Orange has just unveiled its Livebox 5, and with it new offers: how does it compare to a competitor like the Freebox Delta? Price of the offers, technical sheet, functionalities, flow and positioning, we suggest in this comparison to show their differences in order to choose the one which will be the best for you.
Pixabay + You hesitate between the new Orange offers with Livebox 5 and one of the Freebox Delta offers from Free? We examine point by point what characterizes these boxes and their offers.
Summary
- Subscription offer prices
- Comparison of technical sheets
- Debits
- Functionalities
- TV box
- Positioning and design
- Conclusion
- Comments
Subscription offer prices
La Livebox 5 is offered as part of a brand new Livebox Up Fiber package at € 30,99 per month for 12 months (12-month commitment then € 49,99 per month beyond). You can benefit from a 5 € discount if you change operator.
This package includes:
- Livebox 5 (rental included)
- UHD TV decoder (2nd decoder possible on request)
- WiFi repeater (on request)
- Access to functionalities Connected home via accessories sold separately
- Fiber internet access to 2 Gbit / s shared (descending) and up to 600 Mbit / s (amount)
- Unlimited calls to landlines (our metropolitan country, overseas departments, 100+ international destinations)
- Unlimited calls to mobiles (our metropolitan country, Europe, DOM, USA and Canada)
La Freebox Delta is offered in two offers: the Freebox Delta offer costs € 49,99 per month + € 10 per month rental of the Player Devialet or € 480 in cash.
There is also the Freebox Delta S offer at € 39,99 per month all inclusive without Devialet player and therefore without access to television channels.
Both offers include:
- Freebox Delta (rental included)
- Player Devialet (Freebox Delta offer only)
- Immersive sound (Freebox Delta offer only)
- Hub Connected home Somfy and Philips Hue compatible
- 10 G EPON fiber internet access (8 Gbit / s downstream) and theoretical upstream speed up to 600Mbit / s
- Accès xDSL + 4G to boost speeds if not eligible for fiber
- NAS server (included in the Freebox Delta)
- Safety pack alarm, optional
- Alexa voice control + Freebox assistant
- Unlimited calls to landlines (our metropolitan country, overseas departments, 110+ international destinations)
- Unlimited calls to mobiles (our metropolitan country and overseas departments)
Comparison of technical sheets
| Livebox 5 | Freebox Delta | |
|---|---|---|
| Processor | Broadcom BCM68380 | Snapdragon 835 (ARMv8) |
| RAM | nc | Go 2 |
| Internal storage (flash) | nc | Go 32 |
| NAS | No | Yes, up to four hard drives (no maximum in GB) |
| Internet connectivity | Fibre 2 Gbit/s | Fibre 10 G, xDSL, 4G |
| Wireless connectivity | 802.11ac with 4 × 4 MIMO (Wifi 5) | Wi-Fi AC4400 Tri-Band MU-MIMO (Wifi 5) Bluetooth 4.1 + A2DP |
| Ports | 2 x RJ 45 (phone), 4x GbE Ethernet, 1x USB, 1x 2 GB fiber, 1x power supply | 1x HDMI, 2x USB-C, 1x USB 3.0, 2x Ethernet (1 port Gigabit, 1x port 10 Gigabit), 1x RJ 45 (téléphone) |
| Automation | Optional with accessories sold separately | Hub Sigfox / ZigBee |
| Player TV | UHD TV player included (2nd decoder possible on request) | Player Devialet (480 €) |
Debits
La Freebox Delta is Free's new premium box: all subscribers are eligible, whether they are in an area covered by fiber or by xDSL technology. The Freebox Delta can thus give you access to a speed of up to 8 Gbit / s downstream and 600 Mbit / s upstream in fiber, but it can also connect in ADSL or VDSL. In this case, it also hooks up a 4G network in order to boost speeds. So, whatever happens, this box improves the speed of your internet connection.
With Livebox 5 Orange considers that it is still too early to offer 10 GB fiber access like its competitor. The operator nevertheless goes up to 2 Gbit / s (downlink) and 600 Mbit / s (upload).
How to take advantage of all the available speed?
As you will no doubt have noticed, the two boxes offer gigabit ethernet ports, in other words ports whose speed is limited to 1 Gbit / s each time downstream. As a result, it is not possible with an ethernet cable to benefit from more than 1 Gbit / s on your computer.
The situation can be, under certain conditions (in particular your proximity to the box), better in WiFi. The WiFi 5 offered by these boxes indeed allows theoretical speeds of up to 2600 Mbit / s, which seems sufficient for Livebox users, but less so for Freebox Delta subscribers.
The Freebox Delta nevertheless has an SFP + port in which it is possible to insert a module (which you have to buy yourself, the list of compatible modules is available) which allows you to connect, for example, your box to your local network with 10 GbE cables, or even with fiber carriers.
