Last Updated: 29 / 03 / 10 - Added some small info to the firmware flashing info. If you couldn't get it working before, try again with new info.
Scope...
The following guide contains info on using the Fritz!Box Fon 5050 model in the UK, including various english modifications, cabling and setup info. Some of it may be applicable to the 7050 or other models but it's all majorly 5050 centric.
In short it contains everything I've done with my FB so far. In what was meant to be a simple attempt to change dialplans automatically based on the number of outgoing PSTN calls since a given date (how hard could it be?
), I've encountered numerous problems, gone through 3 different VoIP routers, too many firmware flashes to count, a million workarounds and a good few scripts n tricks to boot. And about 6 months trying so far. So I figure this could be handy to anyone else wanting to do any of the following.
Also, having looked around I could find very little on the 5050 and what there was was in various non-english languages or not very good translations (no offence to you Europeans, it's just good to know for sure when dealing with firmware changes ). So I hope this is helpful to any english speakers who get here via google or wherever.
The 5050
The 5050 is basically a 7050 (seemingly the defacto choice for international users) without the WLAN. All the other functionality remains, so a quick look through the AVM 7050 manual should give you all the info you need.
Price
The main reason I got a 5050 was the price. I didn't need WLAN, and to be honest, becuase you shouldn't really be using it for DSL in the UK anyway (it syncs pretty badly with our DSLAMS), you probably have another router with WLAN anyway so... It also goes for a lot less than the 7050 on ebay. Mine was £22 shipped.
Buying tips:
Check www.ebay.de, go to Erweiterte Suche (advanced search), click the Erweiterte Suche at the bottom of this page, then under Ort tick Artikel erhältlich in (Products Available To) and chose GroBbritannien. Now everything you search for should have a Euro or World shipping option.
Many German users don't accept PayPal (not been conned in like the rest of us) and use Bank Transfer. This actually costs loads to do from the UK, so I'd avoid that and either look for someone with a cash-on-collection option or the little PP logo by the search items.
If you need to ask, or even if you don't, try and see if you can have it shipped by DHL Päckchen. This is a surface mail option but is still relatively quick to the UK (mine took only 4 days), and so long as the item is under 2 kg it's half the price of the DHL Paket airmail that most people seem to use (8.60 vs 17.00 euros).
Branding:
5050s come in at least standard AVM versions and 1und1 versions, both Red/Grey and Black in colour. The choice doesn't matter, just get whatever's cheapest and you can mod them both the same. Also, the age and firmware revision doesn't matter either, both ways you'll end up with the latest 12.4.31 firmware at some point during modding.
Stats:
CPU: AR7 150 Mhz
Flash: 4 MB
RAM: 16 MB
DSL In
ISDN or Analog In
ISDN Out
RJ11 Analog Out x 2
Bare Wire Analog Out
USB Out
RJ45 Out x2
Power
ADSL & ADSL2+
Wiring
Power Adapter
The german 5050s should come with a Europlug rated at 230v 50/60Hz. This is perfectly compatible with the UK power system as it's within a small margin allowed for electrical equipment (usually 250v). Your only problem is getting the thing to fit in a UK socket. You can either buy a simple adapter, or just use a sharp scoring knife to shave off a very small amount (half an mm) of the inside of the two horizontal hole until the Europlug just slides in. The vertical hole is the earth and you need to use a small object to push the earth catch down until it opens the live socket covers and then insert the europlug (either way round should be fine).
IMPORTANT: obviously, you really shouldn't be doing any of this on a wall socket. Do it on an extension lead or something that you can completely disconnect from the mains power before doing any of the above. But, once it's in and on, it's perfectly safe. The only thing it's missing over UK plugs is the earth and, take a look at some of the UK plugs you have lying around, you'll find that many of them don't have an earth pin either and just use a plastic replacement to open the live sockets by pushing the earth pin down.
Phone Wiring
Other than the ISDN / Analog input, all other wiring conforms to UK standards. A regular RJ11 to RJ11 can be connected between a microfilter and the DSL in (even a BT to RJ11 should sufice, although may give lower sync than via an mf).
