also act as a DECT base for 6 phones and supports WiFi 6. I've no idea if it can be connected to an existing router, but is this a real necessity?

Indeed. I have the Fritz!Box 5530 on a 900Mbps service configured for voice and paired directly with a set of DECT handsets. It never breaks a sweat and has been 100% stable. I also use the built-in VPN support for remote access to the home network when travelling.

It just works, a great little unit.

I don’t use the in-built wifi, preferring to have a separate mesh with gigabit Ethernet backhaul so I can have blanket coverage of the house and garden. The mesh has worked beautifully and I’ve never once had a problem with throughout, latency, or roaming as my mobile devices switch station when they move around the house.

That is useful to know, thanks.

At https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-7530-ax/ it says:
"The FRITZ!Box 7530 AX is suitable for all DSL connections up to 300 Mbit/s."

I understand the CityFibre connection is up to 1000 Mbit/s. So aren't you losing potential bandwidth on a full fibre connection?

That’s referring to the maximum supported speed of the VDSL2 modem (with super-vectoring enabled by the provider).

When using Ethernet (or a native fibre SFP) for the WAN, the throughput isn’t limited by the modem and the system has enough horsepower to easily sustain gigabit PPPoE.

ALso have a look at: https://www.gigaset.com/hq_en/cms/service/compatibil...

The drop downs have Fritzbox listed and they are compatible with most Gigaset handsets


There is also a link/connection/operational agreement between Gogaset and AVM/Fritz.

In reply to a post by AndyBHatesCapcha:

That is useful to know, thanks.

At https://en.avm.de/products/fritzbox/fritzbox-7530-ax/ it says:
"The FRITZ!Box 7530 AX is suitable for all DSL connections up to 300 Mbit/s."

I understand the CityFibre connection is up to 1000 Mbit/s. So aren't you losing potential bandwidth on a full fibre connection?

I think this is irrelevant for a fibre broadband connection (Zen Fibre 900). Using Chrome browser for testing I get an average 920/900. Strangely with Firefox I get 915/665. I did post a question about this but the only answer was way over my head. No complaint from me!

I also picked up a Fritz Repeater 3000, which in a Mesh configuration gives excellent WiFi everywhere.

Overall, including Digital Voice with a Gigaset DECT base unit and phones all round the house, it's perfect for me.

Edited by cjn (Sat 25-Feb-23 10:50:44)