THREAD on hubitat

Would it really matter much though? I have my wifi radios all sharing time between 4 different SSIDs with a different VLAN on each and I don't notice any differences between it and another access point dedicated to only one SSID and not sharing radio time..

I’m just saying, considering the issues hey have with the zigbee radios at the moment… I am not looking forward to more instability. Only time will tell I guess

I not entirely sure when I bought my first Hubitat Hub, but it must have been a couple of years before the pandemic. I'm still impressed and very much a cheerleader. If something goes wrong, chances are the I goofed (likely)--or a device failed (less likely). The hub is incredibly easy to "program" and it rarely skips a beat.

However, I bought my first (Eve) Thread motion detector just out of curiosity in May of this year. One motion detector has grown to five, and I've added a number of other Thread/Matter devices as well. I control them all with Hubitat, but through silly (and completely unnecessary) virtual switches talking to HomeKit via an Apple TV 4K (my path to the the Thread network). HomeKit is anything but reliable, if something goes wrong, it's more likely that HomeKit fails (as opposed to me goofing). And the "automation" interface (term used loosely) is both exhausting and lacking in terms of capabilities and reliability.

But my Tread/Matter devices (maybe 10-15 in total so far?) are very impressive and haven't failed one single time (at least not yet). The mesh is already much stronger than my Zigbee mesh with significantly fewer devices (life in an old brownstone in a very densly populated city is no fun when there are literally hundreds of devices competing on the same ol' 2.4GHz frequency). Add to that the Thread devices are lighting fast compared to Zigbee and... i just made up my mind this morning. I ordered 12 new Thread motion detectors and a bunch of other devices to complete the transition of battery operated devices to Thread. My "test" in no longer a test, I'm in. Completely.

I understand the skeptical voices and I am, too, skeptical that the big guys (Apple, Google, Amazon, etc.) will in fact stay true to the standards (sadly, there are already proof that they may not be). But I'm not even a tiny bit skeptical about Thread itself (and it's too early too tell if Matter will in fact be a real, workable, standard). But with few exceptions, virtually all device manufacturers (anyone from the really big boys to the smallest device makers) claim they'll turn themselves into Thread and Matter companies, although some of them are clearly half-assing it (here's looking at you, Philips Hue).

But my love for Hubitat is still strong. So now I'm facing a real dilemma. The silly workarounds I use to communicate with Thread are ok for now, but it can't last. I sincerely hope Thread (and thus Matter) is priority 1A for the C-9 Hub (or whatever it will be called). Please, please don't make me leave the company and platform that has helped me so beautifully over the years. Please.

Yes, all of the above constitutes a shameless petition. But one with nothing but good intentions. Guys and gals, I'm not the brightest bulb in the socket, but I'm convinced. Thread (and maybe Matter) is here to stay and coming at us at a furious pace. Hubitat: please, please don't get left behind. This train has left the station and it's picking up speed fast. And I personally need to decide fairly soon what to do. Is a secret roadmap really that smart in this case, I ask humbly?

All of the above is, obviously, IMHO only. Again, not the brightest bulb in the socket but...

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Matter will be implemented for the C8 later this year. The built in dual zigbee radio can do matter and thread.. It will later come to the c7 but that will be matter only.

Is there an official statement from Hubitat by any chance? I have searched high and low for something that confirms what you just mentioned about the C-8 (hey, it should be tehcnically possible) but have yet to see a company issued statmement that clearly says "Thread in 2023". Again, I'm not the brightest bulb in the socket so please forgive me if I have missed the obvious. Whatever I'm looking for tend to be somewhere right under my nose but this time... nothing.

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They have not made any firm, publicly stated commitments re: timing of possible Thread implementation, AFAIK.

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I actually don't doubt it'll happen. It has to. I just know that every last technology company suffers from resource constraints (understatement of the year?) but even so, a very tentative roadmap is better than no roadmap IMHO. Hubitat's guess is better than my guess, that much I know :slight_smile:

Hubitat usually does not publicly discuss feature roadmaps. But I don’t doubt they’re thinking about how to integrate Thread and, potentially, Matter, in the future.

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Perhaps so. However, my past experience with Hubitat indicates they do not release timelines prematurely. What we do know is that the original C-8 announcement from @bravenel indicated that Matter/Thread compatibility are anticipated later this year.

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You're right, "expected later this year" is actually what I was looking for. And it makes me happy. I can put up with silly workarounds for another few months if I know the best of both worlds is around the corner. The best of both worlds = Hubitat and Thread. Matter is a good thing but honestly Matters a little less to me right now (and yes, I'm over the bad Matter dad jokes too :upside_down_face:)

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Many users would look forward to such an update, just keep in mind that wasn’t necessarily a commitment in terms of timeline or even ongoing prioritization of thread or Matter compatibility.

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In this implementation, isn't Matter just an add-on to the networking stack? If so, shouldn't it be available to C-5 devices too? (same CPU and everything, no reason why it shouldn't be possible)

For what it's worth, we aren't seeing a compelling reason to support Thread, and it's not in our current year plan. Two reasons for this: (1) there only needs to be a single Thread edge router in a home, and virtually everyone already has one, and (2) it remains unlikely that our Zigbee radio could support both Zigbee and Thread simultaneously, despite noise that suggests that might be a possibility. We will continue to evaluate this.

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Yes

Hypothetically, let's say I have thread device allready installed with a edge router. How would I control it locally with Hubitat if there is no thread radio nor matter support?

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I have a couple Apple homepod minis that will serve as my Thread boder routers.

Here's a list of compatible Thread devices from the threadgroup.org site
https://www.threadgroup.org/What-is-Thread/Thread-Benefits#certifiedproducts

I assumed that once the hub supports Matter (and that's on the confirmed to-do list) it will be able to talk directly to the Homepod mini Thread border routers like the Homepod mini (and they'd do that over Wi-Fi/Ethernet, right?), thus giving HE access to the Thread devices. But I've been wrong before... :wink:

The hub can support Matter in the future with a software solution.

Direct thread support would require a hardware-based solution.

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You will be unable to control it until there is Matter support in the hub’s platform.

I think it would talk directly to your matter connected thread device. Basically, someone one would:

  1. Connect their thread device via Matter to another controller (Apple Home, Google Home, etc…).

  2. Generate a new matter pairing code in that app.

  3. Use the new matter pairing code in Hubitat to give the C8/7 control in addition to the previous matter controller.

This way Hubitat can control the thread device through its automation, but leave the boarder router stuff to someone else.

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My cloud stuff are on a separate vlan. My would be thread router (nest hub) sit on a different one from my Hubitat. In this case, does that mean my future Matter HE will not be able to control the thread devices?