They didn’t actually say the current platform based on the SmartThings hub is going to be what everything will be based on.
They said everything will be called “SmartThings” and everything will use the same cloud, but it’s not the cloud that we use today for the hub. Instead, hub functions are being migrated over to the new cloud, that’s already in beta and has been discussed briefly in these forums in the past.
Nicely put JD. I’m on board with the majority of your commentary (especially the closing remarks regarding tech lifespan expectations.
I really feel the industry will continue three to four years of rapid growth before a potential leveling off. At some point, I’m worried that internet providers will be forced to significantly throttle bandwith and smart home tech will have to evolve again or become even more a luxury offering.
I personally have been lucky and have not seen nearly the levels of frustration and inconsistency so many people on this forum have stated. I have 150-160 devices (thank you Lowes script days…I’m forever in your debt), where 145 of those devices never skip a bit, miss a routine, or fail to signal an action properly. However, I have an extremely dense mesh of zigbee, zwave devices, and very maintain a strong (and consistent) wifi.
Let’s just hope as Smartthings and tech evolve, the early adopters are not the ones punished for doing so. I still have such a bad taste in my mouth after the shenanigans Canary pulled, another platform screw job might just send me over the smart home cliff.
We’ll see. They addressed bandwidth issues as well. They expect a lot out of 5g and yes, I know that will take a while. Anyone interested should watch the whole presentation themselves, though that takes some willpower at points. All the manufactures have big big plans.
@JDRoberts, I have only been a short while but I have been impressed with your knowledge and dedication to this forum from my day 1.
I am clearly not in your boat and am here for the tinkering with convenience in mind. Stability is important, but not critical. My HA design philosophy is that all components must be fully functional without smartthings. All my bulbs can be controlled by switches, either hardwired Z-wave or Hue integrated switches depending on the application. My HVAC controls are all Ecobees with Ecobee sensors. I dont cross my platforms. If SmartThings goes down, everything is still functional.
Your analogy about the low cost, complexity and durability is absolutely true and applicable to almost every segment of our material lives. In engineering, we use budget, quality and schedule. Different vocabulary, same theory - you can only control 2 and the 3 one determined. Need quality and schedule, you will pay for it. Need quality and budget, you will wait for it, etc.
Im curious what platform you have moved on to, but understand if you don’t answer that curiosity here.
On the investment/budgeting, you are absolutely correct. I have tinkered with home automation since the X-10 days. Nothing in this market is long term…nothing. Dumb LED’s may last 10 years…smart LED’s will be obsolete much quicker…or at least become dumb ones. We need to look at this as computers and smart phones and realize these items must be updated and/or replaced on a regular schedule. Again, this is why I stick to Z-wave protocols as much as I can - its a standard that has been around for a long time and I will always be able to find a platform that will support it.
As far as new stuff goes, I try not to be an early adopter. I was an early adopter on Hue bulbs and then I doubled down on it last year thinking surely they had to have improved the system by now. Maybe for the masses, but not good enough for me.
We certainly agree on most of the philosophy than disagree, but your last statement, “Choice is good” nails it. There is many of us who have dabbled in this niche for two decades and it is finally getting serious with good solutions. I am an engineer by trade, not a coder and that has always limited how far I can go. The new direction is finally given us more opportunities to buy market products that previously only a few could code for themselves.
I’ve ordered Zig Bee plugs, per recommendations. They arrive later today and I will update everyone accordingly on the stability.
Justin,
I do not have any of the Lowes Iris Smartplugs, however I do know early on to use them as both a Z-Wave and Zigbee repeater a special Device Handler was required. Not sure if this is still the case or not, but thought it was worth mentioning since you are specifically adding these for mesh network repeater capabilities.
Others who may know better, please chime in!
Just remember, after you have added those new plugs to SmartThings, immediately perform the process referenced above that will result in a “Zigbee Heal” to occur. This process as documented all over the place, could take up to 24 hours to complete. It will be transparent to you, but to see results, have the expectations of waiting a day or two without messing with anything else. One step at a time. 
EDIT - man I need to refresh my browser before I start replying - just saw JD’s post…
Justin,
Specifically what kind of multi-sensors and locks are those. Are they battery powered? How far away form the hub are they and where are you located (US, UK, Somewhere else?)
This could simply be a poor mesh issue (not WiFi, Zigbee or Z-Wave)
There’s no secret about that, I’ve mentioned it elsewhere. I now use HomeKit for simple things like “turn the porch lights on at sunset” or “turn on a set of lights when a motion sensor is triggered.” All of my Lighting devices (Lutron Caseta and the Philips Hue bridge) work with both HomeKit and Alexa. Simple, solid, and reliable.
