The only other thing I found since above post asking about “Connect ZBT-1” was that 5-days ago it was added and listed seperatly from SkyConnect in the README for the Silicon Labs Multiprotocol Add-on:
NOTE: This add-on has the option to automatically install the right firmware for Home Assistant Yellow, SkyConnect, and Connect ZBT-1.
My guess based on those PR commits the “Connect ZBT-1” might be a variant shipping pre-flash with OpenThread RCP firmware by default instead of EmberZNet NCP firmware like for the “SkyConnect”?
Selling two dongles with with same hardware but different firmware would direct new users to buy separate dedicated radio adapter dongles from the start, which should give them a better experience.
At least that would make sense to me if they now want to try to steer existing/new users away from using Multi-PAN/Multi-Protocol on a single radio adapter dongle and instead guide people to using a separate dedicated radio adapter dongles for Zigbee and Thread. Which is now more clearly recommended:
There is a third, experimental, firmware option that supports multiprotocol, which allows the Silicon Labs chip in these products to connect to both Zigbee and Thread networks with one radio. We announced our intent to release a firmware supporting multiprotocol when we launched Home Assistant Yellow and Home Assistant SkyConnect, and this firmware has been available since December 2022. It integrates the Silicon Labs SDK, which adds this support for multiprotocol. During the further development and testing of the multiprotocol firmware, we have concluded that while Silicon Labs’ multiprotocol works, it comes with technical limitations. These limitations mean users will not have the best experience compared to using dedicated Zigbee and Thread radios. That is why we do not recommend using this firmware, and it will remain an experimental feature of Home Assistant Yellow and Home Assistant SkyConnect. If you currently have the multiprotocol firmware installed but don’t actively use it to connect to Thread devices, we recommend that you disable multiprotocol. Nothing changes for current users of the multiprotocol firmware who are happy with their experience. The experimental multiprotocol firmware will remain available, but we will not recommend it to new users. Instead, we will focus on making sure the dedicated Zigbee and Thread firmwares deliver the best experience to users.
By the way, they also mentioned during the Home Assistant 2024.2 Release Party that the RCP Multi-PAN effort will be put on the backburner for now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-YwXkgD3CY
The point made was there is there that are downsides with RCP Multi-PAN, (especiually once start adding more than a few devices), so it will until further notice Multi-Protocol support on a single radio adapter SoC chip always remain experimental. Now is instead always highly recommended to have one separate dedicated Zigbee Coordinator radio adapter and one (or more) separate dedicated Thread Border Routers (which can include a Thread Border Router radio adapter dongle).
Apart from limitingthe network size (total amount of devices) main disadvantages of Multi-PAN are:
- Matter over Thread support using a OpenThread USB dongle like the SkyConnect is still very experimental (but this applies equally to using standalone OpenThread Firmware).
- IT is still generally recommended to use external Thread Border Routers via Apple or Google.
- RCP Multi-PAN requires constant updating of firmware as each major 4.x release breaks ABI
- This in turns means that you will likley be forced to always use the latest cutting-edge firmware which may introduce new bugs that there is not yet any workaronds for.
- There have been recent stability issues with Silabs Gecko SDK 4.4 and to some extent 4.3
- Prior to Silicon Labs Gecko SDK 4.4.0 which introduce fast channel switching the Zigbee and Thread networks must share same channel or it would break things, (while after Silicon Labs Gecko SDK 4.4.0 the fast channel switching feature should in theory only cause a slight reduction in range if Zigbee and Thread channels are not the same).
@agners Can you share anything about Connect ZBT-1 or have any thoughts and input on wheather or not Nabu Casa will make and sell seperate dedicated radio adapter dongles for Zigbee and Thread?