What's not to understand... Big Telecom company offers a WiFi product. Installs big huge repeater antennas and clobbers every other 2.4GHz signal in the vicinity.
Ok. The "Big Telecon" thing was mentioned in an other thread... but... yeh.
Just out of a sense of curiosity...Why...is there a WiFi mast broadcasting from your local telephone exchange? Is it a local WiFi service? A bridge? WiMax? Campus Wifi?
Seems like you'd have more problems with WiFi channel interference than Zigbee. Strange stuff for sure.
Scott
It can only be using one wifi channel. So, how could that interfere with EVERY zigbee channel? For example, if the wifi was using channel 1, then zigbee channel 21 would be completely unaffected.
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A "Hairy Great" WiFi antenna can have multiple elements operating on different channels. An antenna installation operated by a telecom company will use more than a single channel.
Most WiFi devices (Phones, tablets, routers, outlets, bulbs, etc) have a larger antenna and more transmit power. Also, the CSMA/CA algorithm is more agressive with WiFi. Zigbee transmit power is usually a small fraction of WiFi. (Because WiFi is preformance oriented while Zigbee is low power consumption oriented)
How do you figure? A plug-in zigbee module isn't low-power. Low-power zigbee devices are battery powered, like sensors. With a strong enough zigbee mesh I would think he wouldn't have a problem at all, unless the antenna was in your living room.
I didn't say channel 20 and 20. I said 1 and 20 and I said it was an example. Want me to give a whole bunch more? Besides, channels 15, 20 and 25 have no interference, according to your diagram.
As soon as I saw Paul's video I knew the "religious" war would heat up. LOL.
I have WiFi, Z-Wave, and Zigbee devices on my HE hub. The only issue I have is with the Internet dependent solutions. My Google, Wemo and Ecobee devices suffer from cloud services failures more frequently than I like. The Zigbee and Z-wave devices chug along beautifully.
Paul addresses his audience's concerns about Chinese servers in other videos. I am not sure why folks care. The same failures for cloud services happen in Chinese server farms as with Amazon, Microsoft, Google etc.
Worried about Chinese state actors getting your HA data? Why? What could they get and what would they do with it? What would their motivation be to even bother? Seems to me to be a moot concern for most of us.
His main point is price. It's easy to find less expensive WiFi devices. You have to work a little harder to get good pricing with Zigbee.
YF
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I know you didn't I was just pointing out that just because it sounds like 1 and 20 are far apart, in actual fact they are not. For example channel 1 WiFi is between 12 and 13 ZigBee.
Except 802.11b/g 1 and zigbee 20 are far apart as they don't overlap... But 'far apart' is a subjective valuation, not a measurement, so no point in arguing I guess. 
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Yeah wrong term really using "near are far". Basically avoid a congested channel but be aware that the 2 protocols are not the same despite that they are both using 2.4 GHz. So you may end up having both your WiFi and ZigBee on the same "channel" because thats best for your set up and it will work because they are not actually the same channel.
That's the point I was making
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Interesting anecdotal story... I have a coworker that has 5 unifi APs in his house. He has the 2.4ghz radios on all 5 set to 40MHz channels, and max transmit power.
Now, he doesn't even need 5 APs, let alone 40MHz channels in his traditional construction home, let alone max transmit power. You can make a stong enough connection on his wifi to use it 2 blocks away. I've done it when trying to explain to him he is being an a**hole and is causing interference on about 6 neighbors wifi networks, too.
He decided he wanted to install SmartThings. He of course picks zigbee devices (SmartThings brand - they have to work with a SmartThings hub - right??). Anyone that has read this far already knows the end of the story.
Because of his massive wifi noise, he can't get a zigbee device to work more than about 6 feet from his hub. And forget repeaters, or devices further away. Since he has bombasrded every single 802.11b channel 3x over, the zigbee devices can't talk. No amount of repeaters makes any difference - he tried 15 of them. There simply isn't any bandwidth/available air time left.
I proved this to him by having him shut off his entire wifi install for an hour. Zigbee worked perfectly. He then, of course turned his barn burning wifi setup back on, and took all of the SmartThings equipment back to Best Buy - because it is obviously crap. You see, he "needed his strong wifi" and no amount of convincing will make him get rid of APs or turn down the transmit power.
Last funny anecdote - he was at my house the other day and commented on HOW FAST my wifi was... He was angry because I use the same UniFi APs he does, but his crawls. I reminded him how I showed him on his UniFi controller that his retransmission rate is OUT THE ROOF because of the interference and so many APs using the channel oversubscription. He still won't change it. More=Better - and there is no telling him otherwise.
So, moral of the story, in high interference environments zigbee CAN be problematic and Z-Wave a better choice.
For example, if you live in an apartment complex, and have a few neighbors like my buddy above - you will likely not have much fun with zigbee.
