The FRITZ!Box makes the Wi-Fi network available in both the 2.4 GHz and 5 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 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 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 the other Wi-Fi network or a different wireless access point. 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.