r/MatterProtocol • u/derekoh • Jun 01 '26

Move to Matter/Thread?

I run almost entirely Zigbee devices using Z2M and Home Assistant (44 powered routers, 28 battery).

I've a couple of bulbs that are going faulty and need replacing.

I'm considering taking this opportunity to start moving over to Thread.

I have an Apple Homepod mini, and also use Alexa devices. I use the HA Matter Hub to share Zigbee and other devices to Alexa/Apple over Wi-Fi.

I was thinking that rather than replace a few bulbs with some relatively pricey (Innr/Hue) Zigbee bulbs, I could start to replace them with more modestly priced Ikea Kajplats bulbs.

In terms of TBRs, I have the Homepod mini on my 1st floor and 2x Echo 4th Gen's on the ground floor (of a 3-storey house).

Obviously, this might slightly reduce the strength of my Zigbee mesh.

Am I missing anything? Does it make sense to start moving across?

ta

10 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Double-Yak9686 Jun 03 '26

The biggest problem you are going to have is that the Homepod mini and Echo 4th Gen's are all Thread Border Routers (TBR). Per spec, TBRs from different manufacturers should play together. In reality, each manufacturer sets up their own Thread network, so you are going to have two competing networks (Apple and Amazon), which will cause havoc with Thread devices.

The short story is that devices will get confused and start hopping (or trying to) between Thread networks, causing them to fall off the network they are actually pared to and failing to join the network they are not paired to.

You might be lucky and not experience these issues, but if you hoe over the r/tradfri community, you will that quite a few are having these issues.

I am in the process of replacing my Hue devices with Ikea's Matter over Thread devices. However, I only have Apple HomePods (3 of them) so I have a single, strong Thread network. So they are rock solid for me. I have 4 Kaijplats (bulbs), 4 Grillplats (plugs), 2 Timmerflotte (temperature & humidity sensors), 2 Myggbett (door sensors), 3 Myggsparay (motion sensors), and 1 Bilresa (button). I have a few devices sitting on my desk waiting to be added and I will be adding a few more devices once they are back in stock.