A regular RJ11 to you phone (RJ11 or BT) can be used in the FON1 & FON2 sockets.
The POTS/PSTN (ISND/Analog) input though isn't standard. For the pinout, check inquisitor's web page on New Zealand Fritz!Box wiring as luckily they use the same BT standards as the UK. In short though, you want to connect pins 2 and 5 of a BT socket (out of 6, although there's usually only 4 actually wired up) to pins 1 and 8 respectively of an RJ45 plug (see the linked page's image for exact locations).
The easiest way to do this is just cut the end off a BT phone cable, strip about 1cm of the outer sheathe off carefully with a knife, figure out which wires are 2 and 5 (you should be able to see the colouring inside the BT plug), clip wires 3 and 4 down to the sheathe, then inset 2 and 5 in to pins 1 and 8 of an RJ45 plug and crimp it down. RJ45 plugs and a crimp tool can be picked up for only a few pounds from eg. Maplins or eBay and are pretty handy for many networking needs
CLIP
One last thing, it *does* support CLIP (caller ID presentation) both incoming and outgoing perfectly, at least in the UK, regardless of what some sites say. If you have problems with it, you may want to use a surge protector for the power plug as some have noted problems with power supply fluctuations affecting the CLIP transfer.
Modding
Files
Firstly, thanks to massinge on the vocesuip.com forums for most of these, and help with the rest of the mods. For a german box I really rely on others who know what they're doing to translate or explain things for me. On the plus side, at least I don't understand all the "you can totally brick things" warning messages I'd be paranoid by if things were in english
The files referenced below, some of which you might need, are as follows. The contents of the .tar files should be a folder called var (not .var) and inside that a single file called index. The contents of these is contained after the relavent links just so that you can make sure you have the correct version (or re-make one if they become unavailable).
fritz_as_annex_a_kernel_args_newer.tar
Update 11/01/10: Use this in replacement of Fritz_kernel_args_annex_a.tar . This is the newer version of the Annex A conversion software which avoids problems with differing kernels on boxes. Taken from http://www.ip-phone-forum.de/showpost.php?p=971638&postcount=1057.
change_brand.tar
This is for changing any 5050 to an avm branded one.
5050_EN_04.36_alpa-b0.3.rar
Massinge's custom English 5050 firmware. Not compatible with ds-mod / freetz.
inglese.tar
Changes the branding of Massinge's firmware to avme (english). Won't work on regular 5050 firmware.
Official AVM Files
Latest firmware: ftp://ftp.avm.de/fritz.box/fritzbox.fon_5050/firmware/
Recovery tool: ftp://ftp.avm.de/fritz.box/fritzbox.fon_5050/x_misc/
Scope...
The following guide contains info on using the Fritz!Box Fon 5050 model in the UK, including various english modifications, cabling and setup info. Some of it may be applicable to the 7050 or other models but it's all majorly 5050 centric.
In short it contains everything I've done with my FB so far. In what was meant to be a simple attempt to change dialplans automatically based on the number of outgoing PSTN calls since a given date (how hard could it be?
), I've encountered numerous problems, gone through 3 different VoIP routers, too many firmware flashes to count, a million workarounds and a good few scripts n tricks to boot. And about 6 months trying so far. So I figure this could be handy to anyone else wanting to do any of the following.Also, having looked around I could find very little on the 5050 and what there was was in various non-english languages or not very good translations (no offence to you Europeans, it's just good to know for sure when dealing with firmware changes
). So I hope this is helpful to any english speakers who get here via google or wherever.The 5050
The 5050 is basically a 7050 (seemingly the defacto choice for international users) without the WLAN. All the other functionality remains, so a quick look through the AVM 7050 manual should give you all the info you need.
Price
The main reason I got a 5050 was the price. I didn't need WLAN, and to be honest, becuase you shouldn't really be using it for DSL in the UK anyway (it syncs pretty badly with our DSLAMS), you probably have another router with WLAN anyway so... It also goes for a lot less than the 7050 on ebay. Mine was £22 shipped.
