When I first started building out my smart home, the simplest automation ended up being the one that made the biggest difference: an automation that turned on specific lights at sunset each night. It wasn’t flashy, but it instantly made the house feel smarter and more convenient.
The biggest mistake I made early on was assuming Wi‑Fi devices were the easiest path. Most smart home devices use the 2.4 GHz band, often under the same SSID as your 5 and 6 GHz bands, and I overloaded my network until everything slowed down, devices dropped, and routines became unreliable. Beginners can avoid that by starting with Matter over Thread or Zigbee for rock‑solid stability.
If you’re choosing your first device category, I always recommend starting with smart plugs or switches — they keep the home intuitive, work perfectly with Matter automations, and avoid the “someone flipped the lamp off” problem that smart bulbs create.
The biggest, yet easiest change that improved my setup the most was adding more than one hub; multiple Apple TVs plus, an Aqara G5 Pro camera hub, and an Aqara M3 created a single robust Thread network where everything runs locally, automations fire quickly, and my Wi‑Fi finally stopped struggling.
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Hi there.it is an good suggestion but I do not agree about WiFi smart devices.to have an stable WiFi you need an great internet connection and an good router not what your ISP install.i have more then 40 devices connected and many are smart devices using the 2.4Ghz band and my internet and devices runs perfectly without lag or slow response.
Your mileage may vary, of course. My home requires mesh networking for coverage, so I have a name brand wifi 7 mesh network and 3 gig fiber. I don’t want a separate 2.4 band SSID, but rather prefer a unified SSID for all three bands. That can play havoc, especially with outdoor devices that might be on the fringe.
For me, having one 100 devices on wifi wasn’t a reliable, workable solution. Now with Matter over Thread, I have a rock solid mesh network for my smart home devices.
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Well I have an small apartment and I am using one deco X50 and I use smart WiFi so I didn’t dedicate an 2.4Ghz separately but I did add on each device the bad to connect on deco app.you having an big place an mesh WiFi network in that case you could add on each device to what router stay connected because what I notice when I try an mesh networks is that if you let devices to chose the node they want , my be will get the one that is far and then the connectivity will be slow.but ether way clearly using WiFi on an big house is complex and stressful that is why for your matter/thread devices is the good option
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I would say you’re both correct, because for me it took both. I built up my Thread network with hubs and plugs, but it wasn’t until I expanded my WiFi that I got real stability. My mesh network sounds like complete overkill until you consider my home is a 1940s brick bungalow with plaster walls throughout. I was also a little late to the game and wound up backing into ZigBee.
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I have made the mistake of getting a lot of items that run on my WiFi. Luckily it’s not that bad yet, but sometimes it is. Any recommendations on how to revert and improve? I mostly use lamps, curtain drivers and sensors.
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Well depends what internet speed you have and what router ?and what distance have those devices that sometimes are slow or doesn’t work from the router?
My personal preference is to slowly replace your wifi only items to Matter over Thread or Zigbee. Those devices create their own non-wifi mesh network to keep the devices connected. You’ll want a good hub, like the Aqara M3, or Apple TV 4K.
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