I'm torn on an external-thing modular approach -- be that sticks and/or antennas. The flexibility could be pretty cool, but the resulting myriad of variations would certainly complicate support a lot!
Even just consider the antennas -- would they just add an external connection point(s) and then either include or sell/recommend a couple/few good different-sized antenna options, or would they bolt on the external antenna(s)? Some folks like/need a mongo antenna, some don't need a huge one, and some don't want/need one at all (either due to aesthetics or smaller dwelling).
It will be interesting to see if the SonOff ZBDongle-E with the EFR32MG21 can be upgraded for Zigbee and Thread combined.
I like the fact they are easy to swap out, but on the flip side, it's ugly having extension cables coming out of otherwise (relatively) clean looking hubs and cases.
That (no longer linked) video and article is referring to the Dongle based on the Ti CC2652P chip.
Not sure if the CC2652P chips can do thread.
I have a USB dongle from Starlight.me that uses that chip that I have used with HA for both ZHA and zigbee2mqtt.
So I have to post back... There are different types of the Sonoff Zigbee usb sticks... it turns out I do have the ZBDongle-P variant with the TI chip NOT the "E" type with the SiLabs chip.. BOTH look like they will support thread BUT the E variant is the one that is most similar to the HA dongle.
I am sure that we will see Hubitat as a "follower" rather than a "leader" in the Matter race. It only makes sense for a relatively small company to act VERY carefully before it commits to a certain architecture. (The last thing we should want is for Hubitat to make a mistake....)
So, we just have to be very patient and see what shakes out in the marketplace. It's only after we see clear trends that commitments will be made.
Itās only a Matter of time
Before Hubitat climbs
Up the ladder to its prime.
Hubitatās time to shine
Will come with the C9.
Thatās when Hubitat will bring Matter
Not now, not later
So hold your horses
Be patient
Donāt fight the automation forces
this is True, but the older HE's used a USB stick, not saying that I can or can't be done, but they might end up making this an option for the C5's and C7's out there. Other options is an IP Bridge that the HE's can talk to that will do commands that the current HE's cant do (and then make C8 that has it built in)
There are so many ways HE can do this without us having to buy a whole new unit, but just an upgrade.
I am trying to see the optimistic side of this, I know since the Big players are jumping in , that Thread could just be a new way to farm our data, but there might be a ray of light that it can, but if the vendor has not interest in or coming out to protect our privacy, it might happen.
its late, some of this was just word salad that came out of my head. But ya never know, this could work out, I just hope that HE does not scoff at this, if it works out, and they are not on bord, it might just die.
Well thankfully they've demonstrated that's not the case with them paying money to join CSA at the adopter level. That gives them access to the resourses they'll need to respond accordingly.
Considering Hubitat were early adopters of 700 series zwave, thereās no reason they couldnāt be early adopters of matter.
Imo Hubitat being a first mover in the matter Space could only be good for their growth prospects. Especially as more ppl adopt smart Home products.
Iāve been into home automation since the X10 days and Iāve never seen a āstandardā with more broad adoption potential than matter (despite my earlier scepticism).
Iām not going to throw away my zwave gear, but Iāll certainly consider replacing Zigbee gear with matter modules as it makes sense.
See this is where the marketing is already going off the rails. You might start building a Thread device mesh with future devices, but I doubt there would be a need to replace working zigbee devices for the sake of it. It will be some time before the range of Thread sensors and switches is comparable me thinks. Matter is still going to confuse the average Joe user. I feel it should have been kept mostly in the background and not marketed the way it has been.
A "retrofit" Thread/Zigbee stick on existing hubs is a very cool idea... and makes some sense given the idea that a hub should last for very long time - like a washing machine or dishwasher. Seems like a good way to monetize existing and stable setups in addition to the subscriptions.
Not sure if the increased support costs would be worth it though. Also any next gen hub will likely have other internal updates that preclude this from really being effective and as a company you've added to your dev process even more having to now contend with a next gen model, old models with retrofit, old models etc.
Doable maybe but worth it from a business standpoint?
I don't see why it can't simply communicate with any thread devices via the ip network. I am sure we'll all have border routers already, or can get them really cheaply. Then Hubitat just has to have a firmware update to speak Matterish to them.
We're only one silicon labs firmware update away from the 700 series working properly, so not so bad. I hear we'll never have to worry about ghost nodes or the SDK refusing to remove bad devices again!
(In seriousness, I'm much more optimistic about openthread / matter given the the physical layer is very well established 802.15.4 -- the IEEE that set this up is a pretty thorough organization and its time tested, as well as the open-source development of openthread is really just a a routing / management layer on top of this, and given all the companies that have been able to look it over, as well as the fact that Matter on top of that is just a refinement of well-established zigbee cluster libraries).
So the hub firmware would support the matter stack but not be a border router - that seems cool as long as there are enough hub resources for it.
The issue is you are at the mercy of the 3rd party border router providers to determine what kind of access you get to the devices on the Thread network - you only get a baseline of functionality depending upon the spec.. unless I'm mistaken and I could be!
Hubitat would ultimately want to be a border-router I would think...
I believe thatās primarily because at the beginning they were repurposing hardware originally built for other functions. Since then, theyāve clearly worked out a manufacturing process for their own hardware needs.
Not suggesting they would never consider using add-on USB modules ever again. They since have done it to add WiFi connectivity to the current gen hub. So anythingās possible.
But Matter connectivity and Thread connectivity are two different things, as @Inge_Jones pointed out.
A big question for me is what devices and capabilities get exposed by the border-routers.. We are already seeing some variations with Apple and possibly Philips/Hue.
If you look at Hubitat's processor and memory utilization (at least on my system with about 100 or so devices), you have an incredible amount of spare processing power and memory, so it seems, in an "ideal" world, you could envision them including both border router functionality as well as a Zigbee / Z-wave to matter bridge functionality (as a replacement for the current Google Home, Alexa, Homebridge plugin routes for working with the "outside world"). And, based on Silicon Labs press releases, Silicon Labs will be providing the software as part of their SDK, so maybe less work thany trying to keep the individual plugins for Google Home, Alexa, homebridge, up to date. Tremendous possibilities.
