I’m struggling really hard to diagnose and fix a Matter of Thread instability issue.
I started with 3x Google Next Wifi Pro as Border routers but I noticed that my sleepy end devices intermittently dropped off the network.
I then tried adding 2x FTD (Eve Smart Plugs) in an attempt to make the network stronger. This seemed to work initially as I had a few days of no dropouts but then afterwards I was back at square 1 with random dropouts.
I then tried adding 2 more FTD (one SmartSetup wall switch downstairs and one HA ZBT-2 which I’ve been moving around in hope to find a stable configuration) bringing my total count of routing devices to 7. What’s interesting is after adding these final 2 FTD my entire downstairs devices drop off the network together and they don’t rejoin. So in a way, it’s worse with these two additional routers.
With the ZBT-2 I can go into the terminal and see with “Router Table” command that when they are working the link quality is pretty good (mostly 3’s with some 2’s)
Ignore the top two rows. One of them is the a nest I keep on my in-laws side so they can use the internet and the second is the ZBT-2 itself which I’m assuming the LQ of 0 is normal.
However, when the entire downstairs portion drops off the network the ZBT-2 (also downstairs) is not connected to any routers.
ouch, well if chatgpt is to be believed The Nest Wifi Pro supports Matter 1.0 currently, allowing it to function as a hub for various Matter-enabled devices. However, updates are in progress to incorporate newer versions, including Matter 1.2 , which will enhance compatibility with additional device types.
Matter 1.0 has known stability issues that have been fixed in matter 1.4 and 1.5. HA should be running matter 1.4.2. While this maybe painful there could be value in removing the nest devices from your thread network.
Thanks @sidjohn1 - this is my first post on home-assistant so really appreciate the response.
I have thought about removing the nest devices but currently it’s the way I connect to the internet and because the issue is intermittent I would need to disconnect it for a solid few days (or buy a new system) before I could rule out if that it’s the Nest devices. Hence I’m looking for some more information before going down that route.
It’s interesting to note that Nest is still on Matter 1.0. However, Matter in general seems to work fine for me - I have some other devices on Matter over Wifi and Matter via Hubs (such as Philips Hue and Switchbot) that work flawlessly. It seems to only be the Thread devices which drop off.
Just a general question: Should Matter vendors be including a set of rosary beads with each device? Why are these issues arising? I was promised it would all work automagically, and now there appears to be interoperability issues with different versions.
