Free: the match between Freebox Revolution and Freebox Pop

Awaited for several months, the new Freebox Pop was launched on July 7th. The opportunity to put some order in the range of Internet offers Free. To make room, the operator has decided to remove the Freebox Crystal and the Freebox One, launched in 2018 and which is never really taxed. At Free, therefore, four triple-play offers remain: an entry-level, with the Freebox Mini 4K, a high-end, with the Freebox Delta, and, in the middle, two mid-range boxes, the new Freebox Pop and the immovable Freebox Revolution, launched almost 10 years ago but still popular.

But between the two, which one to choose? In order to help you make a choice, we have decided to compare them. Price, speed, television and entertainment, telephony and services, who will emerge victorious from the ring? The Freebox Revolution or the Freebox Pop? Ariase counts the points.

Warm-up: the Freebox Revolution vs Freebox Pop comparison in brief

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Price: Freebox Revolution advantage

At first sight, on the price criterion, it is difficult to determine who emerges victorious from the duel between the Freebox Revolution and the Freebox Pop. To sell its two mid-range boxes, Free did not opt ​​for the same strategy.

Indeed, the first year, the Freebox Revolution is at a very attractive price of only €19.99/month. Beyond one year, the price is no longer the same, it goes to €44.99/month. As for the Freebox Pop, it is at the promotional price of €29.99/month for one, or €10 more than the Freebox Revolution. But, beyond the first year, it costs €5 less, at €39.99/month.

Therefore, you have to get out the calculator to find out which of the two Freeboxes is the most financially attractive. Over a year, it is necessarily the Freebox Revolution, which costs 120€ less. Over two years, it's still the Freebox Revolution, which is still €60 cheaper. It takes three years for the Freebox Pop to return to the same price as the Freebox revolution.

On the sole criterion of price, therefore, advantage to the Freebox Revolution.

Small clarification, however: the Freebox Revolution is subject to a one-year commitment, while the Freebox pop is a non-binding offer.

Internet: the Freebox Pop knocks out the Freebox Révolution

When it comes to speed, there's no need to get out the calculator to decide between the two mid-range freeboxes. Let's move on to the ADSL/VDSL version: the two Free Internet boxes are on par with a speed of up to 95 Mb/s.

On the other hand, if you are eligible for Free fiber, you will see that the Freebox Pop sticks an uppercut to the Freebox Revolution. The Freebox Revolution delivers a very respectable downlink fiber speed of 1 Gb/s, like most internet boxes on the market, and an uplink speed of 600 Mb/s. However, the new Freebox V8 does much better, with a speed of 5 Gb/s shared for downloading and 700 Mb/s for sending files. Let's be clear: with the exception of the 8 Gb/s of the Freebox Delta, no other Internet box does as well. For a mid-range offer, the Freebox Pop is therefore very strong in terms of speeds.

And that's not the only advantage of the Freebox Pop modem: thanks to the MU-MIMO function and the new WPA3 encryption protocol, it allows a fast and reliable connection, even with a large number of devices connected. Finally, a small gadget that is still very practical: with the Freebox Pop, all you have to do is scan a QR-Code to connect your devices to WiFi.

Freebox ADSL customer, you want to switch to fiber but you don't know if you are eligible for Very High Speed ​​with Free. A solution :

Internet level, so the new Free box knocks out the old one. That being said, whatever fiber offer you choose from the operator, you are almost sure to have a good Internet connection. Indeed, Free is the No. 1 operator for fiber speeds in 2019.

Television and entertainment: clear advantage to Freebox Pop

The Freebox Revolution and Freebox Revolution offers are very different in terms of television and entertainment. At first glance, one would be rather tempted to give the point to the first. Indeed, the TV decoder of the Freebox Revolution, with Blu-Ray player, gives access to more than 280 channels including TV by Canal. It's better than the 220 channels of the new OQee TV interface embedded in the TV decoder of the Freebox Pop.

Nevertheless, this new TV interface is more advanced than the Revolution's Freebox Player. In addition to Replay and live control, services common to all Free TV decoders, it offers an additional feature: start-over (return to the start of the program).

In addition, the TV decoder of the Freebox Pop runs on Android, which is not the case with the Freebox Revolution. As for the quality of sound and image, it is much better with the new Freebox V8 which benefits from the latest technological advances: 4K HDR, DolbyVision, Dolby Audio, DTS HD, Dolby Surround 5.1 and Dolby Atmos. The ultimate. But, you still need to have the compatible hardware to benefit from it.

Last point to the advantage of the latest addition to Free: Freebox Pop subscribers have direct access on their television to the Free Ligue 1 Uber Eats service, while Revolution customers have to make do with the streaming version. Finally, both the Freebox Pop and the Freebox Revolution provide direct access to Netflix, Canal+ and Amazon Prime Video. But the latest from Free does even better with a six-month subscription offered to Disney+, while the Freebox Revolution does not allow access to the SVoD service directly on its television.

In terms of storage, however, the two freeboxes are a draw. Indeed, while the Freebox Revolution has a hard drive with 250 GB of storage, the Freebox Pop can record 100 hours of TV on the cloud.

In the end, therefore, in terms of television and entertainment, the offer is still more extensive on the Freebox Pop. But, if you are only looking for a package with a very large number of television channels, you will prefer the Freebox Revolution. Nevertheless, the Freebox Pop has the privilege of novelty and youth, which is why we give it the point.

Telephony: draw between the two Freeboxes

On this point, perfect equality between the Freebox Pop and the Freebox Revolution. Indeed, the two offers include calls to landlines in mainland France and more than 110 destinations abroad, but also unlimited calls to mobiles in mainland France, to the overseas departments and certain destinations such as the United States, Canada and China. Draw, therefore.

Services: advantage to Freebox Pop

Services: this is where operators can make a difference and 'a box can really stand out from the competition, as the possibilities are so numerous. And, services, the Freebox Pop is not lacking. First, it includes a WiFi repeater that solves a real problem: more and more people are complaining about having poor WiFi coverage inside their homes. However, this small additional box makes it possible to extend the WiFi range of the Freebox in all the rooms of a dwelling, and even the most distant. It chooses in real time the best access point between your Freebox and your repeater. Also, when you move away from an access point, another automatically takes over. This allows you to move from one room to another in your home with complete peace of mind, without losing your WiFi connection.

Another advantage reserved for Freebox Pop subscribers: the Free mobile plan at a reduced price. For only €9.99/month, instead of €19.99/month, they can take advantage of a subscription with unlimited calls, SMS/MMS and Internet in 4G+ in mainland France and 25 GB/month abroad . This package also includes an interesting batch of calls to/from abroad.

Final result of the match between the Freebox Revolution and the Freebox Pop

Naturally, this Free box match turns in favor of the Freebox Pop. And, it's all quite logical. Much more recent than the Freebox Revolution, it guarantees you super fiber speed, benefits from the latest developments, particularly in terms of television, and offers many services, such as the WiFi repeater.

Nevertheless, the Freebox Revolution does more than stand up to the Freebox Pop. For a box that turned 10 in December, it offers quite satisfactory services, with a speed of 1 Gb/s, TV by Canal, and above all good value for money. If you are looking for a triple-play offer without too much fuss, it will still be able to fully satisfy you.