© Lemon squeezer
During our test of the Freebox Ultra, we promised you a test of its WiFi 7, the new standard being a central point of the improvements offered by the latest Free box.
Without overwhelming you with technical details, we will make here a comparison of the speeds obtained with the WiFi 7 of the Freebox Ultra as well as the speeds offered by the network offered by the Nighthawk RS700S router from Netgear. Spoiler alert, one is much better than the other.
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WiFi 7, what is it for?
Strangely, some people are wondering again what can WiFi 7 be used for. Quite simply, it is the new wireless connection standard which allows much higher speeds on compatible machines. If they are still relatively small, the number has only increased recently, and will soon be the basis of all WiFi devices. It was using for example a Xiaomi 13 Ultra smartphone released almost a year ago that we carried out our tests, as well as with the latest Razer Blade 14 laptop.
Whether for web browsing, streaming, but especially downloads and uploads of data, WiFi 7 is a major advance which makes cable connection obsolete in many everyday situations.
Our test conditions
You should also know that we carried out our tests while being present in the room where the Freebox Ultra was present as well as the Netgear router, even if the WiFi coverage of the two devices does not pose any problems in this 100 m2 house. We therefore do not have the use of the associated Free repeater, which only offers the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands anyway, by committing the 6 GHz band which is nevertheless necessary for WiFi 7 compatible devices in order to benefit from the highest speed possible.
Once again, we are not here to overwhelm you with technical specifics, but rather to concretely show what we can expect WiFi 7 from the Free machine in everyday use. For example, most households will want to be able to watch 4K streaming content while one or more other people play online, wanting the lowest possible latency.
The speeds of the Freebox Ultra in WiFi 7
Some will also want to download files as quickly as possible, but also exploit the upload capabilities with the 8 Gbits of symmetrical flow delivered by the Freebox Ultra. Thus, we carried out speed tests using the software Speedtest in order to see what the speed offers in WiFi 7 from the Free box:
Freebox Ultra WiFi 7 throughput test with the Xiaomi 13 Ultra © Presse-citron
Freebox Ultra WiFi 7 throughput test with the Razer Blade 14 © Presse-citron
Compared to the old Livebox Max Orange Fiber offer
Excellent performance that will largely suit most users. In order to have an element of comparison, I can here my situation which, before switching to the Freebox Ultra, consisted of being subscribed to the fastest offer from Orange called “Livebox Max Fiber ”, at a price of 55.99 euros per month.
This allowed me to obtain a maximum speed of 1 Gbits in being connected via Ethernet to a wired network. From now on, the Freebox Ultra offer from Free at a price of 59.99 euros per month allows me to have a Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, Cafeyn subscription, 8 Gbits of symmetrical speed on a cable network. The funny thing about this story is that the 2 Gbits speed offered by Free in WiFi is twice the speed offered by Orange which is burdened with a cable otherwise it will not exceed 600 mbits of throughput.
You now understand to what extent Free's offer is advantageous compared to that of other internet service providers ? Suffice to say that this kind of disproportionate WiFi speed will be sufficient for the daily use of the majority of French people, even if the more tech-savvy can turn to a dedicated router for even higher speeds.
What about in-game latency?
Regarding the emphasis on Netgear's lower latency for players, our tests on a single Counter Strike 2 server between the connection of the Freebox Ultra and that of the RS700S revealed no differences.
We took similar measurements with the Netgear router, still using the Xiaomi 13 Ultra as well as the Razer Blade 14, both compatible with the WiFi 7 standard.
Installation of the Netgear Nighthawk RS700S< /h3>
© Presse-citron
© Presse-citron
© Presse-citron
© Presse-citron
Installing it is child's play, knowing that all you have to do is download the Nighthawk application, then connect a Category 7 Ethernet cable to connect ports 10 of the Freebox Ultra and the RS700S, to finally deactivate the WiFi of the Free box. The application then allows you to modify the network as you wish, and to connect to it easily.
© Presse-citron
WiFi 7 speed using the Netgear router
Obviously, with a price of 799.99 euros (at the time of writing this article) dedicated only to the router, we was entitled to expect a notable improvement in the speeds offered compared to the Freebox Ultra. This necessarily made compromises on the processor used, but also on the energy consumed for the sake of ecology as well as energy saving. Indeed, our measurements show a rather significant gap between the speeds offered by the Freebox Ultra and those allowed by the Netgear router as you can see here:
WiFi 7 throughput test of the Netgear RS700S router with the Xiaomi 13 Ultra © Presse-citron
WiFi 7 throughput test of the Netgear RS700S router with the Razer Blade 14 © Presse-citron
This results in the possibility for several users connected to the same WiFi to benefit from an individually higher speed. Also, a higher speed allows you to download and upload files more quickly, provided that the servers of the services you use do not limit the speed, like Steam< /strong>.
Debits for limited use
Indeed, when From our Ethernet throughput test of the Freebox Ultra, we had already noted that Steam limits its throughput to 1 Gbits. So,there is no notable difference here between the WiFi of the Freebox Ultra and that of the RS700S in this type of use, provided you download a game while being the only one using the wireless network .
Better speed and network coverage, but at a prohibitive price
Only, with this price prohibitive, we can only advise the purchase of it in accommodation where the WiFi coverage of the Freebox Ultra would be too weak, or accommodation which would have many inhabitants with intensive use of the WiFi.
Indeed, according to Netgear, the 6 GHz band of the Freebox Ultra could quickly run out of steam with several compatible devices WiFi 7 connected to the box, which unfortunately we were not able to try with only 2 devices.
People wishing to take advantage of the maximum throughput offered will also be interested in the Nighthawk RS700S, which may prove even more useful as it progresses. ;arrival of compatible machines.
Suffice to say that the WiFi offered by the Freebox Ultra is already a great step forward in a future where the network by cable becomes optional, even with intensive use.
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