There is a change in the fiber offers from Orange and Sosh! Subscribers can now enjoy higher speeds as well as various discounts. And, for once, prices are not increasing!
For more than a year, mobile operators and internet service providers (ISPs) have been increasing their subscription prices. Just last month, Orange sent an email to its customers discreetly mentioning the introduction of new fees, in small print. But we are never safe from a pleasant surprise, the proof in st! After Bouygues Telecom, it is the turn of the historic operator to modify its optical fiber offers. In fact, this October 10, it is improving the speed on all of its Livebox subscriptions, responding to the growing demand for bandwidth for connected homes. And, good news: for once, prices are not increasing!
Orange and Sosh fiber: more speed for the same price
For the classic Livebox offer, the speed increases from 500 Mbit/s to 1 Gbit/s for downloading, and 700 Mbit/s for sending. This progression allows users to access a comfortable speed for uses such as 4K streaming, online games or even the simultaneous management of several connected devices. The offer is available at €24.99 per month for six months, then €42.99 per month with a twelve-month commitment. If its price does not increase, it still remains the most expensive offer in its category.
The Sosh and Just Livebox offers are also entitled to a small upgrade. Until today, the speed of these subscriptions was 300 Mbit/s. It now goes to 400 Mbit/s, which allows them to keep up with the competition. On the hardware side, the customer who chooses one of these versions will be entitled to the Livebox 5 equipped with WiFi 5. Here again, the prices of the Sosh and Just Livebox offers do not undergo an increase, remaining respectively at €25.99 per month without commitment and at €19.99 per month for six months then €33.99 with commitment.
For more demanding users, the Livebox Up plan sees its sending speed increase from 600 Mbit/s to 800 Mbit/s. The download speed remains at 2 Gbit/s, all for a price of €29.99 for the first six months then €51.99 with commitment. So it’s better than before, even if the progress is not huge.
Finally, the highest offer for the general public, Fiber Max, has the right to the biggest evolution. Until now, it was “limited” to 5 Gbit/s in reception and 1 Gbit/s in sending – the Orange site still mentions the old speeds, despite the mention “New”, but the general conditions speak of 8 Gbps. It now goes up to 8 Gbit/s symmetrical, thanks to XGS-PON technology, for €34.99 per month for six months then for €57.99 per month with commitment.
Livebox Max: 8 Gbit/s throughput restricted by hardware
After having long criticized the strategy of its competitors, in particular Free and its Freebox Ultra, Orange is finally aligning itself with the famous 8 Gbit/s, even if it has long asserted that they were useless for consumers. On paper, we can only rejoice, especially since prices are not increasing – well, we are never safe from a subsequent increase, within a few months. But there is a small problem: Orange has not changed the hardware supplied with its Max offer.
Customers will still be equipped with a Livebox 7 which, although it has a 10 Gbit/s Ethernet port, only supports Wi-Fi 6E. However, if it is actually supposed to go up to a theoretical maximum speed of 11 Gbit/s, it will not allow such a speed to be reached in real conditions, whether in transmission or reception. We therefore end up with an offer that promises high throughput, but whose potential is limited by the hardware…
For the vast majority of users, this development should probably not change much in their daily lives, because their uses generally do not require such speeds. For professionals, content creators or companies that handle enormous amounts of data, however, this offer could be interesting, even if it is not possible to exploit its full potential for the moment.
Current eligible users will automatically switch to the new speeds, at no additional cost. Note that Orange customers can now benefit from new advantages, such as a discount of €5 per month for each streaming platform (Netflix, Disney+ and Max). Moreover, all customers who choose Orange for their Internet offer (Livebox Up, Livebox Max, Livebox fiber Special Series) and their mobile offer now benefit, without time limit, from a discount of €5 per month on their Internet offer and a discount on their mobile plan, of up to -€15 depending on the mobile plan subscribed. Orange mobile customers can also benefit from this discount if they subscribe to a Livebox fiber, Livebox Up or Livebox Max Special Series offer.