The FRITZ!Box makes the Wi-Fi network available in the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz, and in the 6 GHz frequency bands. However, Wi-Fi channels 52 to 140 of the 5 GHz frequency band are not only used by wireless devices, but also by radar systems (for example air traffic control, the military, and weather service), so-called higher-priority users.

To not disturb these higher-priority users, the FRITZ!Box initially only enables Wi-Fi channels 36 to 48 for the 5 GHz Wi-Fi network after a restart or change to the Wi-Fi settings. In addition, the FRITZ!Box checks the higher Wi-Fi channels for higher-priority users. The FRITZ!Box only switches to higher Wi-Fi channels if it does not detect any higher-priority users during the check (DFS wait time) that can take up to 10 minutes. Since the FRITZ!Box informs the wireless devices about the channel change in advance, the Wi-Fi connections of the devices are usually not interrupted.

Even during operation, the FRITZ!Box continuously checks whether the Wi-Fi channels it uses are still unused by higher-priority users. If the FRITZ!Box detects a higher-priority user, it does not use the portion of the Wi-Fi channel with the frequency range occupied by the radar and searches again for up to 10 minutes for higher-priority users. During this time, wireless devices connect using the remaining portion of the Wi-Fi channel.

This behavior is also called Zero Wait DFS (Dynamic Frequency Selection). However, most Mesh Repeaters do not support Zero Wait DFS and must therefore disable the 5 GHz Wi-Fi network during the DFS wait time. This behavior is mandatory in all countries of the European Union.

To ensure that the Wi-Fi network can still be used even while the 5 GHz Wi-Fi network is disabled on the Mesh Repeater (DFS wait time), the FRITZ!Box steers the wireless devices to the 2.4 GHz or the 6 GHz Wi-Fi network or to a different wireless access point if necessary:

• The FRITZ!Box can seamlessly steer wireless devices that support the wireless standards 802.11k and 802.11v from the 5 GHz to the 2.4 GHz or the 6 GHz Wi-Fi network or to a different wireless access point.
• The FRITZ!Box can only steer older wireless devices that do not support the wireless standards 802.11k and 802.11v from the 5 GHz to the 2.4 Wi-Fi network by briefly clearing the Wi-Fi connection. The FRITZ!Box cannot steer these devices to a different wireless access point.

As soon as the 5 GHz Wi-Fi network is available again, the FRITZ!Box steers the wireless devices back to the 5 GHz network or a different wireless access point if necessary.

Note:The FRITZ!Box displays wireless devices that support the standards 802.11k and 802.11v under "Wi-Fi > Wi-Fi Network > Known Wireless Devices" ("Wireless > Radio Network > Known Wireless LAN Devices") with the properties "11k" und "11v".

In the factory settings, the FRITZ!Box is configured so that it can steer wireless devices to one of the other Wi-Fi networks or to a different wireless access point. This is not possible if different names were given to the 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.