I still use SmartThings for complex but not critical notifications like a reminder that the guestroom window has been left open when rain is expected and the guest is away from the house, because it just does that better than anything else in its price range. 
While it could be that the OP’s problems are just a matter of mesh strength, and it never hurts to try and troubleshoot individual devices that way, the fact that they have already been in touch with SmartThings support and already tried multiple things that support suggested implies to me that it’s probably not simply mesh strength.
It is certainly the cheapest, fastest initial test. The only difference (I say that lightly, since the major difference is a new home in a new state) is I have grown my number of devices.
I do only have a single hub and no repeaters on my network. Worth a shot.
As usual, you are correct JD. Although after working in customer support myself for over 15 years, I guess, I just have less faith in support organizations than most. I think I’m just getting old and jaded. 
Make sure you read the thread that JDRoberts pointed you to in it’s entirety, but to give you a very quick and dirty for the Zigbee specific portion, here is a simple rundown.
If and only if after you have performed your Zigbee Heal and waited for everything to shake out with that process. If you are still having issues, the problem could be interference between your Wifi 24.ghz channel and the assigned Zigbee channel in SmartThings.
Here is a simple graph (also accessible in the thread provided above by JDRoberts):
Login to your Router and see what current channel is set to, not from the config page, but from the actual wireless for 2.4ghz and what it is currently using. Most people have this set for Auto, but in another screen it will show like Auto (11) which 11 will be he current channel.
To find out the assigned Zigbee channel assigned by ST, login to the IDE at https://account.smartthings.com and goto Hubs and scroll down to Zigbee and note the channel.
Now compare the wifi channel and the Zigbee channel to the graph above and if they are sitting on top of each other, then you may have interference causing your devices to go haywire.
If you are on wifi channel 11 and Zigbee channel 11, those two would be the furthest apart and have the least chance of ever interfering.
If after performing your Zigbee Heal, if you are still having issues and you see that your channels are overlapping, you can modify your wifi channel further away from the Zigbee channel. I don’t recommend channel 1 as this may cause a different case of interference with other routers in the neighborhood running on channel 1 and within range of your router.
Just something additional to try and make life easier. :
The real question would be how far away are the sensors that are proving unreliable. If you have some within 40 feet of the hub that are unreliable, it’s unlikely that repeaters will solve the issue.
Nice.
My only issue with your summary is this: choosing new customers OVER existing customers is also folly. The strategically sound option is to choose both. Otherwise you don’t get back the people to whom you have already sold, which is hypothetically your easiest sale!
As one example, right now the wife and I are re-doing our kitchen. New decor, New schemes. All the existing appliances are many years old. Sooo… there’s Samsung, with their line of ‘smart’ appliances.
Guess what I’m not buying?
SAMSUNG.
Guess why?
LOUSY SERVICE OF EXISTING CUSTOMERS.
This because of the SmartThings experience somewhat, but moreso because that was compounded by the crappy smartwatch and its crappy customer service, and the crappy customer service on my wife’s phone when it had issues, and the rampant stories of an abundance of other crappy products and customer service.
So because they failed to make good products, and then failed to stand behind those products adequately, they are losing what could have been thousand$ in sales on kitchen appliances.
There’s no way I’m handing over that much money to them and get the same shoddiness from them.
And that’s just me. There are hundreds of thousands more people like me out there.
Eventually, the “new customer pipeline” slows to a trickle… and it does that more quickly when the existing customer base has bad experiences, and telegraphs those experiences to the general population. No doubt Samsung sees billions of folks out there who’ve never had a bad experience, because they’ve had no experience. And I guess they can afford this path.
But I’m not coming along for the ride. SmartThings is my last Samsung purchase.
My appliance dollars, which are much more than my smarthome hobby dollars, will be going to other companies.
All that said, the ST staff is between a rock and a hard place in supporting this system right now. And I commend them for managing it as best they can.
GE makes a ZigBee wall switch. They never go on sale (that’s I’ve seen) and hover at $45. They do repeat.
Everyone on here, sincerely, thank you. Not only a terrifically informative thread but such professionalism and expertise.
Call me impressed.
I will go check the channels now.
What is your thoughts on the hub being maxed out in regards to devices on the network? The devices fail randomly and often. Some well within 40 feet.
Channel 14 for Zig Bee and Channel 3 for Wifi 2.4
5ghz running 36+40+44+48§
5 GHz won’t interfere with zigbee, only 2.4 Will.
