Smartthings wifi: 2nd generation (ET-WV525KWEGUS)

[BroncoCountry (smarsh)]

Update Feb 2019:

Questions!

Glad to see everyone excited (and anxious) about this. I just ordered this. Going in vacation condo which will never get wired so mesh is my best bet to cover the dead spots. Have been using old ST Hub but only a few devices currently, and I just added about 10 more in a re-model including 6 nest protect and 5 Stelpro Z-Wave Plus KI STZW402WB+. So I will be ok starting from scratch.

Questions (I know, I already ordered the thing. . .!)

Big question (this will expose my IT ignorance. . .) Can I just plug the new Samsung network into my new Netgear CM500 modem and expect it to fire up as a router (i.e., I don’t need a router as well?)

Answer: With Plume app, this is possible.

And if I want to feed a gig switch, can I plug the switch into the one ethernet “out” port on the primary Samsung device that is plugged into the modem? The modem and primary Samsung device sit in an entertainment center which has multiple devices that would love a direct ethernet cable (Apple TV, Vizio TV, receiver, etc.) Am probably going to see how everything goes just over wireless first to avoid yet another device. But I can imagine that if the Apple TV is streaming a movie in 4K, someone in another part of the house might gripe that all the bandwidth is gone.

Answer: Feeding a switch from the ST hub is no trouble.

And finally, will the “ethernet out” port on the extension units feed a TV or other device as though it is wired directly to the network?

Answer: I haven’t tried this yet, but assume that’s how it will go. Although since the mesh network is so spectacularly good, I think you could probably use wifi for almost everything.

Thanks for the help. I will post the outcomes of this project in about a week. (update Feb 2019 - took a while to figure it all out!)

[IGI (IG)]

@BroncoCountry

Big question (this will expose my IT ignorance. . .) Can I just plug the new Samsung network into my new Netgear CM500 modem and expect it to fire up as a router (i.e., I don’t need a router as well?)

you have to plug it to the router (possible via giga switch, and samsung will work as “bridge”.

And finally, will the “ethernet out” port on the extension units feed a TV or other device as though it is wired directly to the network?

You can do it. but better is to connect switch to router and everything else to switch. I have VOIP connected to samsung “out” port and no issues

[IGI (IG)]

from my understanding the connect home pro is ac2600 and new smartthings wifi is just like regular connect home ac1300

[BroncoCountry (smarsh)]

The manual says to start by plugging in the WAN cable to the
'modem":

“Wi-Fi hub
1 Connect one end of the Ethernet cable to the hub’s WAN port (IN) and the other end to the modem’s LAN port.”

Here’s link for manual:

http://org.downloadcenter.samsung.com/downloadfile/ContentsFile.aspx?CDSite=US&CttFileID=7083134&CDCttType=UM&ModelType=C&ModelName=ET-WV525KWEGUS&VPath=UM/201808/20180806123603813/ET-WV525_UM_USA_Type_Rev.1.0_180803.pdf

I’m going to try the simplest thing which will be modem (Netgear CM500) to Samsung ST Wifi Hub. Maybe add a switch plugged into the hub LAN (out). Will have all the answers soon. Thx!

[Scott_Chapman]

I think you might end up with what is called “double NAT” which basically means you are running one network “on top” of the other (two networks). There are some disadvantages to it (latency, devices on separate networks can’t see each other, etc).

If possible you should try to run only one router on your network.

[IGI (IG)]

smartthings wifi little bit more smarter than connect home pro in this aspect, once it detects the router (dhcp) it switches to “bridge” mode. so no “double NAT” happens.

[Scott_Chapman]

Oh nice. Honestly if it support hardwires backhaul and there was a migration path for existing hub I’d be in the market. But my existing hub and google wifi have been flawless…

[ultrazero (Greg)]

@Scott_Chapman

if it support hardwires backhaul

Apologies for continuing to be dim about this… if wired backhaul were supported, the idea is that you’d run cables throughout the house to each hub?

[Automated_House (Jimmy)]

Or already have them run, yes.

[Scott_Chapman]

Basically the hubs would connect to a central switch (like the one I have in my basement). You still get a meshy wifi, it is just a much faster more reliable way for the hubs to speak to each other…

[BroncoCountry (smarsh)]

After reading the manual, it seems to me that I can plug the main hub into the modem, and the Smartthings Wifi will be the only router I will need for the condo (the manual says to just plug the main hub right into the modem).

And I should be able to feed an unmanaged switch from the primary hub and expect that the hub router will see/manage those devices as well?

Anyone with the previous versions have a comment about this? I’m trying to avoid needing both a router and a switch (or a router with extra ports.)

Thanks for the input!

[ultrazero (Greg)]

Got my Smartthings WiFi yesterday. This thing was a breeze to setup. BY FAR the hardest part was deciding where to put the sub-hubs. Mainly because there’s no graceful place to put them in my house.

Speed seems good. Getting wifi in corners of the house I hadn’t been able to divine a signal before. To use Plume you must download the Plume app separately and authenticate with your Samsung account. I imagine I’ll start to see more value there as I start to swing my devices over to this system.

Setup
I’m on Fios and use the Gateway router which is part modem, part router. I’ve plugged the main ST Wifi hub into a LAN port on the Gateway router. In addition to the hardwired ST Wifi hub, I have 3 other devices plugged into the Gateway. I will leave my legacy Wifi SSID on during this migration and eventually turn it off. I created a new SSID with the ST Wifi and will swing all of my WifI devices over to the new SSID. As I get more into Plume I’ll continue to report back.

