FROM THE INDUSTRY
Arguably there’s an advantage to offering premium products because differentiating themselves is one of the biggest challenges ISPs are facing at the moment. There’s an increasing understanding that you can’t use any cheaply manufactured router anymore. With streaming services and multiple devices, customers have much higher demands. Cheap products don’t cut it anymore. The FRITZ!Box ensures fast and stable connections, and it offers a wide range of features and settings. At the same time, it’s easy to use. You can, for example, prioritise certain devices with just a few clicks. For a video call like ours right now, you can tell the FRITZ!Box to prioritise your device, while your son might be playing Xbox next door, so you don’t have to worry about the quality of the video call. Which is an excellent selling point and you deserve every success. People are now realising it’s not just about speed or price. It needs to be reliable and good quality.
solutions. We’ve already launched a range of new Wi-Fi 7 routers and mesh devices, and more will follow. We now also offer mesh sets that come in two or three packs, with repeaters that plug directly into the ONT. With these mesh sets, a FRITZ!Box is not necessarily needed to enjoy a seamless Wi-Fi experience throughout the home. End users often blame their internet connection when their Wi-Fi is playing up. How can ISPs solve that problem? People often think Wi-Fi equals internet. They may even have paid a premium for faster internet, but they have a router that struggles do distribute the high speeds in the home network. Our message is: if you want to have happy customers, you need to offer a device that is up for the job. Otherwise, customers will never be able to enjoy the speeds that come with a good internet connection. What are your plans for next year? Even though we’ve got existing customers here, it’s still a new market for us. We’ve got the products now, and the commercial strategy. It’s all about brand awareness and getting in the doors of more ISPs.
Other ISPs in the UK are now also keen to increase their customer satisfaction with FRITZ! It sounds like you’re positioning yourselves as the John Lewis of routers. There is a growing understanding that if you want quality, you have to pay for it. The saying ‘Buy cheap, buy twice’ applies here. Investing a little bit more initially is actually cheaper in the long run. In Germany, where we have 70% market share, you can see that it is paying off to offer our quality products. At the end of the day, ISPs want happy customers who do not need to replace their router every few months. That was also one of our messages at Connected Britain. As an ISP, you save money in the long run with FRITZ!, and you increase customer satisfaction. When a router stops working, it leads to technical support calls, sending engineers out - it all costs money. Weigh up a few extra pounds for a good product versus technical agents on endless calls, and it becomes obvious which is the better route to take. Where does service fit into this? We do not only offer unique hardware and software, but also pride ourselves on great service. We have created a comprehensive knowledge base on our website with step-by-step guides so that our customers can find the answer to most of their questions at any time of the day. We also offer a service hotline, email support and respond to customers via our social media channels. Many end users contact us directly rather than the ISP’s support, which is also cheaper for ISPs. Which of your products do you expect to sell well in the UK? We offer routers for every internet connection - DSL, fibre, cable and mobile - as well as Wi-Fi mesh repeaters and smart home products. In the UK, DSL and full fibre are of particular interest. We have models for everything - DSL and fibre ports, multi-gig up to 10 gigabits. That also helps with transition. When people move from DSL to fibre, they don’t have to replace the equipment.
www.fritz.com
In the UK, Wi-Fi is very important. That’s exactly what we offer with our mesh
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DECEMBER 2025 Volume 47 No.4
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