By Stuart Thomson

Liberty Global has rolled out an ‘intelligent WiFi’ update to its Connect box routers in three million homes in the Netherlands and Poland in the form of a ‘free upgrade’.

The company says that the upgrade will provide its customers with faster and more stagble connections for devices.

The cable giant has partnered with intelligent WiFi specialist Plume for the upgrade. Liberty has an investment in Plume through its Liberty Global Ventures arm.

More than two million customers of VodafoneZiggo, the company’s Dutch JV with Vodafone in the Netherlands, can now access the new service, while 850,000 UPC Poland customers will receive it at the end of this month.

The company said the move would enable its customers  to set up an adaptive mesh WiFi network, which automatically switches to the best frequency, chooses the optimal WiFi access point and optimizes the signal according to use in the home or office.

Liberty has deployed Plume’s smart WiFi pods for the upgraded services..

The company’s Connect App – known as the SmartWiFi app in the Netherlands and the UPC Connect App in Poland – will enable users to install the pods, while Plume’s adaptive WiFi software and AI-algorithms constantly optimize the network via the cloud, according to the company.

Liberty Global has already deployed a similar smart WiFi offering in the UK, where Virgin Media launched Intelligent WiFi Plus last week, upgrading its Hub 3 and Hub 4 routers via a firmware upgrade while deploying Plume’s pods to extend coverage around the home.