If you are getting an enterprise grade system installed it should be no problem for the networking guy to have your nbn router hooked into your new system as a 4G failover in case the NBN goes out.
Agree, but if I have something which can do the job already, then Iād rather use it than spend more money. If it turns out it isnāt up to it, then Iāll make the change. Fortunately the internet connection side of the router is fine. Itās my home network where the trouble lies, so Iām starting with that side of things. Data cables for essential stuff first. Wifi next.
But it is good to have a professional available to help me sort it. Iād been on the lookout for someone for a long time without much luck as like many professional trades here they are rare as rocking horse shit. Hence fumbling my way through trying to learn this stuff.
I received some more Zigbee globes yesterday so will be gradually fitting those. Still waiting on some smart switches (to mostly act as network repeaters).
One order sent me four globes instead of the one I ordered. It was for the only E27 light fitting we have, so the other three globes are of little use to me. I let them know and gave them the option to return them if they pay the shipping.
Iām liking how easy it is to pair up the new Zigbee globe in HA (using ZHA). This one is a Smart Globe S9E27RGBW.
You can still use your 4G failover and your ISP modem. Here is a sketch of a best practice home network layout. I use this at home and at work. It does not show the 4G dongle on the ISP modem but I have same setup at work with a 4G Backup dongle on the ISP modem.
So this is what it looks like. Pi4b with PoE hat in the black case on the left is my HASS server.
I use a Netgear Blackhawk modem at home and one more WAP and our network is bulletproof and I have lost count of devices. I have mounted it up high directly above my server cupboard for good wifi coverage. We have FTTP so have skipped the ISP modem but back in the cable modem days, it followed the diagram
Be sure to use WAPās not routers to extend your network. I found a cheap router instead of a WAP was not reliable, Yout can try it if you disable NAT and DHCP on the seconday routers. This lets the main Router control the IP address allocation.
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Thanks for the suggestions. I think thatās pretty much where Iām headed. Some variations on a theme, one of which is aesthetic considerations.
Work from home this past year and my learning experiences with Home Assistant home automation journey, especially all the energy stuff, has meant a need to learn way more about networking than I ever expected to.
Iāll have similar factors to consider re what I run the HA system on.
In other news, I installed the other Zigbee (Mercator) globes in my outside lights today and after a little bit of time they are all working, including the one placed in the worst position for signal. At least today it is working, will see how it goes, but it is encouraging and Iāll look to build that device network some more.
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Nice. I didnāt know you could set up your telstra/optus/etc router as a bridge between the NBN modem to your own router of choice. I have mine hooked up to another port on my edgerouter and have failover rules to switch to the ISP 4G router if the NBN goes out. No double NAT and all those issues.
If itās of any help, I used to run mine on a pi4 like rod. Recently I switched to a dell thin client with HA installed in a VM on proxmox. These are easily available on ebay/gumtree and run HA very well, especially now when getting your hands on a pi is pretty hard.
Funny, we were told that you were a retired whinger 
The internet is full on mis-truths 
In other newsā¦
Iām a long time Shelly user who has started to have issues with a couple of Shelly 1ās going offline for short periods of time.
Strangely, both started playing up around the same time.
Until yesterday they were integrated via MQTT but I have changed them to the Shelly integration to rule out any MQTT shenanigans.
Unfortunately this has not fixed anything.
Is anyone else having / had issues with Shellyās going offline / becoming unavailable ?
Iāve only been playing in this space for a few months but I have found the shelly devices to be 100% reliable (couple of 1 PMās, 2 x motion 2, shelly uni and shelly button). I had some issues getting a 1 pm today but got there in the end. I think it was getting to the network but it not showing in the app. I always go back to the router and set up a DHCP reservation.
Up until very recently my experience had been the same with over a dozen Shellyās of varying flarours.
I also reserve addresses at the router but undid all of that while fault finding.
About the only thing I havenāt tried is switching it out for a spare.
Do you use ColoT integration method for your shelly ?
Well that comment was specifically about the demands of my wifeās WFH. Iāve run a business from home for more than 15 years.
Currently on a Pi4 but with an SD card. I think Iāll one day make the change to using an SSD. I have a nice Samsung SSD I can repurpose from a dead PC sitting in the mancave.
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Watty old boy,
I encourage you to make the change to dedicated pc with ssd for HA. I set mine up around 3 years ago with a $150 intel NUC and a 128Gb ssd I also had lying around. Seamless since.
pat
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+1 to this. Moving from a Pi3b to a ~$150 Lenovo m93p USFF was an absolute gamechanger.
Could very well run it inside Unraid/Docker on my main server, but itās pretty solid running HassOS on itās own silicon.
Pretty regularly similar USFF refurbs pop up, Dell Optiplex / HP G800 etc.
Could be viewed as a bit of a waste of CPU, but reality is for a decent Pi4+SSD+Case+PSU etc, youāre looking at about the same cost, and thatās if you can even get one.
Make sure you get the right USB to SATA interface cable. I can confirm that that the startech USB3 one is compatible. There is also one from sabrent which will NOT work (oddly it will work with my pi3) so avoid this.
Have recently installed a pi3b HA set up at a relativeās place. I will probably rip that out soon as it is so underpowered. I attempted to set up ESP home with BLE sensors but the thing choked trying to compile the binary.
I have one of those m93pās also (pretty nice) serving basic duties in the spare room. However my recommendation is a thin client as it is completely fanless (HA only takes up 10% CPU in my proxmox setup) which I think is a must have for something that runs 24/7.
I do, works well so long as you donāt fat finger the IP address like I did last week 
Only recently switched to coloT from using MQTT while fault finding.
In future I probably wouldnāt bother with MQTT on the Shellyās
A word of warning! I plugged in my ageing Dell 4k monitor to an Athom smart plug this weekend (so I could power it off via automation when away from my desk), and this morning the monitor no longer powers on!
Of course itās not guaranteed that the Athom smart plug misbehaved, but itās something of a smoking gun. These things arenāt Aus-certified.
I couldnāt imagine much could go wrong with the athom that would cause an appliance to fail.
You can hear a mechanical relay switching, so not too much to go wrong there.
I bought three of these myself recently mainly for power monitoring.
One each on a TV, fridge and battery charger for my garden tools.
Iāll report back if I have any issues.
Neither is most of the plug in stuff we buy off eBay / amazon