QUICK GUIDE 3 minutes
Choose your preferred setup, Simple or Advanced Playbook, to upgrade to a Smart Home:
Compared with the Simple Playbook, the Advanced Playbook includes Z-Wave, Zigbee and other frequency routers, which are compatible with a large number of smart home products (932 to be exact) that are not compatible with Wi-Fi.
Good to know
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+Smart Home Routers are (unfortunately) also called ‘Gateways’, ‘Hubs’, 'Bridges' or 'Relays'.
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+The compatibility of new Smart Home Products with Smart Home Routers depends on whether the same radio frequency is shared and software updates provided by router manufacturers. You can compare it with required drivers to integrate new hardware (for example a webcam) with your Windows operating system.
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+To avoid disappointments, it is advisable to review Smart Home DB's 22,441 Compatibilities of both the Smart Home Routers as well as individual Smart Home Products before you proceed with any purchase.
Why the need for radio frequencies other than Wi-Fi,
such as Z-Wave and Zigbee?
Wi-Fi was originally designed to cover large areas and facilitate high-speed data communication (such as media streaming). Wi-Fi’s drawback by being able to facilitate high-speed data communication is that it is a power hungry radio frequency, which makes it a sub-optimal radio frequency for battery-operated devices, such as door locks, scales and sensors.
Radio frequencies such as Z-Wave and Zigbee were also designed to cover large areas, but, in contrast to Wi-Fi, highly power efficient, which makes them ‘perfect’ radio frequencies for battery-operated devices.
Below a simple table clarifying the key differences between Wi-Fi, Z-Wave and Zigbee:
Variable | Wi-Fi | Z-Wave | Zigbee |
High area coverage | ![]() |
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Power efficient | ![]() |
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High data bandwidth | ![]() |
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That’s it!
Have fun upgrading to a smart home and don't forget to submit your improvement suggestions for Smart Home DB via our Feedback Box as we love to hear your feedback!
Thanks,
Chun
chun@smarthomedb.com
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