Thread vs Wi-Fi: Differences, Benefits and Key Considerations
As a part of the Matter standard, you’ll often see two different networking technologies mentioned: Thread and Wi-Fi. Both are used for communication between smart home devices, but they serve different purposes and offer different benefits. While Wi-Fi is a common term most users likely understand to a certain degree, Thread might be a whole new concept.
Thread is typically used for lower-powered devices like sensors, locks, light switches and more, while Wi-Fi is suited for high-bandwidth devices like streaming devices and computers. When it comes to smart lighting in the home, either can be used and each offers unique benefits and things to consider.
Understanding the Basics of Matter
Matter is a universal standard created by the Connectivity Standards Alliance (CSA) to enhance device communication and interoperability. It streamlines the way smart home devices from different manufacturers interact, making integration easier. Matter-enabled devices can be seamlessly added to a preferred smart home platform, ensuring they function together as a unified system. Companies developing Matter-enabled devices can choose between using Wi-Fi or Thread for how the smart devices communicate to each other and to the smart home hub.
• Thread devices communicate with each other and extend network range by forming a self-healing mesh.
• Requires a thread border router to allow devices to communicate with the broader network (can be found within some smart home hubs)
• W-Fi devices communicate directly with an already established Wi-Fi network created by a home’s router.
• More suitable for higher-bandwidth applications, like smart cameras, doorbells or televisions.
Power Consumption
- Thread is ideal for low-power, battery-operated devices since it uses very little energy.
- Wi-Fi requires more power, making it less suitable for battery-powered sensors or locks where space is limited.
Thread Border Router
- A Thread Border Router is needed to connect Thread devices to the rest of your network. These can be built-in to existing smart home hubs that support Matter which already are required for setup.
- Wi-Fi devices don’t need a separate router since they connect directly to your home’s Wi-Fi. Although they will require a Matter-compatible smart home hub when onboarding with Matter.
Both Thread and Wi-Fi work together in Matter, and many smart home ecosystems (like Apple Home, Google Home and Amazon Alexa) support both, making it easy to mix and match devices.
Compare Legrand’s Smart Lighting Solutions
For those planning or researching for the best smart lighting solutions to fit their needs, it can be overwhelming to determine the ideal option. Legrand offers a range of products for homeowners adding smart devices in one room or the entire house.
Introduced in 2018, Legrand’s first generation radiant with Wi-Fi offered homeowners a simple solution to install switches, dimmers and outlets without the need of a control hub. This provided homeowners with the ability to connect devices directly to their existing Wi-Fi connection making for an easy setup in one or a few rooms in the home.
Building on the momentum, Legrand offered a more robust whole-home solution known as Smart Lighting with Netatmo, utilizing Zigbee, another low-powered networking protocol similar to Thread. It utilizes a mesh network that gets stronger with each additional device, requiring a smart home hub to communicate in-between the individual devices and an existing Wi-Fi network.
As the newest solution, Legrand’s Matter-enabled devices are designed to utilize Wi-Fi to allow for simple onboarding for the end user and provide better initial network connectivity out of the box. These devices make entry into smart home lighting cost effective and uncomplicated. All that’s required is a Matter-compatible smart home hub from one of the major manufacturers and an existing Wi-Fi network.
