With the Fritzbox 5690 Pro for fiber optic and DSL and the Fritzbox 6670 Cable, AVM introduced two new router models last year that not only support WLAN and Dect, but also support the Zigbee radio protocol. Zigbee is the most popular wireless standard in the smart home sector, used by thousands of smart home devices. Users can use these together with a smart home center (best list) such as Home Assistant (test report) or Homey Pro (test report) for automation. For example, a motion detector can switch smart lights or a smart socket devices on and off.
The Zigbee Fritz boxes are not yet on sale. But AVM has the Fritz Smart Gateway, which can control Zigbee devices in combination with a Fritzbox. This means that AVM potentially opens up thousands of Zigbee devices, so that Fritzbox users can control significantly more smart devices than previously via Dect. And with the announced support for the new Matter smart home standard, even more devices will be able to contact the Fritzbox via the Fritz Smart Gateway over the course of the year. Our test shows how well the Fritz Smart Gateway works in conjunction with Zigbee devices.
Which Fritzbox is compatible with the Fritz Smart Gateway?
The Fritz Smart Gateway is not an independent smart home center, but only works in conjunction with a compatible Fritzbox. All Fritz boxes with Dect support that work with Fritz OS 7.50 are suitable for this.
How is the Fritz Smart Gateway connected to a Fritzbox?
The Fritz Smart Gateway contacts a Fritzbox via 2.4 GHz WLAN or an Ethernet cable. To establish a WiFi connection between the gateway and router, users simply need to press the Connect button on both devices. If you want to connect the gateway to the Fritzbox using an Ethernet cable, you just have to connect the cable. So it couldn’t be easier. Unfortunately, the gateway’s integrated WLAN is only used to establish a connection with the Fritzbox, but it cannot serve as a repeater.
How many devices can the Fritz Smart Gateway control?
With the Fritz Smart Gateway, users can control up to 50 devices, such as radiator thermostats like the Fritz Dect 302 (test report). For Zigbee devices the maximum number is 40 devices, for Dect-ULE devices it is 30, although there can only be 20 Fritz-Dect sockets or LED lamps.
Train Zigbee devices on the Fritz Smart Gateway and create automations
To connect to Zigbee devices, users log in directly to the Fritz Smart Gateway. The Zigbee box is not linked to the Fritzbox user accounts, so you have to create your own user account. For the first login you use the standard password that is printed on the device.
After logging in, the usual Fritzbox interface appears. On the left side, users will find the menu entries; to the right, relevant information or configuration options are displayed. Under the menu entry Smart Home there are devices and groups, automation and operation, just like with a Fritzbox. The data in this area is compared between both devices, so that you can use the Fritzbox to create templates and scenarios for trained Zigbee or other smart home devices. These can also be operated from the Fritzbox. However, you cannot register Zigbee devices with the Fritzbox or create automations. This is only possible via the Fritz Smart Gateway. Users can also use the Fritz Smart Home mobile app to operate the smart devices, but not for teaching Zigbee devices or creating automations.
With the Fritz Smart Gateway, connected devices can serve as triggers, but cannot function directly as actuators. To do this, you first have to create a template or scenario that contains lights and color settings that should be switched on with the automation. This is a little more complicated compared to automations such as those offered by Home Assistant or Homey Pro. There you can also select devices as actuators and corresponding properties such as luminosity or color settings as conditions.
In addition to routines based on templates, users can also configure certain automations in the device settings. For example, it is possible to define a switching process for a device in the settings of a motion detector. Users can also set the switching duration so that the motion detector switches on a lamp after a movement is detected and then switches it off again after about a minute without any movement detection.
Bilder: Fritz Smart Gateway
Pictures
Which Zigbee devices does Fritz Smart Gateway support?
In the test, we tried to pair various Zigbee devices with the Fritz Smart Gateway. For this purpose, we also take variants into account that are not yet on the AVM compatibility list (see also image gallery). This carries devices from the categories lighting, roller blinds, sockets, buttons & switches, as well as repeaters and flush-mounted modules.
In addition to the compatible Ikea E27 LED, we were also able to connect the E27 models from Flair Viyu and Innr to the Fritz Smart Gateway. As with the compatible Ikea model, we can not only switch the lamps, but also adjust the color and brightness and configure a timer. Switching the lamps on and off with the Fritz Dect 400 and Aeotec IM6002 buttons also worked perfectly in the test.
We were able to train the models Frient Motion Sensor Pro MOSZB-140, Sonoff Motion Sensor SNZB-03 and Bitron Home Smabit as motion detectors (guides). However, variants of Aqara (test report) could not be coupled with the Fritz Smart Gateway. However, the Zigbee add-on for the Fritzbox does not yet officially support this device class. And so there are practically no configuration options such as blind time, sensitivity, etc. available for the motion detectors. Not all of the models’ sensors are taken into account either. The Frient variant records not only movement but also brightness and temperature. But unlike with Home Assistant or Homey Pro, these values currently remain hidden.
For the test, we configured the motion detectors so that they turn on an E27 LED when motion is detected and turn it off again after a minute without motion detection. All three motion detectors switch the lamp on immediately after motion is detected. But they take different amounts of time to turn off. With the Frient motion detector the light was switched off after 1:25 minutes, but with the Sonoff and the Smabit it took over two minutes. Due to the lack of configuration options for motion detectors, you have to rely on their default settings and this explains the different response times.
The latter also applies to consumption values of corresponding smart sockets (list of the best). Although these are recorded on the Dect sockets from AVM, the trained Zigbee socket from Aeotec does not provide any consumption values on the Fritz Smart Gateway, unlike the Smart Home centers Homey Pro and Home Assistant (see also picture gallery).
In addition to sockets, LED lamps, buttons and motion detectors, we also tried to connect other Zigbee devices such as presence sensors (guide) and curtain motors (Aqara Curtain Driver E1) to the Fritz Smart Gateway – unfortunately without success.
Prices
AVM regularly sells the Fritz Smart Gateway for just under 90 euros. It currently changes hands for around 75 euros (TechStage price comparison).
Conclusion
The Fritz Smart Gateway was not completely convincing in the test. Thanks to Zigbee support and the announced Matter support, the device has the potential to be the ideal addition for Fritzbox users when it comes to controlling smart devices.
However, the lack of compatibility with a large number of Zigbee devices such as motion detectors and other device groups prevents ambitious users who want to implement smart automation based on sensors such as presence and motion detectors from using the Fritz Smart Gateway as a smart home center. You will be better served with a Home Assistant Green (test report) or Homey Pro (test report), although some of these also cost significantly more than the Zigbee add-on for the Fritzbox. However, if you can cope with the restrictions, you will receive a smart home center with the Smart Fritz Gateway, which works without a cloud thanks to local control of smart home devices and thus offers a particularly high level of data protection.