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Ah, I didn't get that the first time I read your comment. Yes, you are of course right. The picture posted earlier is a great tool for illustrating that.
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Very well said. I have a neighbor blasting the block. Works for Time Warner. Free equipment + no expertise = bad neighbor. Dude has like 4 separate WiFi networks on separate WLAN routers. No bridging. Each kid has their own...
YF
Yes... Maybe easily available equipment wasn't a good thing for consumers after all... Most people are simply ignorant that they impact others, and are likely making things WORSE for themselves (not better as they are expecting).
Yeah, I get the whole co-channel interference thing, and WiFi power vs zigbee power. My issue was more along the lines of "what is that Hairy Great" WiFi antenna doing? Most commercial WiFi is going to be internal to a building, and thus attenuated, or if on the top of a building, be something directional, for cross campus or cross town links.
Multi Channel WiFi, broadcast like @garry-heskimo suggests the Big Hairy is doing is a bit unusual, and from an FCC perspective "an issue", as what is happening, is effectively Jamming, which frankly is illegal.
Now, if he lives next to a big sports or concert arena or the like, with Commercial Hot spots everyplace...or next to something similar, train station, etc, then his interference issue seems an unfortunate side effect no doubt considered and licensed to the detriment of @garry-heskimo!
A dense urban environment might affect Zigbee that way too, as WiFi is so common. And multiple nearby hotspots could certainly "fill" all the channels presenting a risk to Zigbee coexistence.
Really I was just curious as to the purpose.
S.
This is so incredibly dangerous and fails to address the real problem...bot nets. The last attack had over 9 million iot devices that were made in China. Bot nets of that size can and have cause expensive damage along with being able to bring down the internet.
People saying cheap Chinese servers they aren't saying just the Chinese government exploiting... It also means cheap servers with cheap security for anyone to exploit.
Unless you flash the firmware, any type of Chinese servers connections are vulnerable. Yes any type of server can be attacked but China has a reputation for cutting corners.
Also most people cannot take the simplest of security measures. Most iot devices in bot nets were attached because they use the default username and password. Zigbee and zwave have more accessible security measures in that they don't require an internet connection.
So when talking to the average person, I'd suggest zigbee or zwave over WiFi to avoid another useful idiot becoming part of the bot net.
Also another point for people who can't flash firmware. Servers shut down forever. Your average user can be stuck with a bricked wifi device due to a business shutting.
I, myself, have WiFi devices but I understand the risks. I take precautions. Overall though I avoid wifi devices when a zigbee/zwave equivalent is available.
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BT run several customer facing WiFi systems they include a subscription with their broadband services (it also means customer routers have a separate "public" connection for others to use if subscribed) my problems, are not just co-channel interference, but the fact I am close enough to suffer receiver desensitisation or the relatively simple ZigBee receivers. I am aware, me adding three ubiquiti adds to the WiFi soup, but I "can" get the WiFi to work! Especially on 5Ghz! I "can't " get ZigBee to work reliably with, or without my WiFi.
The signal level of the BT system is still stronger, than my home WiFi! That's some feat given RF level falls at a square law relative to distance! The whole Chinese server thing, really? I would worry more about my government than the Chinese!! They know who I am! The primary downside of network based lot seems to be the possibility of it being hacked and used for a ddos attack or something similar, that is why I don't use my ISP supplied router modem, the increase in the speed of our connections has way outpaced the improvements in the security of cheap devices! If you worry about Chinese servers,go look at your modem/router, if "anything" has real access to your network, it is that!!
Honestly, ZigBee might be perfect for some people, my only concern is You test before buying a load of it!! Oh! And look at your microwave oven LOL, you would be surprised by how many people's ZigBee and WiFi intermittent problems are caused by a microwave oven lol! They "All" leak, and looking at one on a specrum analyser, would scare the bejesus out of you!!
Love and peace
Garry
Most people reading here understand the risks, security requirements, flash firmware, can code etc.
This YouTube video is just designed to stir the pot and generate clicks.
The problem is that your average user watching this video and not understanding the risks of wifi can become another useful idiot in some bot net.
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Yeah, that makes sense then. BT was probably all you really needed to say! 
You're basically in an environment where the front end of the Zigbee receivers are getting saturated by all the WiFi side lobes. nice. Thanks BT!
It's unfortunate, as Zigbee can coexist with WiFi quite well.
Sometimes you just can't solve for the environment.
I expect if I were to look at my Microwave with a spec an, I'd probably see a hell of a lot of LO energy and its harmonics. But I'd also posit that the dangerous wavelengths are both massively attenuated, and reasonably well filtered. But in the interest of maintaining my ignorance on such things, I'll pass on looking at it in a spectrum analys/zer.
S.
