Good Day everybody
I would like to know as I am a Samsung fan why and what is the reason that Samsung SmartThings is not available for purchase in South Africa or even on the Smartthings website is gives me an error when I put my South African Postal Address is. Not happy with this
Kind regards
Daniel Mentz
The ST hub is officially for sale in the US and UK. Maybe Canada too? Not sure.
There are people that use it in other countries around the world, but you won’t be able to purchase it directly from the ST website, and you probably won’t get official support in the event you need troubleshooting assistance. If you go that route, you’ll also need to consider which hub you get, since the US hub has a z-wave radio that works on the North America frequency, and the UK hub’s z-wave radio is on the EU frequency.
South Africa uses the same Z wave frequency as the European Union, so you should be OK on that count as long as you got the UK version of the SmartThings hub. However, Samsung does not warranty the devices outside of Europe.
I’m using the ST hub in SA. I’m careful to differ from @JDRoberts, but sunset/sunset and localised info work perfectly. Just don’t add a (what we call) a postal code (i.e. leave location blank).
I purchased my hub on amazon.co.uk, but the hub is also available locally through a well-known local internet seller.
I try to stay with two brands (Fibaro and Aeon Labs) and most of these I’ve bought through another SA online website which specialises in home automation devices. I receive very good service from them.
(Don’t know if I’m allowed to provide the names of the company/website on this forum?)
Sure, providing the name of the retailer is helpful to others. Just mention if you yourself have a financial connection to them. (That’s still OK, too, as long as you mention it upfront.)
Glad to hear that some of the localised features work, I’ll correct my post above. 
How does the hub know the times for sunset/sunrise if there’s no location info entered?
No idea, but I guess it determines the GPS co-ordinates in some or other way. I use the sunset/sunset function in multiple WebCore pistons and it works perfectly. The same with weather reports - in some or other way the hub determines its location.
Yes, please provide the name. I too am frustrated with the lack of suppliers in SA. The one company in Cape Town has been shipping previously used, flat batteries and ‘tampered with’ stuff through the large internet online shop and I won’t use them again.
I have purchased most of my Fibaro devices from https://www.zinteldo.co.za/. Also bought a few from https://zasmarthomes.co.za/product-category/z-wave/fibaro-z-wave/.
Initially, I purchased from http://www.vesternet.com/. They are fast and efficient, but in the end, I found it easier to buy from the local sellers.
Does zinteldo stock locally or do they import when you order?
They usually have stock.
Thanks for you assistance.
My experience has been very good with Takealot.com. We bought most of our Z-wave devices from them and compatible items like Wemo and hue. They all work perfectly in South Africa. We even called SmartThings support and they assisted us in South Africa.
Hi all
I just purchased a V3 hub from Ubuy. I’m from SA. I’m trying to set it up but the app doesn’t give me a choice to add ‘wifi/hub’ as per the instructions. It only lists appliances under ‘add device.’ Any ideas?
Sorry, my hubs are V2 which doesn’t support wifi. Doubt that your issue is location related (if you purchased Euro spec hub.)
Thanks! Guess what, it actually was the location that was the issue. Had to delete my smartthings account and get one created by a colleague in the UK and it worked.
Interesting. I’ve never had issues with my US account (which I created from SA).
Glad you got sorted.
Hi SM,
I am also looking to buy a ST V3, but one of the online retailers told me that the V3 is blocked in South Africa, and only the V2 will work here? Is yours working without any trouble?
Any advise will be appreciated!
Thank you!
Hi JGP67
Yeah they are correct. Your location is checked when you register for a smartthings account and you will experience the issue I described at the start of this thread where you aren’t able to set it up.
I tried a VPN but they picked that up somehow as well and blocked the creation of my account.
The only way I got around it was by getting a colleague who is physically in the UK to register my account for me.
If you can get that done you shouldn’t have any issues. Just make sure you get a UK model as the American one won’t be compatible with our ZWave frequency.