What is a Thread Border Router?
Imagine a digital bridge that connects all your ‘Thread-based’ smart home devices, allowing them to communicate with the internet and each other seamlessly. To learn more about the Thread Protocol and its benefits read our Why Matter and Thread are ideal for Smart Home & Commercial Building technology post. A ‘TBR’ is essential for making sure your Thread-based smart devices—like thermostats, lights, sensors, and motion detectors—work together smoothly and can connect to the internet through your home Wi-Fi or Ethernet connection.
I know what you’re thinking, “great, another hub I need to buy!”. The good news, probably not. You’d be surprised but there’s a good chance that you may already have a TBR in your home and not know it! As an example, Amazon’s Echo 4th gen speaker is actually a TBR but when you look at the packaging or your Alexa app, you’d have no idea unless you reread the specs online! If you have newish smart speakers or TVs in your home, double check on the manufacturer’s website to see if your device supports TBR functionality. In some cases this can be a simple software update.
Understanding Matter: Wi-Fi vs. Thread
An important thing to keep in mind when you’re shopping for Matter-enabled devices is to make sure you know whether the device is using ‘Matter-over-Thread’ or ‘Matter-over-Wi-Fi’. There seems to be a recurrence of users buying Matter-enabled devices that appear to seamlessly work with their existing Google or Amazon hub/smartspeaker, but then they buy a second or third Matter device that doesn’t seem to work at all and this is most likely because these devices are Thread based and need a TBR.
As an example, you have an older Echo speaker that “supports” Matter and works perfectly with a bunch of Matter-enabled smart bulbs that you bought. Encouraged by the seamless integration, you buy a smart door lock, assuming it will work just as easily. However, despite being Matter-enabled, the door lock fails to connect to your network. After some troubleshooting, you realize that while your smart speaker and light bulb use Matter-over-Wi-Fi, your new smart door lock uses Matter-over-Thread and requires a TBR to connect. Most vendors “should” include a ‘Built on Thread’ label (like the Aqara sensor above) that indicates the requirement of a TBR so make sure to check for this. Here’s a quick comparison of Matter-over-Wi-Fi vs. Matter-over-Thread and use cases:
- Matter over Wi-Fi: Many smart devices use Wi-Fi because it’s widely available and supports higher data transfer speeds, making it ideal for devices that need a lot of bandwidth, like smart cameras and speakers. Wi-Fi is perfect for complex tasks that involve streaming high-quality video or handling intensive data usage.
- Matter over Thread: Thread is designed for devices that require less power and bandwidth, such as sensors, locks, and lights. Thread creates a low-power mesh network that allows devices to communicate directly with each other, not just through the router. This means if one device fails, the data can reroute through other devices, ensuring reliable connectivity throughout your home. As an example, the Aqara P2 motion sensor above uses Matter-over-Thread and this allows it to operate for years on a single coin cell battery, something you could never do with Wi-Fi.
Why You Need a Thread Border Router
I think we made a pretty clear case above on how Thread works and the need for a TBR to allow Matter-over-Thread devices to work with your smarthome network. These points re-enforce the need and benefits of having a TBR in your home:
- Connectivity: This being the most important feaure, a TBR makes sure all your Thread-enabled devices can talk to your home Wi-Fi network, helping everything from your smart lock to your lighting system work in harmony.
- Security: It keeps your network safe by managing who can connect and how, safeguarding your personal information and device data.
- Efficiency: By managing data flow in your home network, a TBR ensures that your devices communicate efficiently, conserving battery life and improving response times.
The following diagram captures the seamless blending of Wi-Fi and Thread based devices in a Matter network thanks to the use of a TBR:
Can you have more than one Thread Border Router?
This is a question that comes up often and quite frankly, has been a bit of a murky area with the rollout of Matter.
Before the introduction of Matter, there was no strong initiative or desire for vendors to build TBRs that would seamlessly interoperate with “competitor” hardware and as a result this feature was not built into the Thread specification.
Fast forward to today and that is no longer the case. As a measure to address this interoperability gap, the Thread Group has introduced a feature called Credential Sharing which will be a part of the Thread Specification 1.4.0 release for 2024. Credential sharing in the Matter smart-home environment provides several practical benefits for users:
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Easier Setup: It simplifies adding new devices by standardizing how credentials are shared between devices and routers, regardless of the manufacturer.
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Better Compatibility: Devices from different brands can work together more smoothly, which is great for users who have a mix of smart home products.
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Wider Coverage: Multiple Thread Border Routers can be used together to create larger, stronger network coverage across the home, enhancing connection reliability.
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Improved Reliability: The network becomes more reliable as devices can communicate more efficiently over a larger, unified network.
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Simpler Management: Managing a smart home network becomes less complicated, as new devices can be easily integrated and managed with user’s platform of choice.
Overall, credential sharing helps make Matter networks more user-friendly, interoperable, and robust, benefiting anyone looking to expand or streamline their smart home setup.
So, what does this mean for you? It’s most likely that whatever TBR(s) you are using today or plan on buying in the near term will eventually have some sort of firmware/software update that should push Thread 1.4.0 support.
Making the Right Choice
When selecting Matter-enabled devices, consider what each device needs to do and choose the appropriate connection type:
- Choose Wi-Fi for high-bandwidth devices that handle video streaming, complex computations, or large data transfers.
- Opt for Thread for simpler, battery-powered devices that benefit from low power consumption and reliable mesh networking.
By understanding the differences between Wi-Fi and Thread in the context of Matter, and by implementing a Thread Border Router, you can optimize your smart home setup to be more robust, efficient, and future-proof!
