it would be newly purchased as according to this page, the racv smartthings version hub has z wave… which would need to be our frequency i’m guessing.
early 2019 for self install…
Just spoke to racv smartthings department. They have no idea what’s going on. On their FAQ it says smartthings works with Alexa. The skill is not released for English au.
every part of Samsung’s roll out of SmartThings products seems to be a disaster.
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Samsung was originally not committed to Australia so the role out here has been hit and miss, and poorly communicated.
The RACV offering is 100% confirmed as being on Australian Z-Wave frequency and it is part of the Samsung Wi-Fi Mesh system, not a standalone SmartThings hub.
The release of the Alexa Skill is up to the developer however. Amazon have been advised, but their hands are tied until the Developer authorises it for use here.
Don’t buy SmartThings in Australia if you desperately need Amazon Alexa integration (as of this time).
It will come eventually, but at this stage it does not work.
That said, there are plenty of reasons to still purchase SmartThings. The fact you can use one hub to integrate virtually all of your smart devices is a compelling one. No more separate Hue bridge or whatever other hub you use for your specific lights or sensors.
If you want integration, you can link SmartThings to something like Home Assistant, OpenHab or something similar (it is a little technical though) and then those third party programs can integrate with Alexa and Google. Some of the third party apps are open source. This is not a general plug and play type solution though like a proper skill would be.
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Wonder if you can buy the mesh system ( one unit) and disable wifi and Just use smart things functionality
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@joelde
Even if you can’t disable the WiFi you could just leave it and use another WiFi AP on the same network with a different SSID and not use the Samsung WiFi.
I should imagine, being Samsung, there is a way to disable it, though it is likely not easy to do.
A couple of clarifications.
- I am pretty sure that Hue bulbs still need a Hue hub. This is why I bought Lifx wifi bulbs instead.
- Google Home/Assistant integration works with the RACV-supplied SmartThings Wifi device. You just link the accounts in the cloud and then do a sync and you can control everything attached to your hub. I am using it for my Christmas lights and pool pump (all attached via Z-Wave to my SmartThings Wifi).
I don’t use Alexa so not sure about that part of what you said.
@Richard_Laxton
Smartthings has Zigbee in it. Hue can connect directly to Smartthings Hubs without the need of the hue bridge if wanting to do it that way.
I haven’t tried the RACV offering, which is Samsung Connect rather than the actual Smartthings Hub, but I believe it has the same ZigBee radio in it.
The WiFi for LifeFX and the like can be any AP on the same network 
I keep all my home automation stuff on its own network SSID separate from my data connections for PC’s.
The Alexa skill still is not released in Australia for Smartthings just yet.
Google Assistant works fine.
It’s still recommended to use the Hue bridge. The bridge has some features you can’t do with SmartThings and makes it easier to reset bulbs. Also, the RACV Kit is not Samsung Connect Home. It is SmartThings WiFi. Samsung Connect Home was retired when SmartThings WiFi came out. They are similar, but SmartThings WiFi uses Plume to manage the WiFi network.
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Has anyone heard when the SmartThings wifi hub will be released outside of Victoria?
I keep asking at the Samsung store in Sydney CBD, but they are being kept out if the loop too.
I’m guessing any RACV test teething problems need to be sorted first.
yeah there will be big teething issues. Not sure tho sorry
Alexa smartthings skill is now available in English au tho!
but devices are non responsive! 
RACV are now shipping Aus wide!
https://www.racv.com.au/in-your-home/smart-living/smart-home/smartthings.html?
In answer to a few of the things above it doesn’t appear you can turn the wifi from the hub off unfortunately. But as someone has said and as I did was just put it on a seperate SSID and run my existing wifi. The Hub does seem to be decent at the wifi though.
I was able to get the Alex skill working ok on it with an Aus Samsung account but had to set the Amazon store to US, load the skill and then set it back. But I haven’t tried it since it’s been released here. We are a Google and apple house anyway and I think Google is way ahead with the syntax.
It looks like Samsung haven’t really known where to put Australia but one of the requirements from the beginning was to have some local servers for it to hit rather than US as the latency was getting up there.
J
Alexa skill doesn’t work at all. I have my Amazon account set to Australia . Setting it to us means I can’t cast music to my echos via Amazon music app though.
Pretty frustrating it doesn’t work.
hey guys, i spoke to a Samsung sales person (very senior) and was told that SmartThings will be made available in Australia via JB HIFI and Harvey Norman in March / April so not long to go for those who are waiting…
Currently any ST support is done through RACV and passed over to ST US but its very disjointed to say the least.
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RACV is now shipping country-wide:
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Hi Adam,
Thanks for the info!
Does your Samsung connection know whether JB Hifi/ Harvey Norman would be selling the Smartthings hub, or just the mesh wifi? I understand that Smartthings proposition that’s in mesh Wifi system is not the same as the dedicated Smartthings hub.
Cheers Steve
It’ll be the same unit RACV is selling. It’s got the WiFi module in it but otherwise exactly the same as the SmartThings hub. It’s the 2018 v3