Proximus TV Box: which model, and how to connect it

Proximus supports only four TV boxes today, and just one of them connects without a network cable. Here is which one you have, what it can do, what the second one costs, and the ten minutes of cabling between the cardboard box and your first picture.

Which Proximus TV box do you have, and what can it do?

Four models, two picture levels, one wireless connection.

The official Proximus installation guide now offers only four boxes to choose from, checked on 18 September 2026. The V4 and the non-compact V5 have dropped off the list. If yours is not below, it is end of life and Proximus will eventually replace it on its own initiative.

Both Android boxes run on Google's system. You install YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, Prime Video, Spotify or Twitch from the Google Play Store, and Chromecast is built in: your phone casts straight to the screen, with no extra device. The V6 and the V5 Compact do none of that. They show channels and the last seven days of replay, and that is all.

One detail few people anticipate at exchange time: swapping boxes costs you part of your recordings. Proximus automatically transfers the last sixty days to the new TV Box. Everything older leaves with the old drive. If you have been keeping a series on a V5 Compact for three years, watch it before you call.

Is the 49 € upgrade to the recent TV Box worth paying?

Yes, once, unless you already have the right TV option.

Proximus charges a one-off 49 € exchange fee to replace an older box with the TV Box Android, checked on 18 September 2026 on the operator's TV equipment page. The fee disappears if you subscribe to Entertainment Premium, All-in, Disney+, Flex Netflix or Be Tv. It does not drop by a single euro if you already own a recent box.

Forty-nine euros for a box that stays the property of Proximus, whose rental is included in your pack, and which you will hand back when you leave. The maths still works in one specific case. If your V6 or V5 Compact forces you to rent a Wi-Fi Booster at 3.50 € a month because the network cable will not reach the living room, the TV Box Android Wi-Fi pays back the 49 € in fourteen months and then saves you 42 € a year. The first month of Booster is free, which pushes the break-even point back by one month.

Outside that case, paying 49 € purely to gain the Google Play Store is arguable. A 40 € streaming stick plugged into another HDMI port does the same thing, and it belongs to you.

How do you connect a Proximus TV box in ten minutes?

Three cables, in this order, and nothing else.

The box contains the unit, the remote and its batteries, the power cable, the Ethernet cable and the HDMI cable. Everything is there. I spent seven years fitting TV boxes around Namur, and half of my difficult appointments came from a customer who had thrown away the supplied HDMI cable on the grounds that there was already one behind the television.

1. Power. Plug the power cable into the box and into a socket. If nothing happens, the switch on the back restarts it.
2. Network. Ethernet cable into a yellow LAN port on the Internet Box, or Wi-Fi if you have the TV Box Android Wi-Fi.
3. Picture. HDMI cable between the box and the television. An audio system or a soundbar connects either over HDMI or over optical S/PDIF.

Then the start-up screen appears. If it does not, it is almost never the box: it is the television showing the wrong input. Take the television's own remote, not the Proximus one, and cycle through HDMI 1, HDMI 2, HDMI 3. I have billed call-outs for exactly that, and I was not proud of it.

You will then need your line number, printed on the letter confirming activation of your TV subscription, and the parental PIN code, 1234 by default. If you are replacing a box, call 0800 99 696, free of charge, to get your customer number and line number before you start. Unplug the old one before installing the new one.

Ethernet cable or Wi-Fi for the TV box?

The cable, every time it is physically possible.

Proximus admits it in its own documentation: the TV Box Android Wi-Fi accepts wireless, and the operator still recommends a wired connection for a stable picture. The reason is simple. A TV stream is not allowed to wait. Nobody notices a web page that takes two extra seconds; everyone in the room notices a picture that breaks up during a penalty kick.

Wi-Fi holds up perfectly well on a Sunday afternoon. It holds up far less well on a Sunday at 8 p.m., when the neighbours are watching television too and the 2.4 GHz band is saturated across the whole building.

Which HDMI cable do you need for 4K and HDR?

A Premium High Speed one. The cable in the carton is one.

HDMI certifications are public and only three of them matter today. The Premium High Speed HDMI Cable is tested for 18 Gbps and guarantees 4K at 60 frames per second with HDR. The Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable, which reached the market in 2020, goes up to 48 Gbps and exists for 8K at 60 frames per second and 4K at 120.

