Tech

Fiber offer: what is the best internet box in 2022?

Optical fiber is here to stay, but is not yet fully implemented. To find the best fiber offer for your home and the ideal package according to your needs, it is better to understand the offers of each operator and know how to compare prices. This file will allow you to see more clearly.

Fiber optic offer

“Wi-Fi”. Behind this term pronounced by many people hides an important truth: the fixed Internet is not about to die, even though smartphones are now supplanting computers and 4G and 5G offer significant speeds. If ADSL is dying, it’s not going away anytime soon.

Accessibility to optical fiber or very high speed broadband in general is still far from being a reality for all French households. Many households still cannot subscribe to a fiber offer in 2022. But the government is working in this direction. For those who have a choice, how do you determine the best operator and the best plan for you? These questions are answered in this file, which will allow you to choose the best fiber optic offer according to your needs.

The best fiber optic offers of the moment

Like mobile plans, operators regularly offer promotions on their FTTH subscriptions. If you are looking for a fiber offer at the best price, this article takes stock of the different options of the moment.

Freebox Pop: the most balanced Free offer, from €29.99 per month

Freebox Pop

SEE THE FREEBOX POP FIBER OFFER

Launched in 2020, the Freebox Pop offer was an immediate success. A little less than two years after the lackluster launch of the Delta, the Freebox Pop subscription has corrected its main faults. Free offers here a very comfortable fiber offer from €29.99 per month and without commitment. This is the price to pay the first year for new subscribers, then it increases to €39.99 per month.

The subscriber benefits from a throughput of 5 Gb/s (shared) with up to 2.5 Gb/s on a single Ethernet port. The downlink speed is 700 Mb/s. This is one of the best fiber offers in terms of speeds and it has the advantage of costing less than the competition’s proposals. The TV component includes 220 channels at no additional cost and you systematically benefit from a free year’s subscription to Canal+ Series (VoD).

The offer includes the Internet box, the Pop player and a WiFi repeater. Not to mention telephony (calls to mobiles in mainland France, overseas departments and to landlines in more than 110 destinations). By subscribing to the Freebox Pop offer, the Free Mobile subscription (5G/4G) costs only €9.99 per month for an unlimited connection.

  • Speeds: 5 Gb/s in reception and 700 Mb/s in transmission
  • Calls to mobiles in mainland France, overseas departments and to landlines in more than 110 destinations
  • TV: 220 channels
  • One-year Canal+ Series subscription included
  • Each additional Freebox Pop TV box is charged €4.99 per month
  • The Free Mobile 5G/4G package is €9.99 per month for Pop subscribers.

SEE THE FREEBOX POP FIBER OFFER

Orange: Livebox Fiber from €22.99/month

Orange Livebox

At Orange, you have the choice between the Livebox Fiber and Livebox Up Fiber offers. The first is available from €22.99 per month for the first year, then increases to €41.99. You therefore benefit from a reduction of 45% for the first 12 months. Note that you will have to commit to the period. As for the characteristics of this fiber optic offer from Orange, the uplink and downlink speeds are 400 Mbps each and you benefit from the TV option included with 140 channels available.

  • Speeds: 400 Mb/s in transmission and reception with the Livebox 5 Internet box
  • UHD TV decoder: Orange TV with 140 channels available at no extra cost
  • Unlimited calls to landlines in mainland France and more than 100 international destinations.

If the Livebox Fiber is more than enough to cover the Internet needs of most households, it is possible to subscribe to a much more powerful fiber offer from Orange. The Livebox UP Fiber subscription is offered at €30.99 per month for 12 months then €49.99 the following year. For the additional ten euros, the downlink goes to 2 Gb/s shared (1 Gb/s per device). In upload, it is 600Mb/s.

Other advantages: with this offer, Orange offers Wi-Fi 6 thanks to a repeater which makes it possible to extend the signal throughout the house. You also have the possibility of requesting a 2nd TV decoder and a Multi-screen TV recorder which allows you to record up to 100 hours of programmes. To summarize :

  • Speeds of the Livebox Up Fiber offer: 2 Gb/s shared (1 Gb/s per device) in reception and 600 Mb/s in transmission (Livebox 5 Internet box)
  • UHD TV decoder: Orange TV with 140 channels available at no extra cost
  • Unlimited calls to landlines in mainland France and more than 100 international destinations.
  • Wi-Fi 6, 2nd TV decoder and an optional Multi-screen TV recorder.

SFR fiber from €18/month

sfr box 8x

The SFR Basic Fiber offer is the most balanced in terms of price / MB ratio. From €18 per month, you have access to a speed of 500 Mb/s in both directions with the SFR 7 box. This is the price of the first year which then increases to 38 € per month, without commitment. If you want to take advantage of better speeds and WiFi 6, opt instead for the new SFR Box 8 Internet box which increases the throughput at 1 Gb/s in reception. The price increases to €28 per month the first year and then €45 per month, all without commitment.

