Why a Shared Mesh for your Next-Generation Smart Speakers, Hubs, TVs, Fridges, and Light Switches?

You may have heard of the new smart home standard Matter, and how it will make it simpler to buy and set up connected gadgets. All of those gadgets should work with any phone, voice assistant, or smart speaker that has a Matter-compatible option. If you got excited and went out and bought a new smart plug or smart light bulb to give this a whirl, you may have picked up one that uses Thread, one of the two wireless protocols Matter uses (the other is Wi-Fi). So, now what?

Instead, Matter chose to use Wi-Fi and Thread for wireless communication, with other protocols needing to “bridge” into Matter, requiring an extra step from manufacturers that few have chosen to implement. So, why pick the relatively new Thread over existing options?

Unless you stick with one or two manufacturer’s border routers, Thread’s biggest promise is that robust self-healing shared mesh network. It’s not possible to buy smart speakers, routers, TVs and fridges all from the same company, so something that is going to be harder to do.

This failure is not purely technical; it’s mostly political. The CSA and Thread Group have left it up to the device manufacturers to figure out how to use this new protocol in your home.

This is turning what should be an open network for IoT into yet another opportunity for walled gardens and special partnerships — exactly the situations Matter was advertised to prevent.

While these sound and largely act like traditional smart home hubs and bridges you may have hooked up to your router in the past, the unique thing about Matter controllers and Thread border routers is they can be built into virtually any device — including smart speakers, TVs, fridges, streaming boxes, smart home hubs, thermostats, and light switches.

It’s worth noting that multiple Thread networks aren’t necessarily a problem, and it is — in theory — possible for separate Thread networks to communicate with each other over another IP-based network. But not having one shared mesh for all your border routers negates Thread’s biggest benefit. Devices in different Thread networks can’t be connected because they don’t form part of the same mesh. They wouldn’t get the benefits from a stronger mesh network.

Its “shared’ nature provides redundancy and improves reliability — if one border router fails, another can pick up the slack, so your network will keep on ticking. Also, more border routers mean a broader reach for your network and less latency because devices have shorter pathways, Thread Group’s Hui tells me.

Thread Connectivity in the Home: Amazon, Eero, Nexus, iPhone, Android and Other Smartphones Are Not Enabled by Thread Certification

(Amazon’s lone Alexa border router — the Echo fourth-gen smart speaker — is still on 1.1. Amazon spokesperson Connor Rice says the speaker “supports all Thread 1.3.0 features required of Matter devices.” But the Echo isn’t a Matter device; it’s a Matter controller, and Matter doesn’t require Thread certification for controllers.)

The solution is that the platforms and manufacturers need one way to share Thread network credentials across their platforms and devices, an industry standard for securely creating a single Thread network within the home.

This means that Apple, Amazon, and others have to work with other companies. It has been slow while this is happening. And the current state of play is that the manufacturer can decide if its border router will join the Thread network created by its competitor or go ahead and set up its own network in your home.

Currently, Amazon border routers will only work on a network set up by their devices (some Eero Wi-Fi routers and Echo fourth-gen smart speakers) and won’t join an existing Thread network nor allow devices from other manufacturers to join their networks.

Important note: if you use an Apple Thread border router, you must use an iPhone to use the Apple Thread network. If you use anANDROID phone you can not use an apple border proxy unless you also have an ios one, so use a border proxy from any of the other platforms.

A border router you set up using iOS won’t see or talk to those you set up with Android unless you first set it up with iOS. You only can do this if the platform has either an iPad or an app on the other device.

What Matter Smart Home Platforms Are Needed: Google, Apple and Thread need to go Together, or they will need to put a foot down

Kevin Po, group product manager at Google, told me that while the capability exists to change network configurations “over the air,” it’s not easy. He told us that the Thread Group is working with the industry on best practices for identifying when and how to change a network’s configuration without disrupting its existing setup.

The two platforms that have things set up best right now are Google and Apple. It helps that they control the OSes where the credentials are shared and that they’ve been using Thread in their products for a few years now.

Google’s Po tells me that “Apple and Google Thread border routers can share the same Thread network by leveraging the iOS Thread network APIs.” So, you could have a Google Nest Hub Max and an Apple TV join a single Thread network if you set them both up using an iOS device.

However, the same is not true in reverse because an Android phone can’t access the iOS keychain, and there is no Android app that will set up a HomePod or Apple TV (and probably will never be).

CSA and Thread need to tell the industry that either they have to come together or provide a clear path for executing it, or they need to put their foot down hard. Because the green bubble blue / bubble platform fight is bad enough on our phones — we don’t need it in our homes.

The disadvantage is they are more expensive. Right now, the cheapest SmartThings Station you can get is $60, but most start at around $100.

You can use the Thread device with any other Matter smart home platform after your primary Matter smart home platform is set up. This means your device can also work with any Matter-compatible ecosystem and with its app and voice assistant. You will need a separate Matter controller from that platform if you want to do this.

The same is true if you used an Eero Wi-Fi router as a Thread border router to add a device to Alexa; you could then use a Google Nest Mini smart speaker (a Matter controller) to add the same device to Google Home, and so on.

There are plenty of Matter controllers out there, so you can get one for a very low price. These tend to be cheaper than combined Matter / Thread devices (more on these in a bit) and might be something you already have. Over the air changes have made Matter controllers compatible with a lot of smart speakers. There is a complete list of Matter controllers.

While Matter is supposed to make everything about the smart home easier, there are still some growing pains, especially regarding Thread — hey, the smart home wasn’t built in a day! So, to help you make sure you get your new Matter-over-Thread smart plug, smart shades, or smart light switch set up properly the first time, here’s a rundown on what you need to set up a Matter-over-Thread device and how to do it.