To distinguish themselves from each other, operators have three main levers: price, quality of service and equipment. It is on this last point that SFR is focusing for this start of the 2022 school year.
The operator is launching a brand new internet box, the Box 8X, announced as “the most powerful on the market”. It would thus dethrone the Freebox Delta from Free. Marketing promises? Not at all. Technically, the Box 8X is indeed a gem of technology.
SFR Box 8X: it’s rolling!
Aesthetically, the Box 8X is a true copy of the Box 8 already marketed by the operator in its fiber offer. We can’t really say that the operator paid particular attention to the design since the Box 8X remains a large block of black plastic. On this point, SFR is a bit poles apart from Free.
“We do not ask an internet box to be beautiful, but efficient” some will say. With the Box 8X, they are served. The case embeds the ultimate in connectivity. On the program, WiFi 6 (already present in Box 8) as well as the XGS-PON protocol theoretically making it possible to reach an upload speed of 8 Gbit/s.
We insist on the “theoretically” since the four Ethernet ports of the Box 8X cap at 1 Gbit / s. To hope one day to benefit from the speed of 8 Gbit/s, it will be necessary to request a SFP module compatible with 10 Gbit/s, at no additional cost. For the time being, it is impossible to go beyond 1 Gbit/s, which remains the best performance on the market, with the Freebox Delta from Free capping at 700 Mbit/s.
The arrival of the Box 8X does not rhyme with that of a new decoder. SFR provides the same as the one that accompanies the Box 8. We therefore find a box capable of broadcasting content in 4K HDR, compatible with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. You can also call Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant.“The SFR Box 8X combines the most powerful fiber and WiFi technologies on the market, it improves the user experience on features already present with the SFR Box” welcomes the operator. And to add:
After being the first French operator to offer the latest generation of WiFi, WiFi 6, SFR is innovating by bringing together this technology with a fiber speed of up to 8 Gbit/s. SFR thus extends its ambition to establish a new market standard that offers unequaled comfort of use.
SFR Box 8X: how to take advantage of it?
The Box 8X is not available with all operator offers. SFR offers this new box to customers eligible for XGS-PON fiber from February 8, 2022.
The price does not change but only for subscription to a high-end SFR Fiber Power 8 offer billed at 34 euros per month for 12 months, then 50 euros per month. With the classic SFR Fiber offer, the Box 8X is therefore not available. Users must be “satisfied” with the Box 8, which is already very powerful.