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Proprietary provider modems 2/3



Introduction


Judging by the numerous reactions to the previous publication , it was not left without attention. And some of you asked to continue the trilogy.

The essence of this series of articles is not to boast of anything at all, or to say that somewhere there is better. As you know, it is always better where we are not. I'm just interested in marketing and business development, and this is the analysis that I present, but from a technical point of view.
Like ordinary providers that offer similar services, speeds, etc., they decide to diversify their services. That is, the market in France is already saturated, competitors have taken their places, but it is impossible to prevent stagnation? This is where engineers who develop proprietary modems come to the rescue.
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That is the story of the provider turning into a ironcaster, but how?

General


Freebox v1 and v2 modems do not carry anything special about themselves. Freebox v3 and v4 are a modem, TV decoder and VoIP converter. But now Freebox v5 consists of two separate systems. It is this version that I use, and that is what I can describe better.

It is an ADSL box and a TV box. In earlier versions, they connected to each other via WiFi, and now they have switched to PLC . Retaining the possibility of direct connection via ethernet.

Cool, and what to connect to them?

Interfaces


ADSL box:

From left to right:

TV box:

From left (top to bottom) right:


Manages everything like this remote.

The attentive reader has already noticed the colored buttons on one side, the cross buttons on the other, and 2 buttons under the index fingers. I confirm it is a joystick for games.
The usual set of buttons to switch channels, adjust the sound, switch between video / audio sources, control video (record, pause, rewind).

How many holes and what do these devices do?

Functionality


The ADSL box acts as a modem, it receives an xDSL signal and performs various services.
  1. RJ-11 allows you to connect the phone. And this modem serves as an answering machine, voice mail, two calls in parallel, conference call, a filter for incoming and outgoing calls, call forwarding. In this case, the subscriber receives his home phone number. Free calls to more than 100 countries around the world to home calls, to a dozen countries to mobile phones and of course all over France and all mobile France. As well as the connection to the number of SIP. And by the way, you can choose a beautiful room.
  2. Allows you to connect a printer, and use as a print server
  3. 4 ethernet ports serve as a router
  4. Wifi 54Mbps MIMO, which is not very bad
  5. Allows you to connect an external drive (FAT, EXT, NTFS, HFS, XFS ...) and split the FTP server
  6. You can also configure DHCP, highlight DMZ, configure WoL, arrange routing.



The TV box acts as a TV tuner and not only.
  1. Digital and Analog TV tuners, it allows you to watch TV without DSL connection. Videos are broadcast in two or even three qualities, including HD, but not for all channels.
  2. The built-in tape recorder contains a 40GB hard drive. You can record video in different qualities. You can watch one channel and record another. And you can pause the ongoing program, go for a beer and chips, and return to it a little later. By FTP, pick up recorded videos and burn to a CD, or watch from a computer. You can also program video recording for a week.
  3. There is also VoD. You can watch the video from 1 euro several times during the day. Well, or write to the built-in tape recorder and have your own copy.
  4. TV Perso. This is a service like Youtube. You have your own channel, and you can broadcast all day, everything that is allowed by law.
  5. Freeplayer. Allows using VLC to broadcast audio / video stream on TV. That is, you can put your movie on TV, which is in the hall and not crowded at 21 inch monitor.
  6. Multiposte. You can use all these channels on your computer, again through VLC, that is, to catch broadcasting on a local network.
  7. Internet. There is also the opportunity to surf the net through the TV, but without great refinements in the form of flash.
  8. Prefix. By default, it is provided with a dozen games, such as Tetris, bomberman, card games, snake, sapper. But there are emulators consoles of our childhood.
  9. You can connect an external drive via USB and record to it, or watch a video from it.
  10. And of course, you can use all the video and audio inputs and outputs to connect different sources.


And what kind of iron is there?

Device


ADSL box:


TV box below:


TV box on top:


Photo courtesy of the previous model of the WiFi module. In the new Freebox v5, the antennas are inside.

Conclusion


Here is what the technology of French providers looked like 3 years ago. And the trend was common. To date, evolution has continued, and now offer the Blue-Ray disc reader and more in the next issue.

As for the functional, everything is very simple. An ordinary housewife in 15 minutes can install a set-top box using a step-by-step paper manual, or an interactive disk. And immediately in her house Internet, telephone, TV and VCR.
Well, advanced users set up servers, gateways, FTP, and more.

As planned, in the next release there will be a comparison of the last boxes. Unless of course this issue does not lead my rating down.

Sources


Free.fr - description and pictures
infos-du-net.com/actualite/dossiers/79-free-freebox-hd.html - functionality and description
freenews.fr - pictures

Updates


06/01/2010 - 19:19 GMT
The Free CEO expressed his concern for the new TVs. In France, TVs with a network card, hard drives and built-in casual games are becoming more and more common. That is, the Internet function on TV, VCR and VoD boxes will face competition from TV manufacturers.
How will providers continue to grow?

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/120339/

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