No Belgian operator broadcasts in 8K or in 4K at 120 frames per second. Buying a 35 € Ultra High Speed cable for a TV box means buying capacity nobody will ever send you. Keep the money, keep the supplied cable, and replace it only if it is damaged or too short.

And beware of the opposite reasoning, which is just as expensive. The Orange TV box is compatible with a 4K television, but Orange broadcasts no programme in 4K resolution, as the operator writes on its own compatibility page. A 4K-capable box on a network that does not transmit in 4K gives you a high-definition picture, exactly as before.

What does a second TV box cost at Proximus, Orange, Telenet and VOO?

Between 7 and 9 € a month, except at VOO, which publishes no price.

This is the bill line nobody checks before paying it for five years. Here are the four public price grids, checked on 18 September 2026, outside promotions.

Three observations on that table.

At Proximus, the Flex Premium pack includes two TV Boxes at no extra cost. A two-television household hesitating between Flex and Flex Premium should therefore subtract 108 € a year from the gap between the two packs before comparing them.

At Telenet, the TV box cannot be bought at all any more: renting at 12 € a month is the only way in, and the operator replaces a faulty box free of charge. Watch the return deadline, the toughest on the Belgian market: 45 days after activating the new box to send the old one back through PostNL or a shop, otherwise a residual value of 50 € lands on your bill. It is written into Telenet's exchange terms, and I see enough accounts of it to know that carton often ends up in an attic.

At VOO, the absence of a public price is information in itself. An additional .évasion box is available for rental, but the price is not displayed and installation compulsorily goes through a home technician, unlike at the other three operators. You have to call 078 50 50 50 to get a figure. Another poorly relayed change: the VOO digital TV card, the CI+ module with a smart card that let you receive digital television on a second set without renting a box, has not been sold since 1 January 2026. Cards bought before that date stay active.

The box will not start: five checks, in order

Ninety per cent of failures resolve before the fifth one.

The television input. Always first. HDMI 1, HDMI 2, HDMI 3, using the television's own remote.

The switch on the back of the box. Proximus mentions it explicitly in its guide: a TV Box that is not responding restarts with that switch, not by pulling the plug.

The HDMI cable, at both ends. A cable that looks seated is not always seated. Unplug it, plug it back in, try a different HDMI port on the television.

The network. The Ethernet port light on the Internet Box, or the Wi-Fi signal strength if the box is wireless. Proximus shows a Wi-Fi check screen during setup; if the signal is too weak, the only real answer is a cable or a Booster.

The line number and the PIN. The parental PIN is 1234 until you change it. Lost it? 0800 99 696 is free.

If all five pass and the screen stays black, the problem sits with the operator, not with you. Note the time of your call and the name of the person you spoke to. If a dispute drags on, the BIPT, the Belgian telecoms regulator, publishes consumer rights, and the Telecommunications Ombudsman Service handles the file free of charge. The FPS Economy, the federal economics department, also documents the billing rules for rented equipment.

One last word on a subject that comes up in every classified ad: a second-hand TV box bought online will be no use to you. The unit stays the property of the operator, it is tied to a customer account, and it will not activate on your line. All you buy is a block of plastic, plus an unreturned-equipment charge for the seller.

To choose the subscription that goes with the box, use the TV subscription ranking or the comparison tool. If you are in the middle of leaving your operator, the procedure and the real fees are set out in cancelling Proximus, VOO or Orange without fees. And for the total cost of the subscription, thirteenth bill included, see how much a TV subscription costs in Belgium.

Sources. Official TV Box Android Wi-Fi installation guide and TV equipment page from Proximus, checked on 18 September 2026 (supported models, 49 € exchange fee, 9 € for the second TV Box and 6 € from the third, 23 Mbps threshold for 4K, Wi-Fi Booster at 3.50 €/month after one free month); "Extra TV decoder" page and TV box compatibility page from Orange Belgium, checked on 18 September 2026 (9 €/month, three additional boxes maximum, 59 € installer, same generation required, no 4K broadcasting); Telenet TV box exchange page, checked on 18 September 2026 (12 €/month rental, 7 €/month per additional box, return within 45 days or a 50 € charge, 200 hours of cloud recording kept for one year); VOO assistance, checked on 18 September 2026 (additional .évasion box installed by a technician, digital TV card withdrawn from sale on 1 January 2026, digital reception on the wall socket); Premium High Speed and Ultra High Speed certification programmes from the HDMI Licensing Administrator.