I thought I would share my current smart home setup and break down how all the layers work together and what my experience has been like.
Here’s my stack:
Network Layer:
eero PoE Gateway with a couple of eero PoE wireless access points throughout the house
Thread Border Routers:
3 x Apple TV 4K devices
eero PoE access points (also function as Thread border routers)
Matter Devices:
Aqara U400 (with UWB) on my front door
Aqara U100 on my back/basement door
Aqara M3 hub (PoE-powered)
Aqara Thermostat Hub W200 (to be added once available)
Additional PoE Devices:
Ring doorbell at the front door
How the Stack Works Together:
The eero access points and Apple TVs all act as Thread border routers, creating a mesh network with multiple connection points. My U400 and U100 locks connect via Thread and communicate through Matter allowing Apple Home to control them directly.
Performance Note:
Coming from a previous WiFi-based smart home setup, the difference in responsiveness with Matter over Thread has been night and day. Commands execute almost instantly - no more waiting for devices to wake up or respond. The Thread mesh is just so much faster and more reliable than my old WiFi devices ever were.
About the M3 Hub:
The M3 isn’t strictly necessary for the locks since I already have plenty of Thread border routers. However, it adds:
Another Thread border router for even more mesh density
Zigbee bridge for any future Aqara Zigbee devices
IR control capability for traditional devices
Potential Aqara-specific features or faster firmware updates
The PoE Advantage:
The eero PoE Gateway powers my M3 hub, Ring doorbell, and all the eero access points - clean installation with no power adapters cluttering things up.
Would love to hear what others are doing and how many of you have made the move to Matter and what your journey has been like.
Thanks for your insight in your Smarthome system at home! Mine is built up similar… Just one point could be improved! Replace the Ring doorbell with an Aqara G410 or G400
You sure won’t regret
Thanks. I did look in to the Aqara doorbell cameras. The G410 seems to be the better of the two but does not support Ethernet/PoE. The G400 does but does not appear to be available in North America.
I have switched off Thread on the Eero though as I’d read that it creates its own Thread network. I know they have Thread 1.4, but Apple is still painfully using Thread 1.3 (Even though they beta tested 1.4 in 26.0)
Have you not had any issues with Eero and Apple using different networks?
Apple Home and Eero can end up running separate Thread networks because they don’t share Thread credentials. If everything is commissioned through Apple Home, the Eero Thread mesh may effectively be unused. Reliability issues tend to show up when using Matter multi-admin across ecosystems that each maintain their own Thread network. So OP can likely disable thread on eero with no impact.
So do I read correctly that your M3 joined the Eero thread mesh? Your M3 is not the TBR?
I didn’t even know our Eero router and extenders had Thread until I was troubleshooting our weak Thread mesh that is all commissioned on the M3 as TBR.
I disabled the separate Thread mesh on the Eero app, as a web search suggested that a separate Thread mesh might be the cause of my problems, which are likely due to the brick construction of our house and having entirely Thread lightbulbs and sleepy battery switches in the mesh.
I have no intention of using the Eero or Amazon devices to commission devices, or integrate Alexa, however we need a stronger Thread mesh…
I have 4 Grillplats Thread smart plugs due to be delivered this weekend.
The M3 can join an existing Thread network and still operate as a Thread Border Router. The issues typically arise when different smart-home ecosystems create separate Thread networks rather than sharing a single mesh. Matter multi-admin itself isn’t the problem. A device can be added to both Apple Home and Alexa via Matter. The challenge is that a Thread end device can only participate in one Thread mesh at a time. If Apple, Alexa, SmartThings, or Aqara are each running separate Thread networks, connectivity and reliability issues can occur, particularly with battery-powered Thread devices. Newer Thread 1.4 implementations are designed to address this by allowing border routers to join and share a common Thread network.
I think enabling the Eero’s won’t benefit you because they won’t join in another thread network but instead create their own.
What is your primary ecosystem? You might be better off getting some powered routers like smart plugs to strengthen your system.
You can’t do multi-admin across multiple Thread networks. by definition, for a device to be administered by multiple controllers, those controllers must be on the same network.
Correct that a Thread device can only join one Thread mesh at a time (I even said that), but it can be commissioned into multiple Matter fabrics (multi-admin). Matter multi-admin does not require controllers to share a Thread network; it only requires IP connectivity to the device via a Thread Border Router.
But the core of the question I was answering was “will enabling thread on my Eero’s strengthen my thread network” (paraphrased) - and the answer still at this time is “no”.
Makes perfect sense now. I’ll leave the Eero Thread disabled.
The Aqara M3 is my TBR and does all the automations - I have Aqara ZigBee devices too. I launch Home Assistant in a virtual machine only when I need to update 3rd party firmware.
I have four Matter over Thread smart plugs being delivered on Saturday. These should fill the gaps in the mesh.
All the Thread bulbs are in adjoining rooms and multiple bulbs per room, always powered on. One bulb (the room above the M3) has weak connections confirmed by Home Assistant Matter Server Web UI. Unscrewing that one bulb caused a number of bulbs to drop out of the mesh.
