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The race for speeds is raging between French operators. Free hit hard at the beginning of the year with its Freebox Ultra and its included streaming services. Bouygues responds with a minimalist, but aggressive offer: the B&You Pure fiber at €23.99. The price appealed to me, so I took the plunge. A look back at a mixed experience.
The Freebox Ultra: a complete but expensive offer
The Freebox Ultra was a real revolution in the landscape of French internet boxes. On the menu: a symmetrical flow rate of 8 Gb/s and a bouquet of streaming services including Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Universal+ and Canal+. All for €49.99 for the first year, then €59.99.
The offer seemed attractive on paper. The savings on streaming subscriptions reached nearly €230 per year. The speed lived up to its promises, offering an exceptional browsing and downloading experience. The only downside: the box's catastrophic WiFi forced me to invest in an additional router.
The situation deteriorated when streaming services started imposing their conditions. To avoid advertising on Netflix and Disney+, I had to pay extra. The bill rose to €60.49 per month, with a view to €70.49 after the first year. We are moving dangerously away from the initial promise.
B&You Pure fibre: the call of minimalism
Faced with this galloping inflation, the B&You Pure fibre offer seemed to fall from the sky. The promise, 8 Gb/s download speed and 1 Gb/s upload speed for only €23.99 per month without commitment. A monthly saving of more than €35, even in the first year. Of course, you will have to do without the streaming offers proposed by Free, but given the quality of the content recently, I have no regrets.
Changing operator turned out to be more complex than expected. The technician's intervention lasted 1 hour 45 minutes, between administrative justifications and multiple restarts of the BBox Ultym (which is very large by the way). A striking contrast with the installation of the Freebox Ultra, completed in 15 minutes.
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The rest didn't make things any better. The technician came back, alerted by a notification of an installation fault. I had to leave the box untouched for several hours before I could configure it. A customer experience far from optimal.
The disillusionment of flow rates
Once the installation has stabilized, the verdict of the speed tests has fallen: barely 2 Gb/s download, far from the promised 8 Gb/s. However, the fiber installation in my village less than three years old. Free delivered the maximum speed on the same line, proof that its investment is greater than that of Bouygues.
This limitation will not penalize most users. 2 Gb/s is more than enough for 4K streaming, online gaming or teleworking. But the commercial promise is not kept. My purchase of a 10 Gb/s network card becomes superfluous. It is also impossible to take full advantage of WiFi 7.
The price-quality ratio remains interesting, however. Saving more than €35 per month compensates for the disappointment of the speeds. But Bouygues should play the transparency rather than surfing on the marketing argument of 8 Gb/s “subject to eligibility”. A practice that recalls the beginnings of 4G, when operators promised unattainable theoretical speeds.
So, Free or B&You ?
For demanding users looking for maximum speed, the Freebox Ultra retains an undeniable technical advantage. Others will find what they are looking for with the B&You Pure fiber offer which represents a much better quality-price ratio than the Ultra and Essentiel offers from Free. All that remains is to accept the compromise between performance and savings.
While waiting for another operator to offer a deal combining high real speeds and an attractive price, I should be content with my 2 Gb/s.
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