The Samsung Connect Home has a very ambitious goal: to blanket every corner of your home with a Wi-Fi signal, while also connecting all of your smart home’s connected devices using only one device. In short, it will take the place of both your Wi-Fi router and your SmartThings hub.
Is it worth the buy? Well, if you are looking to streamline the clutter in your smart home, this one is surely worth a consideration.
A Wi-Fi router
The Samsung Connect Home allows you to get fast and uninterrupted Wi-Fi signals anywhere at home. If you have a bigger house, you can add more Connect Home units to ensure that you are connected to the Internet wherever you are in the house.  Not only that, your Wi-Fi network is kept secure.
Get the best and speediest coverage
Samsung offers several packages to help you cover your house with a strong and fast Wi-Fi signal. There is the Connect Home Single and the Connect Home Pro for homes with an area of 1,500 sq. ft. or less. Then there is the three-pack mesh system, which can cover larger homes of up to 4,500 sq. ft.
| Â | 3-pack | Single | Pro |
| Price | (For the latest prices and discounts, check here) | (For the latest prices and discounts, check here) | (For the latest prices and discounts, check here) |
| Coverage (maximum) | 4,500 sq. ft. | 1,500 sq. ft. | 1,500 sq. ft. |
| Processor | 710MHz Quad Core | 710MHz Quad-Core | 1.7GHz Dual-core |
| Speed | AC1300: 866 Mbps at 5 GHz and 400 Mbps at 2.4 GHz | AC1300: 866 Mbps at 5 GHz and 400 Mbps at 2.4 GHz | AC2600: 1733 Mbps at 5 GHz and 800 Mbps at2.4 GHz |
| Wi-Fi | Y | Y | Y |
| Zigbee | Y | Y | Y |
| Z-Wave | Y | Y | Y |
| Bluetooth | Y | Y | Y |
| 512MB RAM | Y | Y | Y |
| 4GB Flash Memory | Y | Y | Y |
| Perfect for | Larger homes | Daily Wi-Fi use | Power users |
One mobile app to control your entire house
The Samsung Connect mobile app will allow you to control and manage your devices even when you are halfway across the world. You can remotely turn off the lights at home using the smartphone app.
What is more, you can use the mobile app to connect different devices and come up with custom modes. You can work your TV, lights, locks, and other devices all with just one tap, rather than operate them one by one.
You can also set your devices up so that it will work on a trigger, allowing you to go around your usual routine without even minding your phone. For instance, you can set up your door sensors to turn on the lights the moment you open the door.
You do not have to take your phone out of your pocket to open the lights because the sensors will trigger it for you. Aside from triggers, you can also work on schedules, like turning the lights on every 7 p.m. and turning them off every 6:30 a.m.
The best news is that the Samsung Connect app makes it easier for you to discover and connect your devices. Once installed, the app will scan the network and then instantly recognize the devices that can work with your Samsung Connect Home.
One tap and these devices will be paired with other compatible devices and your phone.
Aside from being able to operate your devices from your smartphone, the Samsung Connect app also notifies you when the washing machine has finished its load, or when somebody is at the door, or even when an alarm goes off.
Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home
For those who are always leaving their smartphones somewhere, then you should appreciate the fact that the Samsung Connect Home also works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home.
You no longer have to get your smartphone from the bedroom to turn the lights off in the living room. You can just ask Alexa or Google to do it for you.
What you would like about the Samsung Connect Home
The Samsung Connect Home is an MU-MIMO system. For instance, when you have the three-pack, the first unit would connect to the router unit while the second unit would act as a network extender. Each one of these units has two network ports.
What could be better
The mobile app allows you to do more with your connected devices, and it is a whole lot simpler and easier to use when compared to the original SmartThings app.
However, if you already have the SmartThings app, you might find the Samsung Connect app a little lacking when it comes to more complex automation routines.
You can, of course, use the old SmartThings app to control your Connect Home, but that would defeat the purpose of having only one app to manage your connected devices.
Alternatives to the Samsung Home Connect
The Samsung Home Connect is not the best or the fastest Wi-Fi mesh networking device out there. Â In fact, it is often described as a mid-tier router, putting it in the league of Eero and Google Wi-Fi.
The second-generation Eero is available in a single unit (For the latest prices and discounts, check here), or a three-pack (For the latest prices and discounts, check here) that could easily cover a four-bedroom house. Â Then there is the Pro Wi-Fi System (For the latest prices and discounts, check here)Â that can cover a wider area.
If you have the first-generation device and love it, you would love this one even more. The Eero Gen 2 promises to deliver twice the performance of the original, and it is just as easy to install with an app that offers a lot of functionalities.
The beacons also do not need batteries as it plugs directly into a power socket. However, it comes with only two Ethernet ports and it is much more expensive than most other systems available in the market.
The draw of Google Wi-Fi is that it makes mesh networking accessible for most people, both in terms of price and simplicity. The entire system is very easy to set up and equally easy to use, delivering fast and consistent Wi-Fi signals to every nook and cranny of your home.
This comes with a trade-off, though: Google Wi-Fi is very lean when it comes to network features, or in letting you customize your network’s settings. Forget about MAC filtering, dynamic DNS support, content filtering, and VPN with the Google Wi-Fi.
The Samsung Connect Home, Eero, and Google Wi-Fi are best for homes that have Internet speeds that are slower than 250 Mbps, and for homes that are no bigger than 5,000 square feet in area. They all deliver fast Internet speeds to your home.
However, if you want the best mesh networking devices available right now, you will have to look somewhere else. It is not Eero, Samsung Connect Home, or Google Wi-Fi. Instead, you should be looking at Netgear Orbi or Amplifi HD if you want the fastest speeds and the widest coverage.
The Netgear Orbi has a dedicated Wi-Fi channel that handles the communication between two units and makes it faster. On top of that channel, you have two other Wi-Fi channels that do handle the data to and from the Internet.
The Orbi also has more ports than most other mesh systems: five Ethernet ports, plus a USB port. However, it does suffer from a very limited mobile app and most people complain about its huge size, especially when compared to other mesh networking systems.
The Orbi’s aesthetics also needs an upgrade, seeing that you cannot easily hide it and considering that it is something you would not want to leave out in the open for your visitors to see.
Solving that problem is Netgear Orbi, which looks like a futuristic digital clock. Unlike the Orbi’s weird form factor, the Amplifi HD has a cube for its main router, while the mesh points are also sleek-looking.
On top of that, one of the things you would love about this system is that it can easily cover up to 20,000 sq. ft. of space and still deliver fast Internet speeds even at 150 ft. away from the units. Â Moreover, the mobile app is very intuitive to use and offers a lot of features.
Final recommendations
The Samsung Connect Home is not the best when it comes to spreading your Wi-Fi signals all throughout your house. But that is not to say that it does not deliver as a Wi-Fi router and mesh system.
In fact, if you have a smart home and your home Internet connection speed is just like the typical speed enjoyed by most American homes, you would probably not need a more high-end system. The Samsung Connect Home allows you to save money while also enveloping your house with speedy Wi-Fi.
What makes it even better is the fact that it can replace your SmartThings Hub. If you do not already have one, it allows you to start using SmartThings. It functions similarly as a SmartThings Hub, but it does not really offer deep and complex integrations when it comes to operating your connected devices.
If you are on the lookout for a mesh Wi-Fi system and a home automation hub, there is really no better choice than the Samsung Connect Home.
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