If you believe you have more than one thread network running among different manufacturer border routers, consider purging the thread credentials, their tokens and start fresh. For instance, some apps that are creating the Matter string for binding also have a feature to purge the thread network and create a new one. Don’t just jump up and create the net thread network though. Pick which one you want to be your primary “thread token creating device” first. Then if you have the heart, purge the tokens on the other devices such as your Aqara app has the thread purge and create thread network. Just purge though, then shut it down. Unplug its power. leaving it off will finish the residue flush. Even the homepod or apple tv’s too. Give it a while 30+ minutes or so. When ready, fire up that device you decided you want to be your primary. AND if you have HA, go into the thread integration. There you can see what thread border routers are online. If the purging worked and things are turned off, - still, you should see only the one your selected for your primary. This is a good time to select it as your Preferred Network too. Let it run a little while, then start up one of your secondaries. As it comes up, absence its own network credentials since you purged them, it should join the new one. And the HA Thread integration screen will show it. I don’t know how yet to tell if it’s joined or just showing up, but once its up and running and either joined the primary or created its own again, you can at least see it there. And there’s some Matter utilities that are not manufacturer unique that might be useful in the purge or creation for that primary device you picked.
That’s very good advice. But let’s not confuse border router with border router routing tables. Shutting down a border router doesn’t remove it, it just puts it offline. The 30 minutes or will cause routing tables to “disappear” because the router that was passing the data is offline.
I’ve been running a M3 for a while, and finally bought the U200, U300, U400 locks and G350 cam. Had the U200 and U300 installed and during installation of the U400, it used the theard network the G350 created. I moved the G350 into the same network/group the M3 was in. When I did that, the U400 lost is path to the M3 Domain controller. Just for giggles, I spend 5 hours trying to learn how to “reconnect” the U400 to the M3 using the M3’s thread network. Never did. Gave up and recommissioned the U400.
I deleted the G350’s thread network. But some how it had become the preferred thread network that Apple wanted to use, and the preferred thread network that Home Assistant wanted to use. I tried purging the G350’s thread. I got it out of keychain, but every time I deleted its credentials from HA, it returned when I tried to deine the M3’s thread as the preferred. Finally I conceded defeat and use Aqara to “resurrect” it, and moved the M3 to the resurrected thread, then the 3 TBRs (M100s and G350). Amazingly, they only needed a reboot to find new paths. But bringing the G350’s thread back finally allowed me to use it and pin a preferred network in HA. Whew, what a mess.
I know I am going to leave the Homepod Mini and Alexa Gen4’s turned off until they are up ready for firmware to Thread 1.6 and will use HA’s shared credentials. What a mess.
Incidentally, I wanted to position some TBRs on the perimeter of my home, just in case. One lock is on a gate a considerable distance from the M3. And I stumbled across a video on YT by a creator with channel - caddac. he described an inexpensive effective way to stand up a TBR, using the Aqara M100. His video is about a year old. I bought two. Easy to stand up, a pair on sale are less than $50.I All they need is 5v adapter. I placed on in the garage and the other in the attic. And because they are Aqara, you can “move” them to the existing thread networks you want them. Worth a look.
Every time I touch this stuff, I learn a lot more. A week ago, I moved my M3 from thread 1 to thread 2. Why? 'Cause Home Assistant simply would not see thread 1. And I moved two M100’s to thread 2. Once this was done, I could finish the thread parts of Home Assistant. I made Thread 2 the Preferred network, plugged in a ZBT-2 and configured it as a TBR. With the M3, (2) M100’s and the ZBT-2 now, 4 TBRs that’s to ecosystems using same thread. HA also has OpenCode Big Pickle installed and I asked it to look at my system. It saw residue of when I had my Homepod Mini running and told me highly likely the Mini will use thread 2 also. That will be 3 ecosystems on a single thread. (yay).
So, am I gloating or what? I saw though, when I moved that last M100 to thread 2. it removed the path my U200, U300 and U400 were using to get to M3. A week ago when I moved the M3 from thread 1 to threead 2, and they didn’t go offline, I thought they followed the M3 to thread 2. Nope. Learned that today.
I was expecting to have to recommission 3 locks tomorrow. But let’s poke around. Paid off. its tricky and seems random, but there’s some screens for connecting again to your M3. (a) Connect to BT, (b) open the error where it says Matter Controller missing, to the right of the error, press again, it opens to a screen to reconnect to the hub. next screen has a banner in RED at the bottom - something about “Join to the Aqara hub”, BUT DON’T, instead, half way down that page in very small letters is “Reset Binding” Press that, Answer Confirm to Reset. After it resets, it offers you the M3 connection again, then it moves to an Aqara Home connection screen. Continue. This will reconnect you to the M3 AND it will reconnect via Matter for you. If the only thread network that’s there, is available, that’s the way its going to connect. When it finishes its going to let you rename the device, that’s you clue it worked, It was a fresh Binding and saved you the trouble of recommissioning. I hope this saves some one some effort.
