In a little over a week, Bouygues Telecom will launch its new Bbox with Wi-Fi 7. But some customers have already received it and revealed its design and technical characteristics. How to compete with the Freebox Ultra?
On January 16, the new Bbox from Bouygues Telecom will be unveiled to the general public. Well, officially, because, in reality, we already know almost everything about her. Benoît Torloting, the operator’s general manager, published an enigmatic message on X last November: “The countdown is on…”accompanied by hashtags “#New #Fiber #WiFi #BouyguesTelecom”. Given the photo which illustrated this announcement – moreover, the communication strategy around the launch is very similar to that of Free – we could legitimately expect the arrival of a new Bbox which should manage Wi-Fi. Fi 7, where current hardware can only handle Wi-Fi 6E. Finally, that was without counting certain subscribers who had already received the new equipment and were happy to spoil the suspense that the operator was trying to build! After a first leak in November, another customer shared photos of the management interface as well as the menus of the new Bbox and its repeater on X. Let’s see all this!
New Bbox: a divisive design and Wi-Fi 7
Currently, the operator offers a high-performance Wi-Fi 6E box in its Ultym offer. The new Bbox will therefore integrate Wi-Fi 7, which makes Bouygues Telecom the second operator in France to offer this new standard, after Free and its Freebox Ultra. Some photos have been posted by customers, allowing you to discover the design of this new box in detail. It has a black oval shape and is equipped with a touch screen to simplify its use and configuration. Small feature: it is designed to be placed vertically, and not flat, in order to optimize ventilation and signal efficiency. Suffice to say that for the moment it is not really unanimous.
Internet users also revealed the technical characteristics of the new Bbox. This includes a fully integrated fiber modem, three RJ45 Ethernet ports – two at 1 Gbit/s and one at 10 Gbit/s for intensive use –, a USB port and a telephone port. It displays 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz frequency bands. An ON/OFF button makes power management easy. Of course, it is possible to connect a new device by scanning a QR code.
The marketing details of this new Bbox have not yet been revealed. Logically, it should integrate the Ultym offer, as was the case with the operator’s high-end Wi-Fi 6 and 6E server – currently at 42.99 euros per month for the first year, then 49.99 euros per month, will there be a price increase in this case? –, unless a new dedicated offer is launched. It remains to be seen whether the offer will be competitive enough to seriously compete with the Freebox Ultra. In comparison, the Freebox Ultra offers a symmetrical speed of 8 Gbit/s and a bouquet of streaming services, with Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Universal+ and Canal+, all for 49.99 euros per month for the first year, then 59.99 euros per month.
In any case, Bouygues Telecom has had a series of new products in recent months. The operator thus launched B&YOU Pure Fiber, an internet offer with an impressive speed of 8 Gbit/s, but without TV or landline telephone, at 23.99 euros, but has removed its prepaid offers. At the same time, it reviewed its fiber offers, https://www.commentcamarche.net/maison/box-connexion-internet/32473-bouygues-telecom-augmente-les-debits-et-les-prix-de-ses-offres -fiber/ by offering higher speeds which is, however, accompanied by an increase in price. And that’s without counting the acquisition of La Poste Mobile and its 2.3 million customers. The operator is therefore starting the year 2025 on the right foot!