Paul Hibbert stirring the pot again. While he has a point, he really omits a lot of facts that make Zigbee so much better.
I have to admit the ignorance of the statement and the clickbait nature of it caused me to skip that video entirely, although I like some of his other stuff. I assume some other engineers will help educate him. 
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You didn’t miss anything by skipping it, truthfully. I can summarize it for you. He makes the case that Zigbee devices are not much better than Wi-Fi devices powered by Chinese cloud (pun intended). And that the extra money you pay for a Zigbee device doesn’t give you much benefit over the cheaper Wi-Fi devices. He left this in the comments section 
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I have to say that it isn’t one of his better videos. His argument is that the premium for Zigbee devices over similar Wi-Fi ones is so great that you could invest in a really decent Wi-Fi infrastructure, still save money, and end up with something that works just as well. The Zigbee prices just aren’t justified.
The real weakness is that the price comparisons he is using seem to ignore Ikea and Lumi devices which are actually cheaper than the no brand Wi-Fi stuff which I wouldn’t touch with a bargepole. If I wanted a Wi-Fi smart plug the one I’d go for is a TP-Link but they’ve only recently halved their price. Wi-Fi smart home devices can be just as much of a rip-off as Zigbee if you want a recognisable brand.
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Yeah, the IKEA line would pretty much destroy his cost argument. And they are available in both US and UK, so no excuse there.
Also, zigbee devices can run locally. IKEA runs locally with its own hub. I don’t remember if they run locally with smartthings or not. Obviously everything zigbee runs locally with hubitat. That’s not a small thing.
And from a personal energy footprint standpoint, the lower energy draw of Zigbee is a real thing. One of those “every little bit helps“ situations. As I’ve mentioned before, we use solar energy at our house, and Wi-Fi draw is something we take into account.
There’s also the fact that the UK has a new law going into effect soon that will require all smart appliances to use a local zigbee for IOT Applications. So now is not the time to be freaking people out over Zigbee.
Like I said, it’s just an ignorant statement and a Clickbait title. I do expect more from him based on the quality of his other videos.
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What, wait, I had to double check on what forum I am. I am running every light, locally on ST too. That is not a small thing. I use the cloud for non critical, latency acceptable applications 
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Damn regulatory overreach.
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As I really don’t know, what about battery powered devices like sensors? I thought wifi wasn’t suitable for the battery operated sleep operations to get decent life.
That’s correct for now, Although if you’re willing to change batteries every two or three months there are some Wi-Fi sensors available.
A healthy mix seems like a good plan to me. I use lots of wifi devices, zigbee sensors, enough hard wired zigbee devices for repeating and a smattering of zwave.
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However, I don’t use the Chinese cloud apps. All my wifi use Tasmota.
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Man I need to start making clickbait videos…
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Lucky for me I don’t do a ton of research using YouTube.
But, unfortunately a lot of people do.
I wonder what his twist is. What exactly is the point of the video?
We do? I’ve not heard a sniff about that one in the UK. I’m vaguely aware of something about security of IoT devices (such things as banning universal passwords) but that is about it. We are having enough trouble with smart meters.
Also, zigbee devices can run locally. IKEA runs locally with its own hub. I don’t remember if they run locally with smartthings or not. Obviously everything zigbee runs locally with hubitat. That’s not a small thing.
They do. I have a Tradfri plug and three of their A12 bulbs. All hooked to my ST 3.0 hub.
Considering the other comments I won’t bother watching. But, part of why I am specifically using Zigbee and Z-Wave where I can is to keep those devices off my WiFi as much for splitting the bandwidth requirements as security & ability to run locally.
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Click bait. Like 50% of the Internet.
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Make that 99% lol But that’s what internet is
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It’s part of the new smart meter initiative, SMETS2. New smart appliances will have to be able to speak with the new smart meters, and they are using a regional zigbee to do so. But they’re getting a few extra years, I believe. The meters started rolling out last year.
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Ah right, I see what you are getting at, though my interpretation of what is going on has a slightly different emphasis.
SMETS2 meters remain relatively thin on the ground to the extent that SMETS1 are still being rolled out even though they shouldn’t really be. There remains a hope that SMETS1 meters can be upgraded to provide SMETS2 functionality, but whether that is all of it or just to use the DCC is unclear. It is forever something expected in the next year.
The UK smart meter rollout is perceived as botched by many. I’d actually suggest the real concern is that smart meters damage the reputation of Zigbee by association.
SMETS2 meters can still be single band 2.4GHz. They will also be able to be dual band using the regional frequency as it is hoped that may assist with homes that encounter range problems. I believe the dual band stuff is barely here.
SMETS2 will allow approved and registered smart appliances to communicate with the meters over Zigbee to do things like profile the home’s energy usage and energy costs over the day. I’ve not seen any requirement that they have to do this, only that it will be possible if that is the way they want to go.
I fully expect to certified boxes appear to interface the smart meters to other smart home protocols over wi-fi.
Breakfast time …
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