SFR unveiled its new Box on Tuesday, the 8X, which should allow it to grab market share on the fixed line by relying on the latest technological evolution of FttH fiber, namely XGS-PON. With this new box, announced discreetly, the brand with the red square offers nothing less than to quadruple the speeds offered by its previous generation of boxes, with peaks at 8 Gbit / s.
Something to stand out from the competition, which is sticking for the moment to technologies of the GPON or 10G-EPON type (in the case of Free) whose theoretical performance is lower – on paper at least.
First to draw a fixed offer based on XGS-PON, SFR intends to impose itself thanks to promises of tenfold speeds. “After being the first French operator to offer the very latest generation of Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi 6, SFR is innovating by combining this technology with a fiber speed of up to 8 Gbit/s. SFR is thus extending its ambition to establish a new market standard that offers unrivaled user comfort”, rejoiced the CEO of Altice France, SFR’s parent company, Grégory Rabuel, during the presentation of this new offer.
A still nascent technology
The question nevertheless arises as to whether it will keep its promises, which is far from certain given the number of conditions to be met to achieve the speeds promised by the operator. To do this, users must of course be connected to fiber, but via optimized optical connection nodes (NRO), which are far from being the majority in the territory. They will also need to be equipped with compatible equipment that can withstand such speeds, the latter being still rare on the market.
If SFR provides – on request – an SFP module to reach these speeds in Ethernet, the operator specifies however that compatible PCs must have an integrated 10G LAN port, an extension card or a Thunderbolt 3 adapter to 10G Ethernet plugged into a PCI-E x4, Thunderbolt 3 or USB-C interface. Apple enthusiasts will need a Mac with a 10G Ethernet port or a Thunderbolt 3 to 10G Ethernet adapter.
Still, the launch of the new SFR box should allow the operator to get ahead of the competition by offering a technology that will be developed in the near future. Note that the operator’s new box also offers a “home” voice assistant allowing you to control your TV without a remote control as well as Alexa, already available for owners of a Box 8, the eldest of the Box 8X. Note that the latter also has an integrated connected speaker. SFR offers its latest box for a subscription (with one-year commitment) of 34 euros per month, then 50 euros per month after 12 months.