Many thanks. So “border” is just there to confuse people. It’s just a router for devices using Thread. “Wifi border router” isn’t a thing as far as I know. I will just think of it as a router then.
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No, one thing is a Thread border router and another a Thread router.
A Thread router is a device capable of routing messages, for instance a Thread light bulb could forward a message to a nearby Thread device where the Thread border router could not reach (this is the mesh part).
A Thread border router is the device that makes communication with your local network possible. It’s a border router because it’s in the border between your local IP network and the Thread wireless network.
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OK. So, it is the interface between the Thread network and your Wifi router and hence your LAN.
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It is the interface to your LAN indeed. WiFi is not needed at all, unless your Thread border router happens to connect to your LAN via WiFi instead of Ethernet (which would be the best way).
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Many thanks. Got it!
Curious about something (this is relating to my posts in this thread from a few weeks ago) and wondering if someone has already done the research.
Are the Moes, Zemismart, and Third Reality Matter bridges all essentially the same item?
No.
Different firmware, if nothing else, which results in a different customer experience.
You can find lots of threads about these in the forum. The typical experience is that the Moes works OK with SmartThings and zemismart is not working.
I have the third reality, which works fine, I don’t even remember the setup process to be honest. 
Moes:
Moes (Tuya) Matter ZigBee Gateway (Model MZHUB)
Zemismart:
Thanks. The third reality is the one I’m most curious about as I only just learned it existed and I like some of their zigbee stuff. Kind of wondering if it would be possible to add some simple Tuya devices which would probably be recognized as switches or lights.
I don’t know for sure, but I believe you can only use it with third reality brand devices. 
All good. Glad there are communities such as this one to talk through these things and compare notes. 
I actually thought about it some more and I think my ikea dirigera hub might just accept the couple devices I’m thinking about.
The only “problem” device, as it were, is the Third Reality nightlight, which I doubt one of these other hubs would pick up correctly as both light and motion. If ikea picks it up as a light, I could probably make do but if it sees it as motion…the deal is off! ST handles this device correctly since the manufacturer provided a custom driver. And this is why I was thinking of the third reality hub. One would assume their own hub would see the device correctly.
Going to go home and remove it from ST and try it with ikea just to see. I’ll report back.
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Basically, to summarize my current state. I am running four separate zigbee networks. Hue (the hub is packed and I am sitting right up against their reported device limits…which I think is pretty lame), Aqara, Ikea, and a mishmash of stuff on ST).
This is obviously kind of stupid in the first place and the bogging down of the various channels has caused me lots of wifi issues. I recently adjusted the channels to have two hubs on each of two channels, rather than using four separate channels. This has helped some.
I am now exploring consolidating further to only have three different networks in use. I am well aware ST or zigbee2mqtt would allow me to build out one large zigbee network and completely resolve the issue. But I’m too stubborn. I like different things offered by each of the manufacturer apps (well I don’t really care about the Ikea app) and I like that many of the devices are available over Matter (THREAD TIE-IN!).
As I have stated before, I wish there was a full-blown generic zigbee to Matter bridge, but until that happens, I am going to keep working towards some kind of cobbled-together system like this.
I’m currently working on replacing every device that is connected with my only Matter bridge (Tapo H100) with M/T devices.
5 TRVs (Kasa KE100) and 4 temp/hum sensors (Tapo T310) will be replaced with Eve Thermos and Thermo Controls in the first step.
The Tapo motion, contact and water leak sensors are the next step.
All in all 16 devices are currently connected to the bridge.
The goal is to have only the ST hub and mainly M/T devices and some Zigbee devices. I hope that I’ll be done by the end of the year.
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In hindsight it was probably rooted in deeper network issues, but my first foray into Thread did not go well and I ended up backing off big time. Only have 3-4 Thread devices in use currently and I do think they are all Eve. I’ll try again eventually but I’m still sorting out my wifi problems.
Also I know there is an effort to move away from hubs but they still don’t bother me a whole lot. One device on your network that can bring lots of other stuff into your smart home? Makes a lot more sense to me than all these individual wifi devices getting sold these days.
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Most people have three or four Zigbee networks in their homes in the US without even knowing it. (Smart meter, cable TV box, etc.) I’ve run as many as 31 in an 1800 square-foot home with no problem. Of course, most of them are frequency agile, which SmartThings is not, and that does help. But it really shouldn’t be a problem. Zigbee is intentionally designed for tiny messages sent infrequently. As long as you’re not trying to use it for real time energy monitoring, you should be OK.
Also, it’s almost impossible for Zigbee to interfere with Wi-Fi because Wi-Fi is literally like 100 times more powerful. A Wi-Fi signal will just blast right through any Zigbee traffic that might be around. Now Wi-Fi can interfere with other Wi-Fi, and Wi-Fi can for sure drown out Zigbee, but those are different issues.
Right now, my house has two Hue bridges, 4 aqara hubs, A third reality Zigbee hub, A SmartThings station, a smart meter, 3 echo devices with built in Zigbee hubs, a sonoff Zigbee Bridge, and a Moes Zigbee Bridge. That’s multiple networks. The mesh is strong for each and everything runs fine. and my Wi-Fi is completely unaffected.
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…and a partridge in a pear tree??
Well that’s a lot. If they aren’t interfering, I’m doing something else wrong. Can you come fix my home network?!?!?!?
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Sorry, my days as a field tech ended when the wheelchair arrived. (That doesn’t stop everybody, but the illness that put me in the chair did stop me.)
Anyway, yeah, as long as the mesh is strong, Zigbee shouldn’t be the problem. Have you read the community FAQ?
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Reduced the WiFi devices down to only cameras, air conditioner, Aqara FP2 and the Tapo H100. I have quite a lot of Eve Energy and I love them, lights (bulbs, strips) are Nanoleaf. Smoke detectors, IR blaster, buttons (IKEA!) are Zigbee.
I dream of a pure M/T smart home… 
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To follow up…
The dirigera did pick up the 3R nightlight as a light. I was just curious as I’m exploring options so I immediately moved it back to my ST hub after testing and I forgot to check whether the ikea hub exposed it to other platforms over Matter. I assume it would though as it seems to expose anything it classifies as a light.
So I will probably go this route of moving the remaining things to the ikea hub. I’ll just throw up a motion sensor somewhere in the vicinity of the 3R nightlight to get motion events, to make up for the lost functionality of the 3R device.
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Coming soon Aqara G5 Outdoor matter camera, poe and battery versions allegedly.
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A camera with a built-in hub - that’s like… a wireless charger with a built-in hub!