News JVTech Connected Home: Orange abandons its service and also abandons its customers
Published on 11/28/2022 at 5:55 p.m.
Do you have Orange connected home automation at home? Bad news: the operator has decided to drop this activity. And the time to turn around in the face of this announcement is particularly short!
Since April 2019, the incumbent operator Orange has been offering its customers a home automation solution soberly called Maison Connecté. Still available on the FAI’s website, the dedicated page presents the offer, which revolves around a “house easier to live in” with “connected objects that make your life easier”. This goes through connected power outlets, smart bulbs or even devices to detect intrusions.
The proposal was so far quite simple: the owners of a subscription to Orange could subscribe, in addition, to the Connected Home service, by simply paying for the associated objects. But the operator is now announcing the color: Connected Home will stop on January 15, 2023.
Orange stops the Connected Home in 2023
“The Connected Home service and mobile application (iOS and Android) allowing you to manage your home and your connected objects remotely will stop working on January 15, 2023”: Here is what Orange announces on its platform. Customers registered for the service have been informed by email of this situation.
An association coming to an end
In concrete terms, what will happen if you are a customer of Orange’s Connected Home service? There are two scenarios. If you have acquired appliances from well-known brandswhich connect to Wi-Fi or via other protocols that do not belong to Orange, then they will continue to operate normally. This is the case for products from the Konyks, Philips Hue, Netatmo, Bosch, D-Link and Somfy brands. In practice, a large number of devices sold by Orange as part of this offer belong to this category, but there is another for which the situation is more complex.
The Orange Connected Home: what about proprietary objects?
In effect, Orange also offered, as part of this offer, exclusive DECT-ULE connected objects. These are based on a proprietary protocol based on wireless technologies linked to fixed telephony (DETC), and associated with Ultra Low Energy (ULE).
In practice, these objects, designed to operate for a long time before having to be recharged, are intended to communicate wirelessly with the Orange Liveboxes 4 and 5 thanks to a base integrated into these boxes. The fact that the Livebox 6 does not integrate it was a first clue that suggested that Orange had no intention of sustaining this combination. It is now confirmed.
Some products that will soon no longer work
“As part of the termination of the Connected Home Service on January 15, 2023, the exclusive Connected Home connected objects with DECT-ULE technology will no longer work”, explains Orange. At least, it’s clear, devices will simply be brickedeven if you have a compatible box.
For devices purchased “after January 15, 2021”, it is already possible to request a refund via a form available online. The process is accessible until January 15, 2024. On the other hand, if you bought your devices before January 15, 2021, you cannot get them refunded. The list of affected products is available on the Orange website. We can clearly deplore that in the era of sustainable, refurbished and ecological awareness, Orange decides to make certain devices unusableall without allowing all of its customers to obtain compensation in exchange, for example, for recycling.
