In France, the quad-play is Free
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FREE, one of the big four national ISPs and owned by Iliad Telecom, has always rolled out more innovative service than its competitors. It was the first to break into triple-play services, when consumers hadn’t even heard about online TV. Now, Free is heading towards VoIP, with a new quad-play router.
In fact, the new router called FreeBox HD consists of 2 routers. But it would somehow end up to be a geek love. It allows Internet telephony over over local wireless networks, supports ADSL 2+, meaning it provides over 20 Mo downlink rate. It is also compatible with TV HD (the reason of the product name) and WiFi MiMo protocol and can access to all the 18 TNT digital television channels.
But its main attraction is its capability to route VoIP calls to dual-mode cellphones, even if users aren’t Free subscribers.
Such a service still is not for everyone, as dual-mode mobile phones are quite rare in France, but could lure cellphone vendors into the market segment. So far, Free hasn’t partnered any phone manufacturers, nor has it unveiled any intention to do so.
British Telecom has unveiled the same kind of offer. Since one year. But this was probably too early, as BT subscribers haven’t been rushing on the dual-mode WiFi router. The reason could be the small catalog of mobile phones that can enable such a feature.
Apr 20, 2006 | By Nuno
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