In terms of fixed Internet, the average speed, all technologies combined, was 244 Mb/s in November 2022 , according to the DegroupTest barometer (+23% over one year). For its part, our partner nPerf, estimates that in the first half of 2022, the average speed with a fixed Internet connection is 225 Mb/s, against 191 Mb/s in 2021, an increase of 18% in two years. In two years, in other words compared to the first half of 2020, this increase reached 90%.
The more time passes, and this is normal with the growing place of fiber optics and the evolution of Wi-Fi standards, the more the French have a better speed . However, this figure, in itself, does not mean much. It only means that, from year to year, the French benefit, at the national level, from a better connection to the Internet . But, to be really relevant, it is necessary to make the difference between the real speeds in ADSL and optical fiber. Even better, for each of the technologies, we are able to tell you which operator delivers the best speeds.
Which operator delivers the best fiber speed?
If you are eligible for fiber optics , you have the choice of being able to equip yourself with the technology that allows you to have the best internet speed. And, from afar. The operators, depending on the offers, deliver a theoretical speed of 300 Mb/s up to 8 Gb/s. As we have said, these are theoretical flows. Because, in reality, even if the average fiber speed remains very high, it is lower than the theoretical speed.
Who is the best fiber carrier?
However, in order to judge the quality of an Internet connection, the upload speed must also be taken into account. In this area, Bouygues Telecom comes first (358.60 Mb/s according to DegroupTest (December 2022), 332.79 Mb/s according to nPerf), ahead of Free (350.39 Mb/s according to DegroupTest, 407.35 Mb/s s according to nPerf), Orange (340.29 Mb/s according to DegroupTest, 362.92 Mb/s according to nPerf) and SFR (300.95 Mb/s according to DegroupTest, 319.87 Mb/s according to nPerf). And, latency, which, according to nPerf, is a criterion dominated by Orange (11.54 ms), ahead of Free (12.60 ms), SFR (13.71 ms) and Bouygues Telecom (13.86 ms).
Which ISP has the best ADSL speed?
ADSL is Broadband, with a speed of up to 15 Mb/s. A theoretical figure, even more than for fiber. Indeed, with ADSL, the Internet connection lacks stability because it is sensitive to electromagnetic disturbances and there is a consequent loss of speeds linked to the distance of the box from the telephone exchange. Not to mention all the other reasons that are likely to cause throughput to plummet, such as network congestion. As a result, the theoretical maximum speed of 15 Mb/s in ADSL is an inaccessible grail with this technology. For its part, the government has set the threshold for “good broadband” at 8 Mb / s , which it had promised to all at the end of 2020.
So, in accordance with the government’s promise, do all French ADSL subscribers have “good broadband”? And, which operator delivers the best ADSL speed? At the second, the answer is Free. Indeed, according to nPerf, it’s Free that delivers the best average speed in ADSL, with 8.32 Mb/s . Another operator above the threshold set by the government: Bouygues Telecom, with 8.29 Mb/s. With an average ADSL speed of 7.47 Mb/s and 7.16 Mb/s, Orange and SFR are therefore below threshold set by the government. To explain Orange’s poor performance , nPerf explains that the incumbent operator is sometimes the only operator to serve very remote areas with little throughput.
What is the best ADSL provider?
Still in the Broadband category, according to nPerf, Free also delivers the best upload speeds, with 0.63 Mb/s, ahead of Orange (0.57 Mb/s), SFR (0.53 Mb/s) and Bouygues Telecom (0.52 Mb/s). And, as far as ADSL latency is concerned, Bouygues tops this criterion with 44.40 ms, ahead of Free (44.81 ms), Orange (47.91 ms) and SFR (59.58 ms).
Test your connection speed
According to the results of the 4G/5G mobile internet barometer carried out by QoSi (55,000 tests carried out between February and November 2021 in 10 metropolitan areas in mainland France), it is Orange, by far, which delivers the best speed. average in 5G: 233.2 Mb/s . The incumbent operator is almost twice as good as SFR (157.3 Mb/s) and Bouygues (150.9 Mb/s). And what about Free, well behind its competitors, which brings up the rear with an average 5G speed of (only) 34.2 Mb / s.
For its part, Arcep, the telecoms regulator, does not arrive at the same results but at the same ranking in its observatory of the quality of mobile services in 2022. After having carried out more than a million measurements, it appears that Orange offers the best 5G speeds (143 Mb/s throughout France and 217 Mb/s in dense areas), ahead of Bouygues Telecom (84 Mb/s in France and 167 Mb/s in dense areas), SFR (84 Mb/s in France and 163 Mb/s in dense areas) and finally Free (64 Mb/s in France and 80 Mb/s in dense areas).
Finally, our partner nPerf does not achieve the same results or the same ranking. Based on several thousand speed tests carried out almost everywhere in France, it concludes, in its barometer of mobile internet connections in mainland France in the first half of 2022, that and SFR are the two operators which have provided the best average download speed, with 344 Mb/s and 275 Mb/s, far ahead of Free
