Regardless of theory, my experience has been that WiFi communications are significantly less reliable than Zigbee or BLE, and typically have worse latency to bo

Regardless of theory, my experience has been that WiFi communications are significantly less reliable than Zigbee or BLE, and typically have worse latency to boot. Unless you have a bunch of WiFi APs around your house, practical range with Zigbee is also better than WiFi because powered Zigbee nodes (like lightbulbs and switched outlets) act as mesh routers. One additional benefit of Zigbee and Wave is the possibility of creating battery-less devices, like the Philips Hue Tap switch, which uses a hammer and piezoelectric generator for power.