Free Mobile boosts its 4G speeds before the holidays

Free improves the quality of its mobile network almost everywhere in France, with an increase in download speed.

4G is not dead! While operators had their eyes riveted on 5G for many months before calming their enthusiasm, Free Mobile is interested at the end of the year in the quality of the speeds provided by its mobile network.

A gain in spectrum obtained in 2018 which is finally bearing fruit

The 4G network remains today, and by far, the most used by the French. Many have not yet dared to adopt a 5G smartphone and will wait for their current phone to give up the ghost before opting for a model compatible with the next generation network.

Free will therefore improve the quality of the speeds offered by its antennas by using the 15 MHz allocated on the 2100 MHz frequency. Free previously had only 5 MHz, but obtained 15 MHz thanks to the “New Deal mobile”, a government initiative which “offered” advantages to operators against their commitment to improve their network, especially in rural areas and areas. white.

Paris and Île-de-France are the poor relations of this improvement of the 4G network

Since 2021, Free Mobile can use 15 MHz, but preferred to wait a bit and test its system in Bordeaux which, as recalled Freebox Universeis the test city of Xavier Niel’s operator before any national deployment.

The tests were conclusive, and Free Mobile now offers its subscribers to take advantage of 15 MHz on all 5,204 sites compatible with the 2,100 MHz frequency band, according to figures from ARCEP. Since September 2022, the new sites installed by the operator were already compatible and operational. This new deployment only concerns sites that have already been in operation for several years.

However, all Free Mobile users will not be able to benefit from better speeds immediately. If the majority of the territory is affected by this improvement, Paris and the Île-de-France region do not seem to be affected by this update for the moment.

Finally, Free Mobile had to deactivate 3G 2100 MHz on its antennas at the same time to avoid interference between the different frequencies.

Source : Freebox Universe