Hi all, - newbie alert … forgive the possible silly question …
I’m about to buy is a new property and I doubt a single BT/EE style router/wifi unit will provide a decent wifi -so I’m looking at Mesh. Was waiting for the new smartthings wifi - but that does not seem to be coming out in the UK anytime soon - so maybe Google Wifi, or Netgear - not decided yet.
Anyhoo - I digress … as Smartthings Wifi is not available in the UK, I think I read that I need a hub for EACH of the Mesh nodes ? Is that correct? Can someone explain if this is correct and why ?
The V2 hub, which is the one currently sold in UK, doesn’t have a Wi-Fi radio at all. It just has to be connected by cable to an ethernet port. You definitely don’t need one SmartThings hub for each of your Wi-Fi pods.
Depending on the exact mesh Wi-Fi that you select, it’s possible that the SmartThings hub will only work if it’s connected to a specific primary Wi-Fi router, but that’s not uncommon.
Ahh of course … so this is where bridge mode (or lack thereof on some Mesh solutions) comes into affect I guess.
If 2.4Ghz or 5Ghz devices on wifi would struggle from one end of a house (eg laptop) to the other (router), what’s the connectivity stability like for Smartthing etc devices ? Is that wireless technology better over distance / wall types etc ? Or does the same rules apply as traditional wifi ?
Personally, I am not as much of a fan of mesh as I am with Ethernet backbones, but if that is not possible, go mesh. You sacrifice bandwidth in mesh.
But, if you have to put your hub away from anywhere that has an Ethernet jack, you could find wireless to Ethernet adapters, which are basically bridges. That would give you an Ethernet jack. I would put it and the hub on backup battery if you could.
The Z wave and zigbee used by smartthings are mesh networks. Each individual device has quite a short range, typically around 15 m, but they pass messages along for each other, which is what enables you to cover an entire house. Very different from Wi-Fi.
I believe I already gave you this link in another thread, but for those finding this in the future, this is all covered in the wireless range FAQ. Start with post 11 in that thread, read it, then go up to the top of the thread and read the whole thing. (This is a clickable link)
