Free (Iliad) IP Ranges
Free is the retail broadband brand of the French Iliad group, and its fixed-line network is registered at RIPE under the as-name PROXAD, held by ORG-PISP1-RIPE, with the aut-num for AS12322 created on 20 July 2002. PeeringDB files the network as Free SAS, also known as ProXad or Iliad, at 20 to 50 Tbps with a selective peering policy and the IRR set AS-PROXAD, and its own note there describes the services as FTTH, broadband ADSL, television over ADSL, voice and hosting in France. That registration covers the fixed line only: Free Mobile is a separate object, AS51207 with as-name FREEM under ORG-FMS4-RIPE, created on 14 December 2011, so a Free mobile connection does not appear on this ASN.
- Provider
- Free (Iliad)
- Primary ASN
- AS12322
- Category
- ISP
- Headquarters
- Paris, France
- Announced IPv4 prefixes
- 538
- Registry
- RIPE
Known IP ranges
These prefixes are currently announced to the global routing table by AS12322 (PROXAD Free SAS). Prefix sets change over time - use WHOIS Lookup for the authoritative record on any specific address.
78.192.0.0/11
88.160.0.0/11
82.224.0.0/11
78.240.0.0/12
91.160.0.0/12
83.152.0.0/13
88.120.0.0/13
82.64.0.0/14
91.172.0.0/15
88.126.0.0/15
2a01:e00::/26
2a01:e30::/28
2a01:e34::/32 (IPv6)
What does a Free (Iliad) IP mean in a privacy test?
What a Free address does not tell you is that it belongs to one household. Free's own support page describes the fixed full-stack IPv4 address as the option giving you the entire set of ports of the assigned address, requested from Ma Freebox in the subscriber account, which is only a meaningful option because the alternative shares one address between lines. A separate article says the address is fixed by default in a zone degroupee, while elsewhere a fixed address has to be requested and is activated within 72 hours at most. A third says the subscriber's reverse DNS customisation survives an upgrade from ADSL to fibre but is lost on a house move or on a switch between a shared and a full-stack address, because the address itself changes underneath it. So one public address on this network can stand for a single household or for several, and whether it is stable at all depends on which of those arrangements the line is under.
Where Free's address information is published
Free publishes no geolocation feed and no allowlist. The inetnum for its largest block, 78.192.0.0/11, carries netname FR-PROXAD-20051003, status ALLOCATED PA and the description ProXad network / Free SAS, Paris, France, with no geofeed attribute, and the same holds for the other allocations checked here. What the aut-num does document in unusual detail is routing. The import policy for AS12322 is written out neighbour by neighbour, each accepted at preference 100 with the default route explicitly excluded, in clauses of the form from AS112 action pref=100; accept AS112 AND NOT ({0.0.0.0/0}), and the export side announces the set AS-PROXAD to nearly every peer, with to AS6758 announce ANY the single exception. The object's one remark is a peering address at the domain as12322.net.
For a specific address the two things carrying information are the RIPE allocation boundary under ORG-PISP1-RIPE and the reverse DNS record, and Free is unusual in that the second is partly under subscriber control. Its support article on reverse DNS offers two choices: use your own domain name, or take an alias of the form nom_choisi.hd.free.fr, both set from the subscriber area. The same article says the customisation is kept when a line is upgraded from ADSL to fibre, but not when the subscriber moves or switches between a shared and a full-stack address. A hostname on this network is therefore good evidence of a Free line, but the specific name may have been chosen by the subscriber rather than by Free.
Reading a Free address: which line, and whose
The default reverse DNS names the operator directly, and two templates dominate the subscriber space. The first is the plain dashed address ending subs.proxad.net: 82.224.50.50 returns 82-224-50-50.subs.proxad.net, and the same form came back on sampled addresses in 88.160.0.0/11, 91.160.0.0/12, 83.152.0.0/13, 88.120.0.0/13, 88.126.0.0/15, 91.172.0.0/15 and 82.64.0.0/14. The second carries a site code ahead of the address, as on 78.192.100.50, which returns pes75-3-78-192-100-50.fbxo.proxad.net. Coverage is not total, though: a sampled address in 78.240.0.0/12 returned no PTR at all, so an unnamed address here is not by itself evidence of anything.
Inbound connections behave differently depending on the address arrangement, which is the useful thing to know when a Free address turns up in a server log. A line on a shared IPv4 address holds only part of the port range, so a service answering on an arbitrary port from Free space more likely belongs to a subscriber who has taken the full-stack address, while on a zone degroupee line with a fixed address by default a long-lived server is entirely plausible. What you will not find on AS12322 is rented compute sold to third parties. The Iliad group's hosting arm is registered separately: AS12876 sits under ORG-TT1-RIPE, whose org-name is Scaleway SAS in Paris, with ONLINE-NET-MNT among its maintainers, so a server hired from the group appears on that ASN and not on this one.
Related tools
Frequently asked questions
Why does my IP address show as Proxad rather than Free?
Because PROXAD is the as-name the network is registered under at RIPE, while PeeringDB files the same ASN as Free SAS, also known as ProXad or Iliad. Lookup tools pick one label or the other for AS12322. Either way the address is a French fixed line and no tunnel is carrying your web traffic.
Is my Free IP address shared with other subscribers?
It can be. Free's own support pages present the fixed full-stack IPv4 address, which gives you the entire set of ports of the address, as an option you request from Ma Freebox, and a separate article refers to switching to or from a shared IP address. On a shared line the address is used by more than one subscriber and each holds only part of the port range.
What does a proxad.net hostname mean?
It means the address is a Free access line. The common forms are the dashed address under subs.proxad.net and a longer name carrying a site code under fbxo.proxad.net, as in pes75-3-78-192-100-50.fbxo.proxad.net. Free also lets subscribers replace the default with their own domain or an alias under hd.free.fr, so an unusual name is not evidence of anything beyond a subscriber having set it.
Does a Free mobile connection appear on AS12322?
No. Free Mobile is registered separately at RIPE as AS51207, as-name FREEM, under organisation ORG-FMS4-RIPE and created in December 2011. AS12322 is the fixed-line network, so a lookup returning PROXAD or Free SAS is describing a fibre or DSL connection rather than a mobile one.
Can I get a fixed IP address on Free?
Free's support documentation says the address is fixed by default in a zone degroupee, and that elsewhere a fixed address is requested from the subscriber account and activated within 72 hours at most. A separate article covers requesting the fixed full-stack IPv4 address, the one that gives you the complete port range instead of a share of it, and notes it has to be requested again after a house move.