The Wi-Fi of the new Orange Livebox is less efficient in France than elsewhere in Europe

Presented this morning by Orange, the new Livebox 7 displays some rather original characteristics for a Wi-Fi 7 compatible device: while the Freebox Ultra and BBox Wi-Fi 7 use all the frequency bands available for their own boxes labeled WiFi 7, Orange explains that it has chosen not to activate the 6 GHz frequency band, apparently for reasons of radio interference.

A somewhat shaky justification for the absence of 6 GHz

While the WiFi 7 standard does indeed allow such a technical solution and does not prohibit a product from being certified For this reason, the operator's justification appears rather surprising:

Looking at some of our European neighbors, Orange does indeed offer "full" Wi-Fi 7 on its latest Internet boxes. The Spanish Livebox 7, based on hardware from ZTE and whose v2 distributed since the end of February is Wi-Fi 7 compatible, thus incorporates three types of antennas respectively dedicated to the 2.4 GHz, 5 GHz and 6 GHz bands. The same observation is made by our Polish friends who benefit from a Funbox 10 manufactured by Sagemcom and with a design almost identical to the new Livebox 7: it is also WiFi 7 compatible and can use these three frequency bands. But then, why would only the French version suffer from these famous "radio disturbances"?

The other point that raises a question is at the level of the activation announced as possible later: each frequency band requires the use of dedicated and specific antennas, but the French version of this new Livebox 7 does not seem to be equipped natively antennas for the 6 GHz band. While it is possible that the controller and compatible filters, also essential for supporting this frequency band, are actually present (we have not yet been able to verify this) on the motherboard, the physical absence of an antenna – while the location does indeed exist in the plastics – does, however, imply at least a box exchange to be able to take advantage of all the frequency bands usable in WiFi 7. Orange's choice to restrict its new Livebox 7 in France is therefore all the more curious.