Liberty Global has expanded its relationship with Plume to give consumers more control over devices connected to their home network. As a result, it will roll out Smart Home Services from Plume across its footprint this year.
A first selection of these services were made available to Virgin Media customers last year and now all Liberty Global customers will be able to benefit from intelligent WiFi in all gateways to set controls around online access for guests and children, pause internet use on specific devices and monitor broadband performance remotely. The new features will be integrated into the Connect App, available free of charge to all customers across the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Ireland and Poland.
Liberty notes that the innovative features build on its speed leadership as it continues to roll out gigabit speed services across its footprint. In the UK, this includes Virgin Media’s commitment to rolling out gigabit services to its entire network of 15 million homes before the end of next year.
The deal also means that Liberty Global markets will start rolling out next generation Mesh WiFi Boosters, called WiFi Pods. The Pods have been trialled by Virgin Media customers in the UK and other European countries. They extend WiFi throughout the home increasing speed, reliability and coverage by adapting to the environment it operates in. This is made possible by Plume Adaptive WiFi which optimises and tailors broadband connections according to the customer and their individual habits, which in turn is enabled by open- source software OpenSyncTM.
Commenting on the development, Enrique Rodriguez, CTO, Liberty Global, said: “Combining Plume with Liberty Global’s gigabit network capabilities releases the full potential of broadband speeds and spreads them throughout the home, adapting to the unique environment each connection operates in. The expanded partnership with Plume builds on our commitment to creating the next-generation of broadband by working with partners to enhance our network capability and go beyond speed-leadership. This strongly positions Liberty Global to offer a highly reliable internet residential services in the home that enables smart homes, online gaming and wide variety of use cases which rely on wireless connectivity.”