Buying tips:
Check www.ebay.de, go to Erweiterte Suche (advanced search), click the Erweiterte Suche at the bottom of this page, then under Ort tick Artikel erhältlich in (Products Available To) and chose GroBbritannien. Now everything you search for should have a Euro or World shipping option.
Many German users don't accept PayPal (not been conned in like the rest of us) and use Bank Transfer. This actually costs loads to do from the UK, so I'd avoid that and either look for someone with a cash-on-collection option or the little PP logo by the search items.
If you need to ask, or even if you don't, try and see if you can have it shipped by DHL Päckchen. This is a surface mail option but is still relatively quick to the UK (mine took only 4 days), and so long as the item is under 2 kg it's half the price of the DHL Paket airmail that most people seem to use (8.60 vs 17.00 euros).
Branding:
5050s come in at least standard AVM versions and 1und1 versions, both Red/Grey and Black in colour. The choice doesn't matter, just get whatever's cheapest and you can mod them both the same. Also, the age and firmware revision doesn't matter either, both ways you'll end up with the latest 12.4.31 firmware at some point during modding.
Stats:
CPU: AR7 150 Mhz
Flash: 4 MB
RAM: 16 MB
DSL In
ISDN or Analog In
ISDN Out
RJ11 Analog Out x 2
Bare Wire Analog Out
USB Out
RJ45 Out x2
Power
ADSL & ADSL2+
Wiring
Power Adapter
The german 5050s should come with a Europlug rated at 230v 50/60Hz. This is perfectly compatible with the UK power system as it's within a small margin allowed for electrical equipment (usually 250v). Your only problem is getting the thing to fit in a UK socket. You can either buy a simple adapter, or just use a sharp scoring knife to shave off a very small amount (half an mm) of the inside of the two horizontal hole until the Europlug just slides in. The vertical hole is the earth and you need to use a small object to push the earth catch down until it opens the live socket covers and then insert the europlug (either way round should be fine).
IMPORTANT: obviously, you really shouldn't be doing any of this on a wall socket. Do it on an extension lead or something that you can completely disconnect from the mains power before doing any of the above. But, once it's in and on, it's perfectly safe. The only thing it's missing over UK plugs is the earth and, take a look at some of the UK plugs you have lying around, you'll find that many of them don't have an earth pin either and just use a plastic replacement to open the live sockets by pushing the earth pin down.
Phone Wiring
Other than the ISDN / Analog input, all other wiring conforms to UK standards. A regular RJ11 to RJ11 can be connected between a microfilter and the DSL in (even a BT to RJ11 should sufice, although may give lower sync than via an mf).
A regular RJ11 to you phone (RJ11 or BT) can be used in the FON1 & FON2 sockets.
The POTS/PSTN (ISND/Analog) input though isn't standard. For the pinout, check inquisitor's web page on New Zealand Fritz!Box wiring as luckily they use the same BT standards as the UK. In short though, you want to connect pins 2 and 5 of a BT socket (out of 6, although there's usually only 4 actually wired up) to pins 1 and 8 respectively of an RJ45 plug (see the linked page's image for exact locations).
The easiest way to do this is just cut the end off a BT phone cable, strip about 1cm of the outer sheathe off carefully with a knife, figure out which wires are 2 and 5 (you should be able to see the colouring inside the BT plug), clip wires 3 and 4 down to the sheathe, then inset 2 and 5 in to pins 1 and 8 of an RJ45 plug and crimp it down. RJ45 plugs and a crimp tool can be picked up for only a few pounds from eg. Maplins or eBay and are pretty handy for many networking needs
CLIP
One last thing, it *does* support CLIP (caller ID presentation) both incoming and outgoing perfectly, at least in the UK, regardless of what some sites say. If you have problems with it, you may want to use a surge protector for the power plug as some have noted problems with power supply fluctuations affecting the CLIP transfer.