Functionalities
La Livebox 5 is rather stripped down in terms of functionalities, for an internet box of 2021. It mainly allows:
- Fiber internet access
- WiFi connectivity 5
- GbE network switch
- Fixed telephony (two lines)
- Basic management
Unlike the Livebox 4, it no longer carries any display on the front. What you will probably regret as soon as you look for the WiFi code or if you simply want to know the time at a glance. In fact this box seems to be designed to be forgotten. Most of the smart functions are provided by the UHD TV box.
La Freebox Delta is comparatively much richer in features:
- Fiber, xDSL and 4G internet access
- WiFi 5 + Bluetooth connectivity
- Presence of an SFP + port that allows you to take advantage of all the speed
- NAS server
- Very advanced management: possibility to create virtual machines, configure a VPN, etc ...
- Somfy and Hue connected home hub
Which is already a little better… Especially since in addition to these “basic” characteristics, the very advanced functionalities of the Player Devialet are added.
TV box
La Livebox 5 is offered with a player, a very small box soberly named UHD TV decoder. We have a very minimalist design, without button or display. An Orange LED in a corner is the only thing that tells you that the box is working. It is offered with a wireless remote control.
This TV box adds the following features:
- Access to Orange TV in Ultra High Definition with Dolby Atmos sound (subject to compatible speakers)
- 200 TV channels including 75 in HD
- Access to Netflix, OCS and other VoD offers such as Orange VoD
- TNT
- Replay, live control
- Multi-screen on request
- Optional recorder
- Access to Deezer
La Freebox Delta offers with the most expensive offer of'' buy your player designed in partnership with Devialet, or 10 euros per month for 48 months, or 480 euros in cash.
This player has the following features:
- Access to Freebox TV in 4K
- TNT
- Access to Netflix included
- Access to other VoD offers such as VoD Channel
- Access to your multimedia content (music, videos, etc.)
- Music streaming access (Deezer, Qobuz and Spotify)
- Graphic and tactile remote control with induction charging
- Alexa voice control + Ok Freebox
- High-quality speaker set delivering immersive sound
- Compatibility with the security pack
The day you terminate your subscription the player will remain your property, usable as a multimedia speaker and mediacenter.
Read also: Free Player Devialet test - good and bugs
Positioning and design
La Freebox Delta is designed as a very high-end, premium proposition for technology enthusiasts who want to enjoy something superior in every way to what the competition offers: it offers always faster access than others, whether in fiber or xDSL thanks to the 4G aggregation or fiber thanks to the speed up to 8 Gbit / s. It will also appeal to geeks for whom features like integrated VPN, NAS or the creation of virtual machines are important.
It also offers little extras that will appeal to technology enthusiasts - especially those who acquire the Player Devialet: incredible audio system, voice assistant, innovative remote control that recharges on the box ... This positioning in advance is accompanied by a high price , even if on closer inspection, it remains reasonable given that none of its competitors has yet reached its proposal. Free goes upmarket, and this is seen, in particular, by the use of designer Jasper Morrison who gives it its elegant and futuristic lines.
La Livebox 5 on the contrary, bet on the environment. Orange is aware of its size and the impact of something as trivial as strategic decisions around an internet box on Orange's energy footprint. It thus consumes 17% less energy than the Livebox 4, is made from recycled plastic and limits its number of components to reduce its carbon footprint by 29%. It is also fully repairable or recyclable once it reaches the end of its life.
Its design logically reflects this environmental objective: the format is standardized to facilitate transport. And it has a more “cheap” aspect than almost any internet box on the market. There is undoubtedly a certain irony here: when the first Freebox was launched in 2002, Free built up an impressive subscriber base positioning itself as an innovative low-cost operator. In 2021, prices join those of Orange - which does not prevent Free from being considered the more premium operator of the two.
Conclusion
Of course, choosing Orange, or Free, depends on a lot of factors. But it's hard to dismiss the fact that, compared to the Freebox Delta, the Livebox 5 doesn't offer much out of the box - other than 2 Gbps connectivity that you can enjoy wirelessly. The UHD TV box that accompanies it does very well what is expected of it, and we can only underline the fact that unlike at Free, the latter is free.
Because in fine, what makes the Livebox 5 potentially more interesting is not so much its technical details, or its ecological aspect, as the offer which accompanies it: for a little more than 30 euros per month, you benefit from ultra-fast internet access, Ultra HD television, and landline telephony.
The Freebox Delta offer is much more expensive, in reality € 59,99 per month with the Devialet player. Still, it's immensely more comprehensive: if you really fancy a glimpse into the future, it seems like a much better option.
- Freebox Delta
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