After Free, it is Orange’s turn to inaugurate its new 5G with its “5G+ Home” offer

The war for 5G is (re)launched. After Free’s announcements on September 18 on the deployment of 5G SA, Orange is coming to compete with the telecoms troublemaker with its offer labeled “5G+ Home» which uses the same standard.

Marketed from October 10, the offer will exploit “the largest 5G network in 3.5 GHz in France, i.e. 10,401 operational sites“, announces the operator. The competition is therefore head-on with Free, which is using the same frequencies for its “new” 5G. Building on the experience acquired during the Olympic Games where 5G SA has enabled “to guarantee a premium service to media and broadcasters“, Orange will therefore democratize this new technology soon. It should also be noted that the operator is taking the opportunity to nickname this new standard “5G+” to make the matter more digestible.

5G+ to be used mainly at home

Strangely enough, however, the historic operator seems to be mainly praising the merits of this new 5G for home use. That is, where Wi-Fi is traditionally used rather than the mobile network.The 5G+ Home offer will make the internet experience at home smoother and more efficient, whether you want to share the connection with the whole family at the same time, watch TV or play online.“, writes the operator. A funny way of boasting about the qualities of its new generation “mobile” network.

This argument is probably due to the fact that the 3.5 GHz frequency in question here offers a lesser range than the 700 MHz and 2.1 GHz frequencies currently used for “classic” 5G. In order not to disappoint, the operator is therefore probably limiting the range of its announcement before relaunching its race for deployments throughout the territory.

The advantage of 5G+

The 3.5 GHz nevertheless has the advantage of offering higher speeds and reduced latency times compared to other 5G frequencies. This “core band” should also offer some oxygen to the rest of the network since it is dedicated solely to 5G and therefore does not encroach on 3G/4G frequencies as is currently the case.

To go further
What is the 5G coverage at Orange, Free, SFR and Bouygues? Here are the maps and tools at your disposal

Orange’s “Enterprise” customers can already test the operator’s “5G+” (provided they have a compatible mobile) and for individuals, you will have to wait a month. And if you are not with Orange or Free, don’t panic, the announcements one after the other from the two companies will undoubtedly motivate the rest of the operators to launch 5G SA in the coming weeks.