4 ms·

`establishing it as a more robust foundation for larger and more heterogeneous deployments.` Based on.... 6 devices? Quite honestly I would have been interest

by XiS 2mo ago

`establishing it as a more robust foundation for larger and more heterogeneous deployments.` Based on.... 6 devices? Quite honestly I would have been interested in measurements with more than only 6 devices. Maybe upto 50 or so,even better if they'd mixed different hardware nodes for a more realistic scenario

8-prime 2mo ago
Absolutely. My setup which is about 1 month old already has 14 devices and I'm just getting started. Only having 6 devices really feels comically small for a study investigating the performance of communication protocols where device count can really make a differnce, as observed by even then changes from 1 to 6 devices.
8fingerlouie 2mo ago
I have 47 thread/matter devices, alongside some 10-15 matter over wifi devices, so not quite 50, but "close enough". It's not as fast as Zigbee, not in day to day usage, and not in terms of reconnecting, which often takes 30 seconds (ie. after a power outage) where my Zigbee devices just seem to reconnect instantly. On day to day usage there's a slight delay when turning something on, but it's maybe 100ms or less. I initially had quite a few problems, but after "standardizing" on a single thread network (I had 3 before for some reason), as well as adding some wired thread border routers, things have become much more stable. My zigbee to thread is still a "work in progress", replacing devices as they fail (ie. lightbulbs), and I'm also still adding new Zigbee devices like the Aqara T1 Valve controller, but I prefer thread over zigbee today. One thing I will note, people tend to underestimate the range of thread (and zigbee for that matter). Each mains powered device will function as a repeater just like zigbee, and I initially thought I might need a couple of smart plugs as repeaters, but despite having a somewhat large house (by european standards) as well as double brick walls dividing it, my thread devices have no problems "seeing" a thread border router in the opposite end of the house.
- XiS 2mo ago
  Thank you for giving some insight on your experiences I practice with that amount of devices. I have a zigbew network running with around 55 devices current. Ever since matter over thread I'm wondering whether I should start making the switch. Tell me, what made you start migrating to Matter? General availability of hardware, latency, stability, something else?
  - 8fingerlouie 2mo ago
    Initially it was just curiosity when thread/matter was new. Back then it was a horrible experience, but I was using primarily HomeKit as my home automation platform (which only supports thread) and didn't have that much complexity. I was also using a bunch of vendor specific apps to control each individual vendors ecosystem. Fast forward some years and I had my share of vendor specific ecosystems be shut down, leaving me with a bunch of technically fine paperweights, which was when I started focusing on local first access. I didn't want to be locked in by yet another vendor, and I was still using HomeKit as my main platform (still not very advanced home automation), so thread/matter came naturally. What really turned things around was when I purchased a Homey Pro in 2022/2023. I could integrate pretty much everything locally, and expose it to HomeKit to the "control surface" my family used, which is when I started using Zigbee more (only had Hue before that). These days I'm running Home Assistant. The Homey Pro became too small, frequently running out of memory, and switching to Home Assistant opened a whole new set of doors with ESPHome and others, like gaining control of my Vaillant Heat pump thought an ESP32 [1], or reading the wmBus telegrams from my water meter. My "main criteria" at the moment is not so much if it's thread, zigbee, or wifi, but heavily focused on local control. I'm only buying devices that have local access. I'm fine with devices offering an optional cloud plan, like my Tado X TRVs, but I must be able to access them locally from HA. I still default to thread/matter where possible as to not have too many things going at once, and I have zero Z-Wave devices. [1]: https://adapter.ebusd.eu/v5-c6/index.en.html https://adapter.ebusd.eu/v5-c6/index.en.html

by XiS 2mo ago

8-prime 2mo ago

Absolutely. My setup which is about 1 month old already has 14 devices and I'm just getting started. Only having 6 devices really feels comically small for a study investigating the performance of communication protocols where device count can really make a differnce, as observed by even then changes from 1 to 6 devices.

8fingerlouie 2mo ago

I have 47 thread/matter devices, alongside some 10-15 matter over wifi devices, so not quite 50, but "close enough". It's not as fast as Zigbee, not in day to day usage, and not in terms of reconnecting, which often takes 30 seconds (ie. after a power outage) where my Zigbee devices just seem to reconnect instantly. On day to day usage there's a slight delay when turning something on, but it's maybe 100ms or less. I initially had quite a few problems, but after "standardizing" on a single thread network (I had 3 before for some reason), as well as adding some wired thread border routers, things have become much more stable. My zigbee to thread is still a "work in progress", replacing devices as they fail (ie. lightbulbs), and I'm also still adding new Zigbee devices like the Aqara T1 Valve controller, but I prefer thread over zigbee today. One thing I will note, people tend to underestimate the range of thread (and zigbee for that matter). Each mains powered device will function as a repeater just like zigbee, and I initially thought I might need a couple of smart plugs as repeaters, but despite having a somewhat large house (by european standards) as well as double brick walls dividing it, my thread devices have no problems "seeing" a thread border router in the opposite end of the house.

XiS 2mo ago
Thank you for giving some insight on your experiences I practice with that amount of devices. I have a zigbew network running with around 55 devices current. Ever since matter over thread I'm wondering whether I should start making the switch. Tell me, what made you start migrating to Matter? General availability of hardware, latency, stability, something else?
- 8fingerlouie 2mo ago
  Initially it was just curiosity when thread/matter was new. Back then it was a horrible experience, but I was using primarily HomeKit as my home automation platform (which only supports thread) and didn't have that much complexity. I was also using a bunch of vendor specific apps to control each individual vendors ecosystem. Fast forward some years and I had my share of vendor specific ecosystems be shut down, leaving me with a bunch of technically fine paperweights, which was when I started focusing on local first access. I didn't want to be locked in by yet another vendor, and I was still using HomeKit as my main platform (still not very advanced home automation), so thread/matter came naturally. What really turned things around was when I purchased a Homey Pro in 2022/2023. I could integrate pretty much everything locally, and expose it to HomeKit to the "control surface" my family used, which is when I started using Zigbee more (only had Hue before that). These days I'm running Home Assistant. The Homey Pro became too small, frequently running out of memory, and switching to Home Assistant opened a whole new set of doors with ESPHome and others, like gaining control of my Vaillant Heat pump thought an ESP32 [1], or reading the wmBus telegrams from my water meter. My "main criteria" at the moment is not so much if it's thread, zigbee, or wifi, but heavily focused on local control. I'm only buying devices that have local access. I'm fine with devices offering an optional cloud plan, like my Tado X TRVs, but I must be able to access them locally from HA. I still default to thread/matter where possible as to not have too many things going at once, and I have zero Z-Wave devices. [1]: https://adapter.ebusd.eu/v5-c6/index.en.html https://adapter.ebusd.eu/v5-c6/index.en.html