IPTV in France: Behind the Operator Box

What sets France apart from its neighbours is that operators hand you their own box and the internet arrives through it. Freebox, Livebox, SFR Box and Bbox all work on the same principle, and IPTV sits behind them.

Does the operator box get in the way?

In normal use, no. With IPTV your device opens the connection, so nothing arrives from outside and there is no need for port forwarding or for putting the box into bridge mode. The one setting that genuinely matters is DNS.

Two settings worth knowing

1. 01Plug the television into the box's Ethernet portThe Wi-Fi in French operator boxes is generally good, but the receiver in the television is the weak end. If the box has a spare Ethernet port, that is the easiest gain available.
2. 02Change the DNS on the deviceThe box's own DNS can resolve stream servers slowly. Entering 1.1.1.1 in the television's network settings noticeably shortens the time a channel takes to open.

Fibre coverage

France has moved quickly on fibre in recent years, and coverage is high in Paris, Lyon, Marseille and Strasbourg. In smaller towns VDSL is still common and lands in the 30-60 Mbit band — more than enough for Full HD, worth watching for 4K.

Server and local channels

The European server. French channels such as TF1, France 2, M6 and Canal+ are in the list; around Strasbourg and Lyon that means one subscription covers two needs in bilingual households.

Payment goes by SEPA transfer. In French banks transfers land the same day on weekdays and on the next working day at weekends.