Does matter have bettwr range then zwave or zigbee or are all three somewhat equal?
Matter is NOT a transport protocol. So the range you get from any Matter device depends on the transport protocol that it does use.
In the usual analogy, think of a postal system. The transport protocol like Wi-Fi, Zigbee, Z wave, Bluetooth, etc are the trucks and vans used to deliver the mail to each address.
Matter is an application protocol which defines the format of the checkbox forms which go inside the envelopes.
So matter gives the sender an easy way to tell the recipient what they want done. But it doesn’t have any impact on how many trucks are on the road or how quickly they move or how far they go before having to refuel.
Matter over thread is utilizing a mesh network, very similar to Zigbee.
Matter over WiFi is using same Wi-Fi you use for anything else.
The difference between Matter over WiFi and WiFi without Matter is what’s inside the envelope that the truck is delivering. Not how far the truck can go.
Introduction to Matter - v2.1.1 - Silicon Labs Matter Silicon Labs
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The eve matter window sensor caught my eye. I was going to set ot up i. My sons bedroom window & pair it to my tv but there is a bit of distance.
That’s a Thread device. Plan for it the same way you would plan for a Zigbee device in the same physical location. You can go about 40 feet on one “hop“, but if you can’t reach the hub with that, you need to add additional thread repeaters along the way to pass the messages across the mesh.
(You’ll say see a lot of articles that say thread can “theoretically go 100 feet“ on one hop, but in practice, it tends to be the same as Zigbee 3.0)
Is the eve smart outlet a thread repeater ?
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Yes. Most mains powered thread devices will be thread repeaters, including any thread border routers that you have.
Any thread border routers like echo devices or Google home devices or apple HomePod minis along the way? 
A lot of homes have thread repeaters that they don’t realize are thread repeaters.
Nothing. I woudl have to buy a new echo for my sons room or.the kitchen but i did look up his tv, which is a samsung crystal 4k tv & it says its a hub. So i might be able to pair it to his tv but what i think i would want to avoid is pairing differnet devives on differnet hubs which in my case would be 2 tvs and a version 2 hub
That shouldn’t be an issue for a matter over thread device. Tell the app you want to pair everything to your primary SmartThings hub and it will use whatever thread border routers are available within range to make a path.
One of the good things about matter is that it automatically creates a “fabric“ out of multiple available networks without you having to do anything. 
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That’s neat. I hadn’t thought about border routers being repeaters, but that makes sense since they have to be on the thread network.
Since I don’t have any thread devices (but several border routers) yet I haven’t really kept up on it, but if I understand correctly if you have different branded devices they are all creating their own thread networks right? E.g. Samsung, Google, and Amazon don’t create one big happy thread network. . .they all create their own and then talk to each other. . .through a controller?
Reason I ask is trying to clarify if a repeater from one brand doesn’t repeat to another brand, than it’s a little more complicated than just making sure a repeater is spaced out appropriately. It’s more spaced out adjacent to another of the same brand /network?
Own thread networks, but since late 2023, all combined into one Matter “fabric.” (That wasn’t true when matter first launched, but it got fixed pretty quickly.)
So you don’t have to think about them as individual networks. The messages will get passed along efficiently. The brand of device won’t make any difference as long as it’s certified for matter over thread.
@Automated_House May be able to say more, he’s got a bunch of thread networks at his house.
A thread plug or a thread light bulb can act like a “repeater”, so it’s very easy and affordable to build a rock solid thread mesh network.
(I have at least one Nanoleaf M/T bulb and a Eve Energy plug per room.)
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It doesn’t have to be a SmartThings hub. You can use any thread border router, including a third party smart speaker. See the official faq section on using a third-party thread border router.
Not true as I understand it. Definitely shouldn’t be true based on the matter standard: as long as your V2 hub shares a Wi-Fi network with a thread border router, that border router will translate all the thread messages into Wi-Fi and send them on over. (That’s what thread boarder routers do.)
And my understanding is the same as what’s in the official SmartThings FAQ I just linked to. They specifically say that a V2 hub can work with thread devices connected to a third-party thread border router.
If you have a SmartThings 2015 Hub (STH-ETH & others ), you will need a third-party border router to connect Thread devices in SmartThings. The Thread Border router will act as an access point for the connection between your Thread device and SmartThings Hub using the Matter protocol to connect a Thread network to your local IP network, specifically Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
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You can find a list of supported Matter Thread devices here. The process for setting up the Thread Border Router will depend on each brand. Reach out to their support team for information on connecting a Border Router.
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To use that Border Router as a connection point in SmartThings, you will need to make sure that your SmartThings hub and the third-party border router are connected to the same Wi-Fi/LAN network.
Again, up until late 2023 This wasn’t true because the thread implementation was botched. But then the thread group got together and required interoperability and most platforms have rolled it out.
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Here are the instructions. You have to use a security key to add that thread border router to your SmartThings matter fabric, but then you should be good to go.
To use that Border Router as a connection point in SmartThings, you will need to make sure that your SmartThings hub and the third-party border router are connected to the same Wi-Fi/LAN network.
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Once the Thread Border router is set up and connected to the same network as the hub, you will see the option to choose that thread network while onboarding devices (see step 7 Here).
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Your Thread network will have a 32-character network key that you will need to enter when you connect to that Thread Border router during onboarding. This key may be found on the border router or in the third-party app that you used to set up the border router.
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Thanks. That’s good to know.
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That is indeed how it works for me with SmartThings and my V2 hubs. Make sure you have the key in your clipboard as you need it every time you attempt to commission a device.
I didn’t have any joy with Google Home. Basically everything Matter related just doesn’t work in Google Home in my stock Android phone, and on a Galaxy it knows the third-party mesh is there but doesn’t know what to do with it. SmartThings seems way ahead.
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Well that’s disappointing!
Just think of it like entering your Wi-Fi password whenever you add a new Wi-Fi device for the first time. It’s the same thing really, just security for new devices.
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