Matter uses IPv6 link local addresses. It has no need for any IPv6 outside of your home's layer 2 network. So you don't need an IPv6 address from your ISP. It basically automatically configures itself. When nerds try to get fancy and do multiple VLANs, ya, IPv6 link local and mDNS will very likely cause Matter issues. But that's entirely on the home owner and not what a very high percentage of consumer homes look like.
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There is no reason to do this to use Matter.
For consumers with conventional LANs and Wifi set ups, IPV6 is not an issue, and is invisible to them. For those who have ventured into business level LAN, VLAN, sub LAN set ups, these are not the target for Matter devices, and those problems are way beyond the support capability of anyone other than the "network engineer" that set up those networks. Matter + KISS LAN setup = good stuff, easy to use.
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I have now installed 12 matter/wifi devices. I do not have IPv6 turned on outside of myl lan, I dont have any VLAN set up. So I am the KISS kind of guy.
The setup was so simple. they just work! I spent more time excluding a few zwave switches that these replaced than setting up the matter devices.
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That's exactly what I've been saying for the last 6 months when various 'experts' complain about fundamental parts of Matter not working, when in the end it's often their self-imposed complex networks, and lack of network administration and troubleshooting skills that are the thing making it not work.
Enhanced networks and granular control are great if you know what you're doing and don't mind the admin overhead to maintain and troubleshoot them. Only a very very small number of consumers are capable or willing to do so.
But I digress. Everyone can do what they want. 
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100% this! For those that live in the US, just look at the most popular routers sold at Best Buy. That should give everyone an idea of what most folks use in their home. Almost all of them are going to have zero issues with onboarding Matter devices. I say this as someone who is perfectly content using three Nest Wifi Pros, 12 Matter devices, and a few more on order.
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We see this all the time, and it's interesting whenever someone starts a post by bragging about how long they've been an expert at something -- usually a prelude to some nonsense. But by far the worst of these are "network engineers". A bit of humility and KISS go a long way toward a good home automation experience.
Yeah, back to perfecting my VLAN setup.... 
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This. So much this. 
All it takes is a couple of clickbait security articles about how your fridge or cameras are going to get hacked, with some expert saying you need to segregate your IoT devices. Then people blindly set it up without realizing the ramifications, or the knowledge to fix those issues that come up.
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Yes I have over 20 Matter devices, all rock solid. All my personal devices are on a single VLAN. I have a separate guest network, which is fully isolated. Super simple, super stable. If I want to block IoT devices from contacting the internet, I can do that in a couple of clicks on my Firewalla. I agree with anyone that starts off "I've been doing networking for 20 years...." usually has a big mess on their hands and then complain why all these consumer services don't work.
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Just came here to say that all my Wifi Matter devices work flawlessly... Thread? Not so much.
All of my Thread devices are Nanoleaf so I guess I pull back my blanket statement... a bit. I have three separate Thread networks that I can't get to merge.
Join the club on thread.... I have 3 thread networks, can't merge them. Tried scrapping them and re-doing them in the recommended (by vendor, lol) order... Ended up with... 3 separate Thread networks in the end again.
My nanoleaf thread based Matter LED strips are trash. I just put a smart switch in front of them and turn them on/off with that.
Some of my home made/custom thread based Matter devices have worked much, much better than the nanoleaf though. So I'm not totally anti-Thread yet. I have hopes it will "get there" in another year or two.
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Curious. are you using the Nanoleaf app for scenes, etc.? I was doing that and kept having issues with them becoming unresponsive. I got them all back online and now I don't use the scenes (yes does sort defeat the purpose) but haven't had any issues at all with him in a couple of weeks now. I just control the color/ temp with habitat or HomeKit, and not having any issues now.
You name any combination of ways to set them up and I've probably done it. I think I might have carpal tunnel from screwing in and unscrewing bulbs for the reset process.
They have now magically turned into Sengled Zigbee bulbs and life is good.
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Shoot - did you do them all from the same platform, e.g., I had read that if you setup iOS/Homepods first, then Google Home on iOS, they would join. Not true?
I jettisoned the sengleds long before matter. They were super flakey for me. I still have about ten or so occupying valuable real estate in a closet somewhere.
I've had decent history with them. I'm just not 100% satisfied with their lumen output. The nanoleafs definitely put out more light, but not worth the trouble right now. I haven't thrown them out, but I probably won't try again until Thread has a bit more time to mature.
Nanoleaf has KNOWN horrible Thread/Matter firmware problems. The problem is NOT Thread. The problem is that Nanoleaf has shipped, and so far refused to fix, their grossly horrible firmware problems. Their firmware problems are so bad, that if you have enough NL devices on your network, it can cascade into making your entire Thread/Matter setup completely unstable and non-functional.
NL is rumored to have beta firmware that MIGHT help. But it's not GA, and their Thread/Matter firmware has been grossly buggy since the day they were released. So personally I'd never ever spend a penny with them, as their clearly have incompetent software devs doing their firmware. The best thing you can do is power them off, remove from any home hubs, and wait to see if they come out with stable firmware. Otherwise dump them in the trash.
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Yep, not a single Nanoleaf Thread product active in my home right now. 9 of them sitting in a drawer for now.
As for Thread, I'm definitely not giving up on it. I just don't like seeing this knowing that they are meant to be merged. Right now, the ST networks are just taking up space in my 2.4 Ghz band.
I didn't start with Apple as I'm mainly an Android home.
Even then though I never could get Alexa and Google home on the same thread network. Tried four or five times, a different way and different sequence each time.
I obviously did not expect my Apple home (set up via an iPad I have) to play nice with the Android side. That is actually my fourth thread network.
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The Thread group made an announcement last week at CES about six big improvements coming to Thread this year.
The features and enhancements include:
- Credential sharing
- More ubiquitous Internet connectivity
- Thread over Infrastructure
- Network diagnostics
- Secure Commissioning at scale
- Numerous additional enhancements to robustness and scalability
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