Eve Energy Matter over Thread switches are currently $39 on Amazon. During Prime days and around other holidays, the prices drop. A 3-pack of their in-wall duplex, dual-switched Matter over Thread outlets are currently on Amazon for $135 ($45/ea). I got them during Prime days for $115 ($38/ea). And nice thing about Eve products, they come with the screwless Decora faceplate so no additional cost.
Leviton also has a dimmer and a switch that support Matter over Wi-Fi that are both under $40 currently.
Thatās still incredibly expensive to replace 6 z-wave switches that were about the same cost that work fine, except for a dying protocol . Do they support WPA3 at least on the wifi end?
Edit: It sure seems a lot of smart devices are awfully expensive and also use the cheapest and oldest possible radio parts, except for the fāing good stuff like Zooz Z-wave which always has decent prices for latest tech.
If Samsung or Aeotec drop Z-wave they really should offer easy hub transition to Hubitat or something that will.
Yes, they support WPA3. As I mentioned, Iām replacing my Z-Wave devices as they die. Unless my ST hub functionality either completely dies or ST officially ends support such that they stop working, Iāll stick with Z-Wave for the time being. But Iām also a believer in @JDRoberts philosophy of having a regular budget for replacing older hardware (his horizon is 3 years usability) and the majority of my Z-Wave stuff is at 8+ years.
Well, early on the GE Z-wave switches only lasted a year or 2 and just dropped dead. Iāve had these Zooz and others that really have lasted a long time. Itās not just the price with switches, itās the manual labor involved with them to replace too. Not exactly plug and play replacements like a light bulb or something.
Another thing I hate about Matter IOT is you canāt swap network SSID/Passwords easy. You have to reset and re-add all of them, often rescanning each one as you go. Matter really is a PITA compared to Z-wave/Zigbee that way with dedicated hubs.
Having WPA3 in them at least is a nice thing, lots of stuff still doesnāt support that nearly 7 years after it came out.
Iāve only use the Leviton Wi-Fi at my second home for a couple of switches and dimmers.
For my primary residence, Iāll be going with Matter over Thread for my outlets, switches, and dimmers. Iād also prefer that for my door locks when it comes time to replace those, but Iāll cross that road when I come to it.
As a point of info, I currently have 43 Z-Wave devices including in-wall outlets, switches, dimmers, plug-in outlets, and door locks.
Ouch. 43ā¦ I go back to my statement that the only reason theyāre wanting to get rid of Z-wave is the tiny license cost.
Iām waiting for the Schlage Sense Pro, if that ever comes out to replace my ancient S0 Schlage Z-wave. I almost dropped a lot of a S2 Z-wave lock a bit ago, but I guess itās good since apparently Z-wave is on its last legs for support. Sad really.
Imagine if you need to change the SSID or password on a wifi router and have dozens or more devices to have to reset and repogram for such a simple and common thing. These tech companies are sadistic.
Matter protocol does support changing the credentials of WiFi or Thread. Problem is, as always, that smart home platforms usually donāt offer that feature to the user.
Just like happens with multicast groups to minimize popcorn effect or bindings so a remote can directly control a light without automations that are rarely exposed to the user.
Thatās why a dedicated side hub like z-wave/zigbee is superior for IOT over wifi connections. Plug the hub into the router direct, and let it take care of the coms/security.
Wifi networks get worse and worse with constantly changing security nonsense to deal with. Looks like weāll all be eating the S Sandwhich now with wifi on everything, with multiple eras of tech that constantly change and needing user controlled credentials on it all that are a huge pain to update.
Edit and also since Eero, Echos, and most wifi hubs are going towards supporting Thread, why need one of these if they donāt support the stuff? Itās suicidal tech decisions like this that are amazing. Youāre throwing away your competitive advantage (supporting multi systems) to a generic mess. Whatever, these MBA guys doing this I suppose know their bizness.
Thatās the philosophy of Matter over Thread, itās all automatic so the user doesnāt need to handle the credentials.