The second level of SFR’s fiber offer and the Fiber Power subscription. If you choose Box 7, the proposed start is 1 Gb/s for a price of €24 per month for the first 12 months. You will then pay €43 per month, without obligation. If you opt for the new Box 8, the speed increases to 8 Gb/s for €34 per month the first year. After this period, the price rises to €50 per month. Finally, note that SFR Fiber offers entitle you to at least 160 channels (200 for Power offers).

  • Speeds: 500 Mb/s, 1 Gb/s or 8 Gb/s depending on the formula
  • Unlimited calls to landlines in France + 100 countries
  • TV: more than 160 channels (SFR Fibre) or 200 channels (SFR Fiber Power)
  • 10 GB of storage on the SFR Cloud.

Bouygues: Fiber Bbox from €15.99/month

bouygues price bbox

Fiber optic offers at Bouygues Telecom are available in 3 ranges: Bbox Fit, Bbox Must and Bbox Ultym with different Internet speeds and a 1-year commitment. For any new subscription, the first 12 months are billed at a reduced price. In addition, until March 27, 2022, Bouygues Télécom offers you the first two months. This is a refund offer.

Characteristics of the Bbox Fit offer: Fiber Internet + Telephony at €15.99 per month for 12 months, then €29.99 per month. The accessible speeds are 300 Mb/s in download and 200 Mb/s in upload. Option: Wi-Fi 5 repeater. You also get unlimited calls to landlines in France +

Characteristics of the Bbox Must offer: Internet Fiber at €22.99/month for 12 months, then €39.99 per month. The accessible speeds are 1 Gb/s descending and 400 Mb/s in transmission. Unlimited calls to France mobiles + France landlines + of which Bbox 4K TV decoder 128 GB TV recorder.

Characteristics of the Bbox Ultym fiber offer : Internet fiber at €28.99 for 12 months, then €46.99 per month. The speeds are 2 Gb/s downlinks and 600 Mb/s uplinks. You benefit from a Wifi 6 repeater on request. Unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles in France and to landlines in more than 110 countries are included

To summarize :

  • Speeds of Bbox fiber offers: up to 2 Gb/s in reception and 600 Mb/s in transmission
  • Bbox 4K TV decoder: more than 180 channels + TV recorder (from the Bbox Must offer)
  • Unlimited calls to landlines and mobiles in France and to landlines in more than 110 international destinations.

How do I find out if I am eligible for fiber optics?

orange fiber

The deployment of fiber optics in France is progressing every year. The works for its installation are first of all accepted by the municipality, before the owners of buildings or houses choose to equip themselves with it. Also, it often happens that your municipality is fibered, but that this is not the case of your home. If you are a homeowner, then all you have to do is contact your operator to have your house connected to the network.

If you are a tenant, you have no other option but to contact your union and pray that it will make this a priority issue at the next meeting. All the operators are not necessarily present on the same line, the one having carried out the operation having 3 months of waiting before others can settle. In general, at least 2 operators are available per building.

Do you visit apartments and do not know exactly what is going on? Operators provide online maps or eligibility test forms that allow you to determine the coverage of an area or even an entire building. Go to the desired operator’s website to check if you can subscribe to a fiber offer. In addition, when visiting an accommodation in the event of a move, be attentive in the hall: when optical fiber is available, or will be soon, a metal plate is installed there to indicate it.

If you are already installed, you can go to the operator of your choice so that it, thanks to your address or your telephone number, tells you whether or not you can subscribe to a fiber optic offer. However, it is difficult to establish the best operator for you. At present, Orange is the operator with the most fiber subscribers and its network is the most developed, with very good speeds, but at a high price.

All the other operators also offer comfortable speeds, notably Free. With its Freebox Pop offer, you benefit from a speed of up to 5 Gb/s (shared) for around forty euros per month, excluding promotions. In the same price bracket at SFR and Bouygues Télécom, you have 1 Gb/s fiber offers.

FTTH, FTTB, FTTla, what’s the difference?

You have surely seen all these acronyms when it comes to fiber optics. Often, we speak of “real” and “false fiber”, without necessarily clarifying this situation. So let’s go back: optical fiber is a type of connection that is based on the transmission of light rather than a digital or analog signal, unlike at the time. As a result, it is much faster than previous technologies, and does not lose intensity over a large distance offering a connection that is not only faster, but also more stable.

Not all fiber connections are created equal, however. Here are the different possible connections:

  • FTTH, Fiber to the Home : the optical fiber is directly connected to your house and goes to your box, giving the best possible speed since the whole chain is included.
  • FTTB, Fiber to the Building : the optical fiber is connected to your building, but the apartments within it are then connected in copper. Thus, the data is slowed down by the last meters to be covered within the dwelling, offering a lower speed.
  • FTTla, Fiber to the last amplifier : the optical fiber is connected to the nearest plot in your neighborhood, before arriving at your building or your copper house. This is what is commonly called the “false” fiber, since a large part of the data actually travels on a coaxial cable, which is far from providing the same speed as optical fiber.

It is therefore better to favor FTTH fiber, not only to have the best speeds, but also to be sure to have the technology that will suit you over time. FTTB and FTTla will only be recommended if only ADSL is otherwise offered to you.

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