I have 3 older 1st Gen 4K Apple TVs spread widely throughout my house. None have thread. I have just installed a SMLIght POE Thead co-ordinator and have OpenThread Router as the preferred network. I have one thread device working near that Co-ordinator. My Question is the following. To spread my Openthread border network throughout my house, will upgrading my AppleTv’s do this? If that is the case, what is the setup process? I want openthread border to remain my preferred network and Home Assistant to remain the primary control point (not Apple) Is this possible if I role out new AppleTV’s? thanks
You don’t need more Thread Border Routers to extend your network; most plug-in Thread devices act as signal repeaters so the more devices you add, the larger your mesh coverage spreads. A $5 esp32-h2 can plug into any usb port and act as a Thread repeater with the right firmware.
If you do decide to upgrade your Apple TVs you’ll be faced with a transition. Apple Thread (currently) doesn’t let you configure the network name and credentials, so to merge networks you’d be forced to migrate all your existing devices, including your OTBR, to the Apple mesh. It doesn’t take long, and HA can still be your primary controller for automation, but you relinquish a bit of config over the network layer. It’s possible an upgrade to Thread 1.4, maybe sometime next year, will fix this limitation.
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Thank you for the excellent explanation
Clearly not worth upgrading until Thead 1.4 will ?possibly fix the limitation
So much for Thread being the “open source” non proprietary network it was supposed to be…
What about the Google TV Streamer (4K)? Would that support OpenThread ?
Both Apple and Google are compatible with OpenThread border routers; they all meet the open spec. The caveat is that they try to make things user-friendly — and more secure — by limiting access to the credentials. Because Thread 1.3 has no standardized method of sharing credentials, combining any two vendors’ networks requires at least one of them to provide an interface for credential-setting.
That said, you don’t have to combine networks. These are just IP routers at the end of the day, so you can have two border routers on two separate meshes as long as they each have a network path to Home Assistant. The caveat with multiple meshes is that, when you add a new device, you just have to choose which mesh it will use, presumably based on the better signal strength at its desired location, and commission it using the app that knows the credentials for that mesh.
Sure. Yes nobody explains what is going on with Thread so thanks for the explanation
It sure isn’t simple plug and play as all the marketing says…
Guess you can;t trust big corp after all hey?
Way way more complicated than setting up a simple Zigbee network
Frankly I find it a dog’s breakfast
I think I will delay rolling it out in my home assistant smart home until at least 1.4 is released and I have a chance of one mesh set up I can keep a track of.
Appreciate the explanation