I'm trying to transition away from my Google setup to Home Assistant without too much craziness. One of my difficulties right now is I am using Thread over Matter (I think it's called that) and my Google Nest Wifi Pro handled all of this. I've since transitioned to a Unifi Dream Machine (UDR7). Now I'm not sure how to set up my smart devices because I've lost my Thread Border Router. Any suggestions for what I can do here? I've seen a lot of information through googling but nothing that I totally understand. I'll also note that I'll be running HA via a docker container on my server PC I use to run several other things so purchasing an HA Yellow doesn't make sense afaik, but maybe I'm missing something.
#Thread Border Router
lament helm
mighty seal
So there's a few options. Google or Apple hardware are quite serviceable thread border routers if you're able to leave one of their devices hooked up. You don't have to use any of their other functionality.
If you were using HAOS, you could use the OpenThread Border Router add-on in combination with a usb radio stick like the ZBT-1 or SLZB-07. Unfortunately, due to the complexity of networking setup needed, running a thread border router with a docker setup is not usually recommended (it's possible to do, but you can't expect to get much help with it here - https://openthread.io/guides/border-router/build-docker is a start, but i'm not sure how up to date those instructions are)
And there are products from other vendors which include thread border router functionality of various sorts, although it might be a bit hit and miss about how well it works, whether HA can manage the device via API, whether the device receives updates, etc.
Keep in mind that getting Thread working with unifi network hardware can be pretty difficult. I highly recommend that your home assistant, thread border router, and at least one wifi access point (for using a phone to provision thread devices) are all on the same subnet/vlan to avoid problems with thread router discovery and mdns.
lament helm
I've got a Nest Wifi Pro but I'm unsure how to use it as a border router within my Unifi network. I've done some searches but nothing so far has helped.
I've got an IoT vlan specifically for anything related to my IoT stuff. I only have one access point but I do have a Wi-Fi SSID specifically for IoT.
Thank you for the information. I'll dig more into it. I was also looking at the Aqara m100 but I've heard mixed reviews of it.
mighty seal
As a minor thing, when commissioning matter devices from Android, you phone needs to be on the WiFi network in the same subnet as the border router and it needs to have an internet connection.
lament helm
Is it possible to use my Nest Wifi Pro as a Border Router only? Do I just set it up in bridge mode?