The End of ADSL in 2026: Which Internet Solution in Nice, Antibes and Cannes?

Orange's closure plan, approved by the regulator Arcep, follows two distinct milestones that must not be confused:

• Commercial closure — 31 January 2026: no new ADSL/VDSL subscriptions or plan changes, with any operator (the copper network is shared). Your existing line keeps working.
• Technical closure — in batches, 2026 to 2030: the line is definitively cut on the date assigned to your commune. In the Alpes-Maritimes, the first batch falls on 27 January 2026 (Saint-Paul-de-Vence, La Colle-sur-Loup, Villeneuve-Loubet, Cap-d'Ail, Théoule-sur-Mer), with the rest staged until 2030.

To find the exact date for your address, use the official Orange copper-shutdown map: search by commune or postcode. The commune-by-commune dates of the first Riviera batch are detailed in our dedicated article on the Alpes-Maritimes communes affected in 2026-2028.

The technical closure is non-negotiable: on the set date, the box loses sync and everything depending on it stops. For a household: internet, the landline (if it still runs over copper), ADSL television. For a business or an equipped home: payment terminals, remote monitoring and alarms transmitting over the fixed line, IP cameras, home automation.

The real risk isn't the cut-off itself — it's announced years in advance — but the last-minute rush: in communes already closed, fibre connection requests flooded in during the final months, stretching lead times accordingly. Planning six months ahead turns a high-pressure migration into a formality.

The three serious alternatives to copper, compared on what matters day to day:

Criterion	Fibre	4G/5G box	Starlink
Download speed	300 Mbps to 8 Gbps	30 to 300 Mbps, highly variable	100 to 300 Mbps, stable
Latency	1 to 5 ms	20 to 60 ms	20 to 40 ms
Availability	If connected — check eligibility	Depends on local mobile coverage	Everywhere with a clear sky view
Limits	Connection lead times can be long	Data sometimes capped, seasonal congestion	Pricier subscription, sky view required
Best for	Everything, if eligible	Stopgap, light use	Non-fibre areas, heavy use, backup

In short: fibre first if it's available and connectable in time; Starlink for addresses without fibre or with uncertain lead times; a 4G/5G box as a stopgap or for light use, provided you check the actual mobile coverage at your address (the valleys of the Alpes-Maritimes hold surprises).

On paper, Nice, Antibes and Cannes are massively fibred. In reality, eligibility comes down to the individual address: old buildings never connected for lack of a co-ownership agreement, villas at the end of private lanes where connection requires civil-engineering works, hillside hamlets where fibre stops at the village. The hinterland — from Vence to Grasse and through the valleys — concentrates addresses that are ineligible or connectable only at high cost.

The right reflex: test your precise eligibility (number, street, commune) on the operators' sites, and for complex connections, get a civil-works quote before dismissing the alternatives. A connection costing thousands of euros with a six-month lead time changes the terms of the choice against a Starlink operational within a week.

When your address is eligible, fibre remains the best choice: higher speeds, minimal latency, competitive subscriptions. Three tips for a smooth migration: never cancel ADSL before the fibre is installed and tested (both coexist fine during the transition); use the change to have your indoor network checked — 1 Gbps fibre behind ageing WiFi changes nothing day to day; and if your activity can't tolerate downtime, consider Starlink as a backup link: fibre outages (digger strikes, network incidents) remain possible, and dual WAN fails over automatically within seconds.

We support these migrations end to end, including the indoor network, through our network installation services.

Starlink wins in three profiles: the address with no fibre eligibility (or an uncertain horizon), the second home you don't want to commit to connection works, and the business site wanting a link independent of the wired network — primary or backup. Speeds of 100 to 300 Mbps, latency of 20 to 40 ms: demanding usage (video calls, VPN, cloud) works without compromise.

Success comes down to the installation: sky-view survey, durable mounting, bridge-mode integration with the existing network. The full process — technical criteria, lead times, budget — is in our Starlink installation guide, and our turnkey service is described on the Starlink installation page.