French ISP Free opens up subscribers' WiFi to each other, adds handsets

In what appears to be a potentially disruptive move, French ISP Free has just opened up its network of 300,000 subscribers' WiFi networks across France to its subscribers. What does that mean? If you're a Free subscriber living in Paris, and you and you come across a Free WiFi network while in Lyon for the day on business, you can log in and use up to 64kbps of bandwidth no problem. All new Freebox HD subscribers will have this feature turned on by default, so we assume that also means you can turn it off if you're concerned about privacy. Now for those of you who might not be familiar with Free, it isn't just your garden-variety ISP, no sir. For €30 per month ($38), Free will give you a pair of boxes (known collectively as the Freebox) that comes with a DSL modem at 24Mbps, includes a digital TV receiver, 4-port switch / WiFi router with MIMO, built-in VoIP with free calls to 28 countries, and can stream TV to your computer and DVDs from your computer to your TV. Also, Free recently introduced two new handsets (pictured): its white model (WiFi-only) goes for €60 ($75), while the black model is WiFi and GSM and goes for €200 ($250). So to recap, let's say you want to roam around l'Hexagone with your laptop or your WiFi handset, and you're a Free subscriber, then you've now got one of (potentially) 300,000 locations around the country to choose from. Some industry watchers like Yannick Laclau are convinced that if companies like France Telecom or Telefonica (Spain's incumbent telco) or Verizon were to make a move à la Free, it would mean better and less expensive service for everyone, and also might wipe out FON in the process.

Read - GigaOm
Read - Yannick Laclau
Read - Net Economie

[robothouse @ Oct 17th 2006 11:12PM]

Wow. For once, I am actually jealous of France....BA-ZING!

[Owen V @ Oct 17th 2006 11:14PM]

if subscribers are getting 24mbps, why skimp and not let visitors get at least 768? can you even make a voip call at 64k?

[Vinz @ Oct 18th 2006 3:51AM]

64Kb/s is more than enough for a VoIP call... This is actually the bandwidth used by an ISDN call, so there's no problem with this feature.
Among the features is also the opportunity to call with a SIP (soft or hard) phone at free's rates (that is 28 contries being totally free) from any internet access, in case you dial a paid number, you're being charged on your regular monthly bill (next to your other calls).

[jake @ Oct 18th 2006 4:29AM]

Well, the thing is that 24 Mbps are theoretical. I am a Free subscriber and am getting 16 Mbps "only", of which 8 Mbps are used for TV if switched on, which leaves you with another 8 Mbps which roughly translates to 1 MB/s download. Not sure how much is reserved for VOIP, but as was said before that's negligable. Upload generally is 1 Mbps ie. approx 128 kb/s. Also given that the whole thing seems intended for the use of your wifi phone, 64 kbps seems quite appropriate.

[... @ Oct 18th 2006 10:29AM]

Man, $38 a month for 24meg internet and tv?!?! And free wifi!

This makes me hate time warner even more, I am paying almost $100 for tv/6 meg internet THAT LOOSES 10% OF THE FRIGGING PACKETS. I kid you not, 10% of my data was lost on the internet somewhere over the last 24 hours. I am worried that I am loosing calls on vonage during those 10 second periods of inactivity ~>-(


BTW, they cap you at 64kb/s because if you have 50 people connected to the router bandwidth gets expensive quick. That and they don't want people dling warez off the free hotspots.

[p @ Oct 18th 2006 8:49AM]

About Free, it's also worth noticing that it's (young) CEO is currently on trial because he made fortune out of illegal businesses (pr0n clubs etc). It gives a much bigger appeal to the company for me !

[Vinz @ Oct 18th 2006 5:06AM]

jake : 1Mb/s is 1 Mb/s not 128Kb/s ;-)
128KByte/s is 1Mbit/s (or 128KOctet/s in french. 1 Byte = 8 bits)
Free users had only 128Kb/s upload when they had 512 or 1024Kb/s download. Hopefully Free has raised that, otherwise the 24Mb/s thing would be pretty much inexistant...

This being said, there is still no problem with VoIP ! ;-)

[Ramtech @ Oct 18th 2006 5:11AM]

Free is the worst ISP in france. I was a subscriber for more than 2 years and i can tell u thatmuch.
It takes more than a month for ur freebox (modem) to be delivered home. Then, ur lucky if it works and dont need to order a second one (which will take another 1-2 months). Anyway, say its working just fine, ok.. u have internet for some hours, then freebox wants to update its firmware (it actually updates its firmware more often than it works) so bam.. it crashes, u gotta restart it a shitload of times in order to make it work again. If it doesnt, then good luck spending the next 2 months trying to contact the client support service. Also, the wifi doesnt really work. Enough with the internet.. lets pass to the 200 tv channels. The tv quality sucks (tons of freezes and noise), and the modem just crashes every 5-10 minutes when using the tv. So again, u have to restart it, and hope it will work.
Im now a subscriber at Orange (Wanadoo / France Telecom) which is more expensive, but its all worth it.. 20mbits just for me, the wifi works, no tv, no voip no extras. but im happy

[JPM @ Oct 18th 2006 5:44AM]

I am also a Free subscriber, and I disagree with your comment. Yes, there are sometimes freezes on the tv channels, but that's it. Never had problems with WIFI or internet connection.

