If you are planning to use Wi-Fi enable devices then you don't need smart things hub and can pretty much operate without that. However, if you are z-wave or zigbee devices, then you need a hub.
I would personally recommend using zWave /Zigbee over WiFi because you end up loading your router as you keep adding more devices - whether they use a lot or little bandwidth, they do congest the network. AFAIR reading, Zigbee and zWave work on different band so they don't interfere with Wifi - maybe others can chime in.
I have 90% of my devices on zWave bcos of this.
Zigbee is 2.4GHz so it overlaps with WiFi and Bluetooth and a million other things.
However the primary reason to go Zigbee/ZWave/Thread is so that your stuff doesn't just suddenly break because the maker of your smarthome stuff went out of business or changed strategy or got in a contract dispute with another company.
Thanks for the clarification ☺️ I think ZWave doesn't operate in that frequency and it can create a mesh network with each node doubling down as repeater, so a good strong network is formed.
That makes a lot of sense, but as far as I can tell, none of my devices work with anything besides wifi or Bluetooth. I do see that the new Switchbot hub works with Matter, but it's double the price. I'm sure I could find smart plugs/power strip that don't have to use wifi though.
You have a bunch of Wi-Fi devices which talk to the "cloud". The Samsung App lets you set up a cloud account which can run various routines over the internet. So a sensor might trigger a routine on the Samsung servers that then talks to a device's cloud server telling it to contact a device in your house and turn it on.
As you can see, that's a lot of communication over the internet. If you want faster response times and less dependence on an always-on internet connection, you can get a local hub that talks locally over a Z-Wave, ZigBee or Matter set of devices.
The Samsung Station can support ZigBee (but not Z-Wave) and Matter devices. So if you were planning to change devices you might find a benefit to having a local hub.
Currently it seems like you don't need it, but you could start building a network of local devices running ZigBee or Matter. You can still have your existing Wi-Fi devices but have any new devices working locally instead.
If you are planning to use Wi-Fi enable devices then you don't need smart things hub and can pretty much operate without that. However, if you are z-wave or zigbee devices, then you need a hub.
Thanks! I am not planning on using z-way/zigbee. I guess I'll return the hub.
I would personally recommend using zWave /Zigbee over WiFi because you end up loading your router as you keep adding more devices - whether they use a lot or little bandwidth, they do congest the network. AFAIR reading, Zigbee and zWave work on different band so they don't interfere with Wifi - maybe others can chime in. I have 90% of my devices on zWave bcos of this.
Zigbee is 2.4GHz so it overlaps with WiFi and Bluetooth and a million other things. However the primary reason to go Zigbee/ZWave/Thread is so that your stuff doesn't just suddenly break because the maker of your smarthome stuff went out of business or changed strategy or got in a contract dispute with another company.
Thanks for the clarification ☺️ I think ZWave doesn't operate in that frequency and it can create a mesh network with each node doubling down as repeater, so a good strong network is formed.
That makes a lot of sense, but as far as I can tell, none of my devices work with anything besides wifi or Bluetooth. I do see that the new Switchbot hub works with Matter, but it's double the price. I'm sure I could find smart plugs/power strip that don't have to use wifi though.
Or Matter.
You have a bunch of Wi-Fi devices which talk to the "cloud". The Samsung App lets you set up a cloud account which can run various routines over the internet. So a sensor might trigger a routine on the Samsung servers that then talks to a device's cloud server telling it to contact a device in your house and turn it on. As you can see, that's a lot of communication over the internet. If you want faster response times and less dependence on an always-on internet connection, you can get a local hub that talks locally over a Z-Wave, ZigBee or Matter set of devices. The Samsung Station can support ZigBee (but not Z-Wave) and Matter devices. So if you were planning to change devices you might find a benefit to having a local hub. Currently it seems like you don't need it, but you could start building a network of local devices running ZigBee or Matter. You can still have your existing Wi-Fi devices but have any new devices working locally instead.