Modding
Files
Firstly, thanks to massinge on the vocesuip.com forums for most of these, and help with the rest of the mods. For a german box I really rely on others who know what they're doing to translate or explain things for me. On the plus side, at least I don't understand all the "you can totally brick things" warning messages I'd be paranoid by if things were in english
The files referenced below, some of which you might need, are as follows. The contents of the .tar files should be a folder called var (not .var) and inside that a single file called index. The contents of these is contained after the relavent links just so that you can make sure you have the correct version (or re-make one if they become unavailable).
fritz_as_annex_a_kernel_args_newer.tar
Update 11/01/10: Use this in replacement of Fritz_kernel_args_annex_a.tar . This is the newer version of the Annex A conversion software which avoids problems with differing kernels on boxes. Taken from http://www.ip-phone-forum.de/showpost.php?p=971638&postcount=1057.
Code:
#! /bin/sh
##################################################################################
# get Kernelversion for further handling (update 2.4<->2.6)
##################################################################################
case `uname -r` in
2.4*)
echo "install: have Kernel 2.4";
kversion=24
;;
2.6*)
echo "install: have Kernel 2.6";
kversion=26
;;
*)
exit $INSTALL_OTHER_ERROR
;;
esac
#############################################################################
#
# Set Box to Annex A
#
#############################################################################
if [ "${kversion}" = 24 ] ; then
echo "kernel_args annex=A" > /proc/avalanche/env
else
echo "kernel_args annex=A" > /proc/sys/urlader/environment
fi
##################################################################################
ctlmgr
## Bitte keine "rote Meldung"
major=$(grep tffs /proc/devices)
tffs_major=${major%%tffs}
rm -f /var/flash/fw_attrib
mknod /var/flash/fw_attrib c $tffs_major 87
echo -n "" > /var/flash/fw_attrib
rm -f /var/flash/fw_attrib
## Fehler: Kein Fehler
exit 0change_brand.tar
This is for changing any 5050 to an avm branded one.
Code:
#! /bin/sh
INSTALL_SUCCESS_REBOOT=1
INSTALL_OTHER_ERROR=6
LED_DEVICE=/proc/led_mod/led
if [ ! -f /proc/led_mod/led ] ; then
LED_DEVICE=/var/led
echo "set led: ${LED_DEVICE}"
fi
##################################################################################
# Power LED blink
##################################################################################
echo "set INFO led to blink (modul=7, state=4)"
echo 7,4>${LED_DEVICE}
##################################################################################
#cambio in AVM
##################################################################################
echo "firmware_version avm" > /proc/sys/urlader/environment
echo 'echo $0: done' >/var/post_install
chmod +x /var/post_install
echo "set INFO led to blink (modul=7, state=4)"
echo 7,4>${LED_DEVICE}
exit $INSTALL_SUCCESS_REBOOT5050_EN_04.36_alpa-b0.3.rar
Massinge's custom English 5050 firmware. Not compatible with ds-mod / freetz.
inglese.tar
Changes the branding of Massinge's firmware to avme (english). Won't work on regular 5050 firmware.
Code:
#! /bin/sh
INSTALL_SUCCESS_REBOOT=1
INSTALL_OTHER_ERROR=6
LED_DEVICE=/proc/led_mod/led
if [ ! -f /proc/led_mod/led ] ; then
LED_DEVICE=/var/led
echo "set led: ${LED_DEVICE}"
fi
##################################################################################
# Power LED blink
##################################################################################
echo "set INFO led to blink (modul=7, state=4)"
echo 7,4>${LED_DEVICE}
##################################################################################
#cambio in AVME
##################################################################################
echo "firmware_version avme" > /proc/sys/urlader/environment
echo 'echo $0: done' >/var/post_install
chmod +x /var/post_install
echo "set INFO led to blink (modul=7, state=4)"
echo 7,4>${LED_DEVICE}
exit $INSTALL_SUCCESS_REBOOTOfficial AVM Files
Latest firmware: ftp://ftp.avm.de/fritz.box/fritzbox.fon_5050/firmware/
Recovery tool: ftp://ftp.avm.de/fritz.box/fritzbox.fon_5050/x_misc/
Zuletzt bearbeitet:
