Fritzbox and Radar Detection

HI
I have a Fritzbox 7530ax from Zen for my FTTP the router appears to be ok apart from one annoying major issue it is permanently disabling 5GHz wifi due to a false positive of radar detection
(why they implemented such a god dam stupid feature is beyond me). I live on a hill with a fair amount of microwave devices around me, I've used all manner of other routers Draytek, Netgear Tplink amongst them but this thing has me beat, what I need is the ability to turn off Radar detection I fear I will be banging my head against a brick wall with it being of German origin they always know best of course which they don't, I have had many a run in with them at my time with Motorola.
So has anybody got a way of turning off radar detection please failing this I need an alternative but fly in the ointment is that I have digital voice as well which will no doubt make make options rather limited.

Regards Ian

According to AVM setting 5GHz manually to channels 36-48 under Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Channel should stop it disabling 5Ghz due to radar detection. As for other routers Zen will only let you use digital voice on their router and will not provide the settings to set up on 3rd party routers.

Edited by johnno101 (Fri 28-Oct-22 19:30:07)

You can't disable DFS on the majority of the 5GHz channels in the UK and europe as it is mandated by the standards. If the manufacturers didn't abide by them and were found to have defeat mechanisms they would be prohibited from selling their equipment and/or prosecuted.

In addition to the original indoor-only non-DFS channels 36-48 (centre frequencies 5180-5240) Ofcom also permit the use of channels 149-165 (centre frequencies 5745-5825) without DFS under Voluntary National Specification 2030/8/3. Not all manufacturers have added support to their firmware for these.

I have the older 7530 (non-AX) and I fix the channel to one of the 36-48 ones because I also use a TP-Link wifi client and it can't even see the high-numbered channels that the Fritz otherwise favours.

Annoyingly, my Fritz has a bug where it occasionally ignores the fact that I've fixed the channel and jumps back up to channel 100 or something (even though the UI still says it's channel 40 or whatever). I have to change the channel to something else then change it back again to get back to the selected channel. I reported this bug to them over a year ago but they never got back to me and they never fixed it either.

Just mentioning in case you have that problem too!

I have a 4060 meshed with two repeaters on a FTTP connection which plays tunes with the 5GHz channels. In practice, in has no effect on VOIP or streaming. This article explains more:

https://en.avm.de/service/knowledge-base/dok/FRITZ-B...

This is the important section from the link:

This is not possible if different names were given to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz Wi-Fi networks in the FRITZ!Box or the other wireless access points were not correctly integrated into the Mesh. In this case you must optimize the Wi-Fi network of the FRITZ!Box.

Edited by lexden16 (Fri 28-Oct-22 20:44:32)

Yes I'd been doing further reading on this topic, the crazy thing is I've not come across this at this location ever before, I doubt the sensitivity on this fritz is any better than previous routers which I've used including ones with high gain external antennas this is what leads me to believe I'm looking at false positives. I may have to contact my old company to borrow some test equipment and try and discover what it is, my own kit it is limited at 5GHz

I've been using the the Fritzbox for the phone connection, but it is sat behind a different router connected via wi-fi - not sure it would work on Zen's digital voice.

The other option is switch off the wi-fi and have a Wireless Access point or a router that can work as one

I am not familiar with Zen's Digital Voice service. How does it differ from a VOIP service offered by other service providers?

My FTTP connection is with Aquiss and my VOIP connection is provided by AAISP.

From comments I’ve read but not investigated I believe it’s a problem to use another device probably more down to Zen not wanting you to do it..

That’s probably not such a bad idea I may tap up my friend for some ubiquiti Wi-Fi gear, first offI’ve still not given up on the Fritzbox

In reply to a post by flex5k:

HI
I have a Fritzbox 7530ax from Zen for my FTTP the router appears to be ok apart from one annoying major issue it is permanently disabling 5GHz wifi due to a false positive of radar detection
(why they implemented such a god dam stupid feature is beyond me). I live on a hill with a fair amount of microwave devices around me, I've used all manner of other routers Draytek, Netgear Tplink amongst them but this thing has me beat, what I need is the ability to turn off Radar detection I fear I will be banging my head against a brick wall with it being of German origin they always know best of course which they don't, I have had many a run in with them at my time with Motorola.
So has anybody got a way of turning off radar detection please failing this I need an alternative but fly in the ointment is that I have digital voice as well which will no doubt make make options rather limited.

Regards Ian

Simply set a channel to 48 or below, problem solved.

Router manufacturers that develop wi-fi routers/access points that can operate in the same range as radar have to legally implement DFS as the router has no way of determing if it's military rader or not and that's kind of the point.

Edited by techguy (Tue 01-Nov-22 19:22:17)

Digital Voice is quite expensive compared to other providers.

I've been with Andrews and Arnold for 18 months, costs £1.20 per month plus about 1.5ppm for calls; configuring it to work with the router is a bit of a pain but not too difficult if you have the know-how. If you go with them I'll be happy to let you know my settings.

In reply to a post by nickt:

Digital Voice is quite expensive compared to other providers.

I've been with Andrews and Arnold for 18 months, costs £1.20 per month plus about 1.5ppm for calls; configuring it to work with the router is a bit of a pain but not too difficult if you have the know-how. If you go with them I'll be happy to let you know my settings.

I am also with AAISP for my VOIP service. If I recall, the main issue that I had with my F!B was getting tones to work.