We had the opposite in the UK. We had a box only 15m from the front of the house, where the telephone cable came into the house. Instead, they took the cable around the outside of the house, to the back, 100m over a field with a very large tree in it. The cable actually went through the tree to the box on a pole. Every year, as winter approached and we got winter storms, the cable would break and we would be cut off. Trying to explain this every fecking year to a customer support droid was not amusing. Each year an engineer would come and replace the cable. I asked repeatedly ‘why dont you connect it to that pole just over there ?’. More than their job was worth apparently.
I’m getting conflicting advice - someone is telling me that a voip handset comes with the Livebox?
I just got the Livebox, no VOIP handset 
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That is incorrect.
A Livebox has a port that you can plug a standard telephone into in order to use it as landline/fixte 'phone. Such a handset is not provided but they are easily available everywhere.
In the background the calls you make on such a handset are dealt with by a VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) service, but the 'phone itself is not anything clever.
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That’s what I have.
Are there any advantages in changing our phone to a voip one?
No. The port on a Livebox is for a standard POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) handset. The Livebox then uses VoIP to make calls.
You can use a separate VoIP handset on your internet connection (not the telephone port) but unless you want or need some of the advanced features of standalone VoIP handsets then it would be pointless.
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What are the advanced features of standalone VoIP?
As I understand it…it’s thing like using virtual numbers, integrating with business 'phone systems etc.
VoIP providers tend to charge for their services so unless you have these specialist needs then using the free fixte option provided by your ISP’s box looks like a sensible option.
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I think it depends on the deal. We visited friends near Sablé sur Sarthe this week and their Livebox came with a phone.
Fibre has arrived in our village and SFR are busy selling the service. I’m not sure that I need it. Orange has provided a satisfactory,albeit an expensive one, ADSL service for eighteen years which seems to provide us with our shopping and entertainment needs on three tablets and two mobile phones so why should I change?
What will fibre give us that we don’t have already?
Given that it sounds like you are a relatively light user of the internet the main benefit will be futureproofing - the copper line which supplies your ADSL service will not be there forever - the teleco’s want to phase out copper as much as possible.
It will, of course, be faster. Possibly more reliable as well.
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Would it be cheaper, at least for the first year?
I think that would depend on the supplier - IIRC it’s not unusual for them to require at least a year’s committal (sometimes 2) for a “deal” and if you’ve been used to sans engagement arrangements, that might be an initial concern since you are locked in potentially to a service which is not delivering what you expected.
We were told by the Orange representative that within 2 years of offering fibre they were looking to decommission the old service.
We’ve just placed our order now for Fibre with Orange and it is scheduled for 4th April. 36.99€ / mois (500Mbps down) and that could increase by 5€ at the start of the second year. The sales person indicated that if we check the current tariff 11 months on, there may be an opportunity to adjust the offer at that stage going forward.
As @Vitesse suggested, we will keep the 4G router as an overlap for ≈1 month just to ensure all is stable and working well before cutting free from that contract (sans engagement anyway).
We had a long (10 year) happy history with Orange before moving to Bouygues 4G and we certainly hope that the Fibre account will be just as successful and as happy a relationship.
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There is an online offer at the moment for €25/month with free installation from Orange, fur the first 12 months.
We went with Orange when we got ours (2 years ago I think) because we wanted ONE supplier. All too often we’ve heard horror stories from friends who have gone with a cheap telecomms offer and then found that the telecomms company and Orange just keep passing the buck and stuff doesn’t get sorted.
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difference between price and cost often… the price may be low but the eventual cost may be high (I used to have a full head of hair 
)
But look at all the money you are saving on hair cuts. 
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We can only get fibre here, currently, from Orange as it’s newly installed in our area.