Finally…
I just bought a Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) and connecting my Matter device to HA using the included border router was a breeze!
I decided to do that for 2 reasons:
After chating in the HA channel in discord, connecting a Matter device is still experimental. It’s possible with some customization and a deep knowledge that I don’t have. The team in charge is working hard to have a stable version easy to use but the standard is very recent so it can take some weeks or months.
There was a discount on the Nest hub in a local store. Like you, I spent days trying to setup things correctly and spending a quite small amount of money was acceptable.
In the end, my issues were down to IPv6 not being correctly configured across my wifi network with multiple access points. If Google Home had given me any indication that “checking network connectivity” failing meant IPv6 isn’t working, it sure would have saved me a lot of time.
Giving up on commissioning them directly with HA and using a Google Nest Hub (2nd gen) to commission first was what clued me in to the IPv6 issue in the end, since taking HA out of the equation completely didn’t help. I now have the devices working fairly reliably, commissioning first with Google Home and then linking with HA via PIN - launching the app directly frequently fails, and even PIN linking reports that the process didn’t succeed when it actually does
Interestingly enough the devices all frequently still become unavailable in Google Home without any discernible pattern, but only very occasionally do any of the devices now go unavailable in HA.
For anyone like me who is new to matter, once your device is paired to a matter router, you need to simply have the app you paired it with (Google Home) to share it with another app like Home Assistant and not to restart the whole process like I was doing
I found an option in Google Home to “Link with another app” but when I try to link with home assistant, I get to “Adding device, this may take a minute or two” and then “Unable to add the device to home assistant, would you like to try again?” on repeat.
Bummer.
But that’s why I just bought one matter device! FYI I’m comparing Aqara P2 Matter door sensor to the new Philips Hue contact sensor.
So far Philips is winning… (but I had high hopes for Matter!)
I’ve been trying to connect a Nanoleaf Essentials bulb via Sky Connect today, getting the same issue. I guess I’m just going to have to wait for the team to solve it.
Getting stuck at “Checking network connectivity…” means your phone is having trouble communicating with the Thread Border Router via the Matter protocol (IPv6 w/ Router Advertisements and mDNS).
During normal operation, your phone only needs to talk to HA, and HA talks to the Thread Border Router. However, when adding the device, your phone needs to talk to the Thread Border Router directly; If you are using Multiprotocol, this means your phone needs to talk to the HA network interface that is being used as the “infrastructure” interface of the OpenThread Border Router that is running in the Multiprotocol add-on.
Therefore this could, for example, be a problem with your router or WiFi AP; If those don’t support IPv6 or Router Advertisements or mDNS, then Matter won’t work between your phone and HA, and adding a device will get stuck here.
I was having issues with Home Assistant Matter Server getting a lot of mDNS time outs. The weird thing is Google had no issues at all and I could setup the devices in Google Home with no issues.
Anyway, long story short. I use Unifi and I turned on IGMP Snooping on the main network and turned OFF Multicast Enhancement on the WiFi network. After this the Matter commissioning with Home Assistant has worked flawlessly, though admittedly I only have commissioned 4 devices since making the change.
Hello everyone, I am facing the same issues.
I tested 5 different routers and only one of them is working : Google Nest Pro.
the rest i have tested are blocking me at the stage “Checking for connectivity” :
-TP Link C80
-Tp Link TL-WR841L
-Tp Link AX1500
-Telkonika RUT241
I tried with theses devices to enable IGMP Snooping and IPV6 but no luck.
I am wondering the following question :
-Do we need to have a Wifi 6E network to be able to operate HA and SkyConnect ?
The version of WiFi is not relevant. Thread doesn’t care about WiFi at all. WiFi - Most IoT devices are 2.4GHz which is only 802.11n anyway.
IPv6 is required.
mDNS is required
a flat network ( matter devices and home assistant on same network/subnet, no VLAN’s) is required.
mDNS repeaters are discouraged as they are not implemented equally on all routers.
There is currently a known issue with the Android app commissioning Matter devices. Not sure when it will be resolved as of the time I am typing this. I think the Beta versions have resolved it.
Home Assistant doesn’t need WiFi at all. Home Assistant is the platform. SkyConnect is a 802.15.4 Radio that can do Thread or Zigbee (or both with multiprotocol) These are completely separate to your WiFi networks. SkyConnect connects to HA via USB, it doesn’t care if you have WiFi at all. Home Assistant also doesn’t care about WiFi at all, other than it is just a way to connect to devices.
Home Assistant could have no radios at all, connect via EtherNet. For Matter devices, your SkyConnect or Google Nest Hub or both will give the Thread network and Thread matter devices can connect. If you need WiFi even 802.11b 2.4GHz network will be fine to commission Matter devices. As long as they can connect to a network, that is all that matters.
Weird that you need bluetooth as bluetooth is only used for commissioning Matter devices, which is done on the mobile app currently. Once commissioned proper matter certified devices will use WiFi or Thread.
@Pierre84000 Bluetooth is not used by Matter devices except for commisioning. The Home Assistant hub only needs to see Thread or WiFi / Ethernet. Bluetooth is only used by the phone / mobile device the way it currently is. So yes, it is weird that a Home Assistant hub device needs bluetooth to get Matter working. Officially that is it anyway.
If you are using Windows then you are using a method that is not supported by Nabu Casa / Home Assistant which is outside of the usual scope. Most people looking here to commission devices will be using the official way. Interesting that you have it working in windows though.
(but I had high hopes for Matter!)