Livebox News: Why did Orange choose Wi-Fi 7 “for all”?

It is far from being a discovery, but the Wi-Fi 7 appellation covers a wide variety of offers, and a wide variety of technological approaches. That of Orange thus differs from those of Free and Bouygues Telecom.

The historic operator has chosen to offer BI-FI Wi-Fi boxes. The Livebox 7 and the Livebox S therefore rest on the frequency beaches of 2.4 (3×3 antennas) and 5 GHz (4×4), and are going on the frequency band of 6 GHz, large novelty of Wi-Fi 6th and 7. Despite this lack, which is not an obligation, these boxes are certified by Wi-Fi Alliance, like the previous boxes of the operator A commercial argument as Bouygues Telecom could have done with his latest box.

How many divisions?

No 6 GHz, therefore. Enough to have the eyebrows raised from more than one geek, as we are used to thinking that more is more equivalent to better. Nevertheless, the choice of Orange is an enlightened, justified choice, which responds to the reality of a market, and economic, and ecological constraints. On the occasion of the announcement of these two boxes, we were able to meet or maintain ourselves with certain project managers.

Everything starts from an observation, begins Guillaume Lacroix, Product and Services Director at Orange France: “Today, the 6 GHz is around 5% of trafficking [Wi-Fi du parc des Livebox, NDLR] According to the analyzes that are noted. You have to have extremely recent equipment to take advantage of it and only the most expensive smartphones have 6 GHz “. In other words, if the manufacturers adopt and push the 6 GHz, via Wi-Fi 6th and 7, the Orange subscribers have not yet crossed this CAP and the majority will not have crossed it within two to three years, say most of the Orange representatives with which we discussed.

Furthermore, while recalling that Orange was among the first to believe in Wi-Fi 6th, with the gang of 6 active GHz, Guillaume Lacroix also puts in perspective the good flow rates carried by the 6 GHz frequency. They are short -range and suffer from the slightest obstacle – a physical reality that is difficult to deny.
The representative of Orange then takes the time to lift the veil on the rowing of reasons which led to this maturely thoughtful choice, to this “Reasoned arbitration”.

Once again, Orange focused on its subscribers. Where the statistics want 55 % of French people to live in a house, this figure rises to 72 % among Orange customers, thus detailed, at the start of the presentation, the CEO of Orange France. A state of affairs which explains that “Arbitration is rather favorable to the coverage.”justifies Guillaume Lacroix.

An industrial and ecological choice

But there are also very different issues: industrial, economic and ecological. “All of this, at the end, it is a saving of electricity consumption, it is a saving of materials, to make a box that is well suited to the needs of our customers.”.

Johann Collet, a new livebox 7 ripped by hand, gives body to the comments of Guillaume Lacroix. It clearly shows the cut silicon plate where the 6 GHz modules and the antennas were, to confirm that the new box saves materials – and cannot be updated in a software way to support 6 GHz. Then he lists: “In cascade, we consume less, about 2 W at rest, the box heats up less, so we need less aluminum for passive thermal dissipation, not to mention the components …”.

The new Livebox 7 also saves the compulsory and expensive filter to avoid interference between the frequencies of the top of the 5 GHz band and those at the bottom of those of the 6 GHz.

Optimized Wi-Fi …

But by getting rid of this competition and the interference between the 5 and 6 GHz bands, Johann Collet explains to us that the engineers of Orange Innovation were able to focus on optimizing the emission power on the 5 GHz band over a long iterative test process. And once again, Orange has analyzed the data from its boxes. Thus, the 5 GHz history strip carries 80% of traffic in the orange boxes. Therefore, it seems very relevant to improve its performance. Obviously, this work was done with respect “The limits of the emission power set by law”he takes the trouble to specify.

Thus, Orange has managed not only to gain in the cover, but also to increase the flows. To the point, moreover, that according to the average measurements carried out by Orange engineers in a dedicated test house, Wi-Fi 7 without 6 GHz from the new Livebox 7 offers 20% higher rates with short range in 5 GHz and up to 70% faster at longer range than those of the Livebox 7 Wi-Fi 6th, which benefited from the 6 GHz band.

An slide prepared for the occasion puts figures on this promise: respectively 632 Mbit/s for the new box, against 370 Mbits/s for its elder. We are talking about average flows there, while maximum flow rates should gravitate around 2.2 Gbit/s. “This is a Fine tuning* that nobody does. An essential work “*, loose Johann Collet, satisfied with the efforts made and the result obtained.

But why opt for Wi-Fi 7 components then? Simply because these “Modern chips are more sensitive and will hang, capture the most distant, even older equipment. It is therefore almost almost wi-fi for all more than Wi-Fi 7”explains Johann Collet. Wi-Fi 7 for everyone, in other words, at least for today and in a close future …

“We make a box for our customers”simply sums up Johann Collet. “The 6 GHz represents a niche of customers, while we are trying to make the best product for the majority of our customers …”

Eco -responsible boxes?

Not to mention that Orange is, like all telecom operators, on the way for a carbon neutrality hoped for 2040. By saving 6 GHz, the HOS reduces the consumption of its box, and to compensate for the optimization of the 5 GHz band, the Jean-François Fallacher teams introduced a novelty to their intelligent Wi-Fi. An essential asset that Ollivier Courtel, Marketing Director Devices and Connectivity, puts in perspective as follows: “Intelligent Wi-Fi started by being able to make your device choose the best access point, then it retains the best frequency band and finally the best channel. We add a fourth function: automatic deactivation of 5 GHz “ .

Thus, as soon as this frequency band is not used, the 5 GHz module of the new Livebox 7 goes out, saving some watts and still up to 30% of the energy consumed by the box. It is reactivated via the connection 2.4 GHz as soon as necessary. Unless a repeater is connected to the box, of course. Wi-Fi 6 repeater for now, even if a Wi-Fi 7 version may not be long in coming.

And for those who find that a few watts do not change much, Jean-François Fallacher has an answer: “” This is a little welcome to the customer, but multiply this by 12.7 million Broadband Orange customers, and the small economy takes on another magnitude “. Orange's weight is colossal, and becomes a capital lever to allow it to reduce the weight of Scope 3 of its carbon footprint.

Ultimately, geeks will be able to regret the absence of 6 GHz in a box that has just come out. But we can always object to them that the one and only solution to have an excellent Wi-Fi network is usually to use dedicated devices, sorting or quadri-bands. The ISPs juggle a lot of constraints and criteria, and two of them are impossible to ignore: the economic need and the reality of the market.

The new Livebox 7 and Livebox s therefore play balancingists, between customer needs to satisfy, need to innovate and eco -responsible obligations. For the first two points, it will be necessary to see what the long tests and time give, for the last, for the last, Orange already announces that the new Livebox 7 should see its carbon footprint reduced by 8% compared to its elder, while the Livebox S would see its reduced by 14% compared to the Livebox 5 … The result of strategic choices, of ecological design, as the re -use of the supply blocks Livebox 5 for the Livebox S, hidden behind what looked like a simple ad …