I haven’t begun to look at swinging my HA devices over yet. I plan to “back up” my existing setup as much as I can with screenshots and spreadsheets etc. Then take the migration room by room. Exclude/Include. 60 times. Then on to rebuild apps and pistons.

[paulpa (Paul Palmer)]

Is this a UK option or only the states?

[Automated_House (Jimmy)]

They definitely plan on releasing it in the uk since that’s what the Vodafone partnership uses.

[FreeRangePamela (Pamela)]

Just got this installed yesterday. My previous Orbi router succumbed to a lightning strike (RIP) so I was in the market for a new one.

The set up was super easy and it all seems to be working well. Right now I have my Spectrum modem/router as the primary and this mesh system set up as a bridge (it auto-configured like that) but I’d like to just have the Samsung WiFi v2 handle everything eventually.

Set up requires the new Samsung Smartthings app. I hadn’t migrated my Smartthings to a Samsung account yet so I’m not using the home automation aspects of it yet, just the wifi.

I have this (probably irrational) hope that I’ll go through the whole migration to the new account/app and and end up with two locations. Then I will just be able to move all my devices, apps, etc to the new location (aka WiFi v2 hubs). So I’m holding off migrating anything at the moment.

The set up instructions are completely geared toward a new Smartthings user, not someone upgrading, so it seems there’s no plan for that scenario on Samsung’s part.

The plume app is very cool looking but, apart from seeing what is connected to which hub, I don’t see that there’s much you can DO with it. That said, I’ll hoping it’s working its AI magic behind the scenes and optimizing the network.

I think that’s all I have to share right now, with the true test coming when the full migration to the new app takes place. As I said, I’m holding off on that for now as the legacy app is said to be superior at this time.

Oh @BroncoCountry I do have an unmanaged switch going into the primary hub (plugged into the single “out” Ethernet ports) and a second unmanaged switch on one of the secondary hubs (same single “out” port) and everything is connecting and working fine, which I’m really relieved about.

One thing I liked about my Orbi router was that I could plug non-wifi capable items (like the Smartthings hub v2) into the satellite units and they functioned as if connected via wired Ethernet. Though this new Samsung setup only has one out port per satellite node, the addition of an unmanaged switch was all I needed to get the same benefit. This helps me have certain devices more centrally located in the house, as my primary node is in one corner of the house.

[ultrazero (Greg)]

@FreeRangePamela

this mesh system set up as a bridge

Hey @FreeRangePamela - What do you mean setup as a bridge? Where do you have your main Smartthings Wifi Hub plugged into? I have a similar setup with Verizon. In my case I’m plugging the new ST wifi “main” hub into one of the lan ports of the Verizon modem/router. I’m planning on simply turning off the wifi of the modem/router once everything is over to my new SSID.

[FreeRangePamela (Pamela)]

Yes, that’s exactly how I have it set up. I have the Smartthings Wifi Hub plugged into the Modem/Router LAN port (from Spectrum). And I turned off the WiFi on the Modem/Router so it’s only the Smartthings device that is broadcasting the WiFi signal.

The one thing I’d like to change here – and I’m wading into deep waters here because I probably don’t understand this part of things as much as I should – is that I don’t want the Modem/Router to be the DHCP server. I had previously been using (and want to incorporate again) the Bitdefender Box network security hardware, and it needs to be the DHCP server for the system to work.

As an interim step toward that, I wanted to turn off DHCP on the modem/router and have the Smartthings wifi router do that function, but every time I do that things seem to go haywire.

To step back, the Smartthings router has two different modes – Auto (in which it auto-detects whether it needs to handle DHCP/NAT) and Router Only, in which it definitely handles DHCP/NAT. Right now I have it on Auto and it says it’s currently acting as a Bridge (not acting as a DHCP server). (This is set in the Plume app, by the way.)

It could just be that I’m doing it in the wrong order or something. I’ll figure it out eventually. I just wanted to mention that aspect of things because I haven’t gotten it 100% to my liking yet. I still believe that I’ll be able to, but it’s not in place at the moment so I can’t guarantee it.

[Automated_House (Jimmy)]

Put the Spectrum modem/router in bridge mode.

[dferrey (Dave)]

@FreeRangePamela - Thanks for your comments. I also have the Orbi. I’m wondering if you’ve seen any difference (good or bad) in coverage and/or speed between the two. I’m pretty happy with the Orbi, but am still running V1 of the hub and strongly thinking of finally updating and this might be a good way to go (since I can recoup some of the $'s by selling the Orbi).

[LowOverhead]

I know nothing of this, but am I on the right track?

I use an Apple Extreme wireless router. I have a v2 Samsung SmartThings hub plugged into one port and MediaCom devices plugged in two ports.

I’m thinking unplugging the Samsung v2 hub and plugging in the main Samsung mesh hub into that port and plugging the v2 hub into the new mesh hub.

The other two mesh devices placed about the house.

From reading above posts, the new mesh hub should be in AUTO MODE.

When notified by Samsung to migrate, remove devices from the v2 hub and install on mesh hub. CAN BOTH BE ENERGIZED AT THE SAME TIME?

Then reproduce routines and automations on new mesh. If the device names stay the same, won’t WebCORE and ActionTiles work?