Why not tell us the name of the router so we can learn about something different. Would be interesting to see a router with a built-in DNS server. Most home routers I have seen require people to type 192.168.0.1, 10.0.0.1 or whatever to set it up or to change settings. If anyone wants to try to argue otherwise, I could provide links to countless PDFs of manuals online showing this step in the set up instructions.
The router I'm referring to is specific to a provider. Wouldn't be very useful. I've also observed Fritzbox routers using the fritz.box domain for internal networking out of the box.
Typing "fritz.box" into a browser is useless unless one already has an internet connection.
If it's a remote DNS query then is that really "internal networking".
Looks like there's an ad for NFTs at fritz.box along with some links to Javascript files and nothing else. No content. I think I'd rather just use a local address.
Somehow you skipped step 2 that says: "Enter the address http://fritz.box" which is the expected way to connect to the device and that worked for me even before Internet is set up. What you quote is the alternative method.
It does look like the domain fritz.box is not owned by AVM, the manufacturer of the device. Apparently they didn't manage to register this domain once .box became available. So in the future they might want to use fritzbox.internal, if this proposal gets approved.
Ask yourself: Why would an alternative method be required.
Typing "fritz.box" into a browser without an internet connection will not accomplish anything. To even get an IP address for "fritz.box" there needs to be either (a) an appropriate entry in /etc/hosts assuming the browser does not ignore /etc/hosts, (b) a DNS server on a loopback address or (c) a DNS server on the local network, _and_ the DNS server needs to have the IP address for "fritz.box" (so the person would have to know the address already, before connecting to the internet) _and_ the browser has been configured to use that local DNS server.
To demonstrate, assuming there is not a DNS server listening on the loopback address 127.23.59.88, change the DNS settings in the operating system to 127.23.59.88. Then try typing "fritz.box" to set up the router.
The reason an "alternative" method is provided in the instructions is because without an internet connection, typing "fritz.box" will not accomplish anything except generating an error.
The reason the company suggests that people type "fritz.box" instead of an IP address is likely because the operator of "fritz.box" website is advertising NFTs for sale. Not to mention the data collection the operator of fritz.box and potentially their marketing partners will gain with respect to people who own these routers. For example, everytime someone is configuring their router and types "fritz.box" the operator of "fritz.box" website gets to know about it.
The "alternative" method is the most reliable method, and the most private one. If we review the manuals for thousands of routers, we learn it is the most common method.
Yea sure if people change their resolver away from the one provided by DHCP, they're on their own. But when they get their connection configured by the router, it works, because the router will act as resolver and resolve fritz.box to itself. As I said, worked fine for me.