[Pengli @ Oct 18th 2006 7:30AM]

Before switching to Free, we had very disappointing experiences with cable operator Noos and telco France Telecom on their "triple play" offers. Our Freebox arrived within two weeks and we were up and running seamlessly with TV, more than sufficient bandwidth and telephony. What's more, the fact that I cans stream any media from my Mac to my TV "sans fils" has obviated the need for a spearate media center. Hats off to Free for continuous innovation, which has not been a traditionally been a dominant characteristic of the telco or isp market in Europe.

[Ramtech @ Oct 18th 2006 5:48AM]

damn man, u must be one of the lucky ones..
i had free, my best friend had free, many people from my school, and even at school we had free and we all agree that it sucks. (all in paris though, that might change some things?)

[Olivier @ Oct 18th 2006 5:51AM]

And this is just a beginning...
Free will connect the whole France with fiber channel ( FTTH )...

http://www.freenews.fr/index.php?itemid=3782
http://www.iliad.fr/presse/2006/CP_11092006_cp1.pdf

... And Paris will be fully connected for free ( if you want to visit Paris !! )

Some more jealous ?? ;)

[niels @ Oct 18th 2006 10:45AM]

I am also a free subscriber and it is pretty amazing. you forgot to mention that besides the WIFI, TV and VOIP the box you get also has a 40GB harddisk recorder inside and allows for such things as time shifting and playing back mp3 and divx files. The harddisk is accessible through wireless FTP from your PC. All for 30 euros.

We moved from the usa about a year ago, and I looked around in France for various ISP offers. Free is outstanding, delivery was indeed slow, but i have never had any problems (not with WIFI or TV) since. We also get free calls to most european countries, usa, china, and many more. Its a pretty amazing deal.

[g3n3tiX @ Oct 18th 2006 10:58AM]

BUT free blocks all bittorrent/P2P traffic... now THAT's annoying. You pay for it but you cn't have it... Is that normal ?

[niels @ Oct 18th 2006 11:07AM]

no they dont. you just need to redirect the ports on your router. you can easily find how to do it on google.

[Scott @ Oct 18th 2006 1:17PM]

Free does not block bittorrent or emule, at least not here in Paris. I use both all the time and regularly get 200-300kb/s. I love Free, they're definitely pushing the line when it comes to innovation and I've never had a problem with my connection, unlike Noos. I had Noos for 4 years before switching, they were horrible.

[g3n3tiX @ Oct 18th 2006 3:49PM]

it must be the local repeater, (i'm near Pau, and in Bordeaux it's the same) glad i've got orange. more expensive, but nice. The new freebox HD is cool though.

[g3n3tiX @ Oct 18th 2006 3:53PM]

more precision : they block the "non degrouped" clients
http://www.trustonme.net/forum/public/post.php?cat=5&topic=2209&page=2
it apprears they allow it (a bit) during the night.

[josy @ Apr 18th 2007 5:32AM]

Please tell me who you are refering to. Is it the DSL providers or cable providers as NOOS, NUMERICABLE

[g3n3tiX @ Apr 19th 2007 6:05AM]

It's DSL. (solved now, if you degroup, if works, and it also works with non degrouped, but not very fast.

[Tr�vor @ Dec 19th 2006 1:04PM]

OK. For the last month I have been unable to download anything other than a search, when using EMULE.
My internet connection is France Telecom, Orange.
Orange did not inform me that it was intending to block EMULE, so there is an integrity question there.
I normally live in Australia, and this sort of conduct certainly would not be tolerated there.
France telecom, Orange may think it has the right to block what ever it wants, but it should also inform its clients before it does.
I have spent the last month trying to evaluate why EMULE had stoped working.

I shall change providers.
Trévor

[JF @ Jun 6th 2007 5:58AM]

Okay, so... I have someone setting up an Orange Livebox account as I write this. Did I do the right thing? I'm a Mac user who has had Noos for the last two years and we generally liked it, until the bandwidth dropped drastically (we pay for 10 mega and rarely get close to 1 mega).

The fact that you can stream any media from your computer to the TV with Free sounds pretty nice. Wish I'd known about that around 30 minutes ago. We currently have a Mac Mini set up to be our media center, using bluetooth mouse and keyboard with movies and kids videos on a spare hard drive. We also use two Airport Express wifi stations to stream audio playback to speakers.

We're pretty sure noos.fr is NOT the best service to go with in Paris. But of the DSL services, how would you rank the major options (Orange Livebox, Neuf, Free, etc.)? Anybody know anything about Livebox that might surprise us down the line?

[JD @ Mar 8th 2008 6:35AM]

hi, can anyone recommend a wireless router to buy to use with a Noos connection? the connection is apartment-specific, but its my landlords' and they wont let me switch it to my name so I cant upgrade through noos directly.