Freebox, Ports, and Sockets

One highlight of moving to France has been getting fixed price unlimited Internet. In Australia, we paid for tiered allowances measured in gigabytes per month; the more you wanted to use and download, the more you needed to pay.

A little research turned up the Internet Service Provider (ISP) free.fr. This technology driven company offers decent Internet and is now slowly expanding into the mobile network market. We pay 37 euros a month for Internet, a landline, and a mobile phone account.

As with any Internet related choice, I wanted to know what we would get and what it would look like. At the time, I could not find what I wanted. So I am fixing that with my own free.fr Freebox photos.

Two photos deserve a little more attention. The two photos below show all the sockets on the back of the two Freebox devices.

Freebox Server

The Freebox Server is the box that contains the router, for both ADSL and fiber connections. The Server also includes a hard disk drive and provides all Internet based services.

Sockets from left-to-right:

• DSL
• Fibre
• Ethernet x4
• Audio in
• Audio out
• USB x2
• eSATA
• Phone
• 12v power in
• Hard disk drive bay (behind sprung hinge)

Freebox Player

The Freebox Player is the box that provides the traditional television connections. I do not use this box and am still able to get television channels via VLC; however this box is needed to subscribe to opt-in channels and play games.

Sockets from left-to-right:

• 12v power in
• USB x2
• eSATA
• TNT (television coaxial cable)
• Ethernet
• Peritel
• HDMI
• SPDIF
• Phone