Orange goes green in its new fiber box launched on April 7

Orange is the new green! Great start for the new Orange Livebox 6. Unveiled yesterday to the press during a conference in the metaverse (but also face-to-face), the operator’s new fiber box is intended to be more efficient and greener. Wifi 6E and scalable, it is also “capable of responding to societal transformations”, according to Fabienne Dulac, Deputy Managing Director and CEO of Orange France. The Livebox 6 is available from this Thursday, April 7.

Inspired by the pandemic

She learned of the Covid-19, the Livebox 6, which Orange is launching this Thursday, April 7. “This fiber box was inspired by our teams who, during the first confinement, worked remotely and needed Wifi at home and maximum connectivity”, says Fabienne Dulac, Deputy General Manager and CEO of Orange France. .

Observation indeed: for 2 years, our Internet needs at home have jumped and the Livebox 6 wants to try to meet them. According to an OpinionWay survey for Orange, 62% of French people have intensified their Internet use at home during the health crisis. 61% of them have even discovered new uses, such as video to work (22%), video with friends (21%), online medical appointments (21%), teleconsultation ( 16%) or the click & collect. Many of these new uses persist, with, implicitly, the need for better WiFi at home.

The first 6E WiFi box

The first Wifi 6E box, the Livebox 6 offers download speeds of up to 2 Gb/s, i.e. up to three times more than Wifi 5, and up to 800 Mb/s uploads. “This guarantees optimized streaming quality and extremely reliable simultaneous connections,” adds Fabienne Dulac. This obviously also responds to a request from the French who, for two thirds of them, believe that their Wifi could be of better quality. According to respondents, “perfect Wi-Fi” should allow you to surf at full speed without stress (for 38% of respondents), but also to have a “good connection from floor to ceiling” (35%).

Programmable to save energy

Vertical, with a screen e-ink energy-efficient, made with recycled and recyclable plastics, dressed in recycled fabric, the Livebox 6 also wants to meet today’s environmental challenges. Also announced as scalable, it would be able when the time comes to adapt to 10 Gb/s offers, the “next-step”, according to Fabienne Dulac.

For the moment, the Livebox 6 is also programmable. A good point, since it has two standby modes. The first, called “Light”, disables home connections except IP telephony. This mode would thus reduce the energy consumed by the box by 25%. Called “Deep”, the second mode “turns everything off”, according to Orange and allows 95% energy savings. Undoubtedly to be preferred at night, this “Deep” mode would, if activated for 6 hours daily from the Orange & Me application, reduce the consumption of the Livebox 6 by 23% per month. Which is not negligible.

The launch of Livebox 6 is not accompanied by any change to the operator’s current TV box. In addition to the Livebox and Livebox Up offers, Orange is taking the opportunity to inaugurate a new offer called Livebox Max. At 34.99 euros per month the first year (then 54.99 euros), this offer includes the box, up to three Wifi repeaters, an Airbox (to access mobile Internet in 4G), but also the services of a specialist for personalized support of the customer’s installation. 54.99 euros per month is not cheap, but it is true that, according to OpinionWay, 39% of French people would be ready to pay more for a better quality subscription.