FYI Matter is just a communication protocol focused on HA and rides on top of IP networks. This can be Thread but also WiFi. Look for Thread, not Matter.
this post was submitted on 21 Nov 2023
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Home Automation
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It will. But this is a problem you created. Should not have been buying WiFi devices.
I preach this to anyone who will listen here. Buy devices that use low-latency mesh networks. WiFi was not designed for turning lights on and off. Zigbee/Zwave/Matter were.
WiFi is for high-bandwidth, high-latency devices. Your computer, phone, TV, etc...
Home automation devices should be on a low-bandwidth, low-latency network like the popular mesh networks I mentioned above.
yeah, investing in a solid mesh network for those devices could really help with the load on your router. 2.4ghz can get pretty crowded in urban areas, so it's worth considering a different frequency for your smart stuff.
Some silly stuff here. Wifi is not low latency, zigbee and other low rate networks are low latency esp across repeaters. Wifi rates are far, far higher. Slow zigbee response times are actually noticeable, fast local wifi appears instant to humans. Doesn't matter much for IoT (pun not intended). I'm not a fan of setting up duplicate networks on the same band - was of money. I use zigbee for battery switches and sensors exclusively, lower cost wifi devices for everything else.
Wifi does not suffer dramatically from interference, esp neighbor interference - if it did, forget about zigbee with it's weaker transmitters and forget router managed thread at 2.4GHz. Wifi is not a continuous carrier transmission protocol. It only transmits when it has data, and the closest transmitter will swamp out any transmitter further away. On the rare instances there is interference the protocol handles it easily and retransmits quickly, at wifi speeds there's lots of dead space. Folks complaining about wifi interference are almost universally non-network people falling into a classic logical fallacy "I don't know what it is so it must be ".
Wifi does suffer from crappy routers and APs that drop clients, udp, and multicast often used by wifi devices. Cloud devices suffer whether they're wifi, or the hubs managed through the cloud (which they must be if you have remote access or google home integration.
Ok z-lots, let the unsubstantiated down votes fly!
yeah, getting a solid mesh network is key for handling all those devices. 2.4ghz can get crowded real quick in urban areas, so Zigbee or Zwave might be a solid move.
if you're looking to offload your wifi, consider investing in a robust mesh network designed for smart devices like Zigbee, Z-Wave, or Thread. Upgrading your router might solve the issue, but saturated 2.4GHz in urban areas can cause problems. Quality mesh networks can be a game-changer.
yeah, a more robust mesh network designed for smart home devices would definitely help with the WiFi congestion. upgrading the router could also solve the issues, but a dedicated network for HA devices like Zigbee or Thread might be the way to go.
I'm not going to weigh on what everyone has said about thread vrs WIFI. However I will point out that if you do go down the thread route you will need a Matter controller AND a thread border router. Not every Matter controller is a thread border router and I'm fairly certain the echo show is not one (I believe the echo dots are).
So if you do go for thread do a quick google and make sure you have thread border router (it doesn't have to be the same device as the Matter controller, it also doesn't have to be from the same manufacturer as the controller either).