The world has changed since the release of the Livebox 5 in October 2019. With the pandemic cocktail, teleworking and video streaming, French consumers have discovered the importance of a consistent Internet speed and the interest of fiber optics whose deployment exploded after the confinements.
"The Livebox 6 was designed for teleworking and corresponds to new uses, to a need for power, faster downloads and simultaneous connections", explained the boss of Orange France, Fabienne Dulac during a press conference. this Wednesday morning, part of which took place in the Metaverse, "a technology that will require a good Internet network".
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Gone is the flat design that looks like an encrypted channel decoder, the Livebox 6 is placed vertically and is more like an external hard drive with a small touch screen and 5 Ethernet ports.
The wi-fi antennas have been placed at the top to ensure better diffusion.
A small disappointment, its gray exterior covering, which looks like Nordic-inspired fabric, gave hope for the presence of speakers to transform it into a connected speaker.
It is not so, we are indeed in the presence of a classic Internet box covered with 100% recycled and recyclable plastic.
This Internet box has 5 Ethernet ports, one of which has a speed of 2.5 Gb/s.
Because the Internet service provider has completely designed its Livebox version 2022 as an eco-responsible and less energy-intensive device.
Assembled in Tunisia by Sagemcom, the Livebox 6 adopts a black and white e-ink screen that consumes little and displays a clean configuration menu.
Two standby modes have been developed: a light one which keeps the telephone line active and a deeper mode where the box is almost at a standstill over a customizable period.
Objective: “To consume as much electricity as a television screen on standby”, advances Orange.
A QR Code makes it easier to connect to the Livebox 6 Wi-Fi internet network.
Designed to facilitate repair, this box is removable and upgradeable with the possibility of a hardware update within a few years.
A modularity that already anticipates the arrival of components compatible with wi-fi 7 and its promises of speed at 10 Gb/s.
The 6E wi-fi already has the advantage of providing a speed three times higher than the previous generation and benefits from a frequency band, the 6 GHz, which is still less congested and therefore more fluid.
On the other hand, it will be necessary to have compatible tablets, smartphones or PCs which are beginning to arrive on the market.
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While competitors, Bouygues Telecom, SFR and Free, are outbidding with 5 or 10 Gb/s, Orange is announcing a fixed downlink speed of 2 Gb/s for 800 Mb/s uplink speed.
The same theoretical capacities as the Livebox 5. Intended for the general public and SMEs, this solution is accompanied by a new Livebox Max commercial offer for optical fiber at 34.99 euros/month for one year, then 54.99 euro/month.
Either the offer at the highest price from Orange in a country where fixed broadband Internet remains the cheapest in Europe, and far from American standards at more than 100 euros per month.