The fact that Matter also works over WiFi is an advantage compared to what happened with WiFi devices before that were all cloud based with proprietary interfaces.
Usually you would prefer Matter over Thread, especially if youāre going to use bindings.
When I moved back to my home country from the U.S., I had to give up all my Zigbee and Z-Wave devices as well. Fortunately, there werenāt that many - I had only expanded an existing setup - and I wanted to start fresh anyway. That was around the time when Wi-Fi-based devices started flooding the market. It didnāt take long before my entire house was filled with Tapo devices - quick and cheap.
Just a year later, almost everything had been replaced with Matter over Thread and a few Zigbee devices for which no equivalent Thread version existed yet. For me personally, it was clear that Matter over Thread would be the future.
At some point, you simply have to make a choice. And as great as it is that todayās hubs can support multiple protocols - do you really want to maintain several mesh networks in parallel? Constantly make sure there are enough router devices in each one?
Itās often portrayed as if Z-Wave had no disadvantages compared to the other protocols, but in reality it offers the lowest bandwidth, only a few hops, and canāt dynamically adjust its routes - effectively forcing it into a tree topology. That might be fine for switches and simple devices, but what about sensors that need a reporting interval below 30 seconds - and lots of them on the same network?
Something like SmartThings Pro for commercial buildings simply couldnāt be built on Z-Wave. Imagine trying to extend a mesh network across multiple floors or buildings via fiber - thatās something only Thread can handle.
Maybe Iām literally doing it wrong then. I have a lot of Linkind in bulbs now, each one I had to scan the QR, add to smartthings, Smarthings asks for the wifi, put in my wifi credentials, and then to the next one.
How do you not have to tell each device what wifi SSDI/Password to use? Iāve love to be able to change my SSID and password and update all that in Smartthings or some other app without going to each bulb, resetting it, and scanning the QR, and putting in the new settings.
Iām reading this, but I still donāt fully get how if you change your wifi info, thatāll make them all work still. Maybe my problem is those Linkind bulbs I have are āonly matter, but not threadā?
Itās those. Again, tech companies are sadistic and cruel to have to need so much BS to keep a working smart home going.
Why do you need to keep changing your WiFi ssid and credentials? Most, if not all, routers allow you to set a custom ssid and password. Set it once and if you change your router make the new router have the same ssid and password as the old one, all your existing devices will then join to the ānewā network.
Iāve done this a couple of times already without issue.
Thereās many reasons to change SSID and passwords for it. General security is one. I donāt ākeep changingā but being able to change easily and update smart devices seems reasonable.
You gave your wifi to info and donāt want them on it anymore? You have to reset all devices you have to the new one? All Iām saying is that with a Z-wave/Zigbee dedicated hub thatās never a concern.
I admit, Iāve never fully understood how Thread works with wifi, since apparently Matter and Thread are only vaguely connected.
Matter wifi is wifi then right? Cause they show up on my Eero device list. I suppose Thread devices areā¦ not that way and go to the Smartthings hub? This complicated stuff would constipate Einstein.
Edit: I suppose Matter wifi is already obsolete now and itās this Thread over Matter Wifi thing to go forward for a year or 2 until the companies say trash all that old junk and but ultra-matter
I get round that issue by having an entirely separate guest SSID and password on my network, I can change this without affecting anything I own. Changing SSID is a massive pain, I have lots of devices that are not matter that use WiFi., for example : tablets, TVs, fridge, tumble dryer, laptops, mobiles, ev charger, security cameras, essential oil diffuser. Matter WiFi devices are a small fraction of what I have connected to WiFi. Changing the SSID for me is a massive pain.
But thread can connect to the wifi router, sometimes if it has it. My eero has a thread option.
So basically I bought a bunch of matter and z-wave and zigbee stuff, and now itāll all have to be replaced with āthreadā right to not be canceled?
. Do they support WPA3 at least on the wifi end?