People still use UPnP? That's the first thing I disable on a new router.
None of the IoT crap can open ports but I don't need to use a web UI to temporarily open a port on my computer.
I know plenty of shitty routers have terrible security on it and should have it disabled by default, but the protocol itself is pretty useful.
The first thing I would do with a typical residential Internet connection is to ask the ISP to give me an ONT so that I can use my own router, a commodity x86 PC running Linux. Their underpowered plastic boxes simply won't cut it when it comes to complex firewall rules and high VPN throughput. I also don't want to deal with their shitty web UIs and would rather script the setup I want.
I bought my Fritz!Box. My ISP has no control over it. TR-069 and other upstream management protocols have been disabled completely.
So far, I'm easily getting gigabit+ speeds across both IPv4 and IPv6. VPN is too much to ask (beyond emergency LAN access, I suppose) but that's what the home server is for.
The web UI is kind of nice, actually. Maybe not to everyone's taste, but the firewall management is a lot less of a clusterfuck than trying to properly configure simple port redirects over the command line. Heaps better than OpenWRT in my opinion. I've run my own Debian router box for a few years and I can say I'm doing just fine without.
Not at all. They had security bugs, sure, but not constantly. Each device has a randomized admin password from the factory. Some changes require physical hardware access because one needs to press a button to confirm. They support the hardware for ages. Their 7490 model just got a feature firmware update. The model is 13 years old!
In Germany, if you ask someone where his router is he might not know what you talk about. But he understand if you asked about "your fritzbox". (Even in cases where they have something else.)
But enough of the glazing. In 2024 they got sold to private equity. Lets see how the enshittification will treat them.