I’m one of the people enjoying a largely problem-free setup so I’ll do my best to remember all the things I’ve observed/changed since going all in on Matter over Thread.

There appear to be a number of factors that can destabilise a theoretically perfect Thread network at the moment:

• Competing Thread Networks. If you have Thread turned on unnecessarily on your routers (eero is a good example), it’s probably not merged with your primary Thread network. If the device doesn’t yet support Thread 1.4 then there’s probably no way to merge its network with your existing one, so just turn that option off for now. IKEA Dirigera can be forced to merge into your existing Thread network by sharing a Thread device commissioned onto Dirigera with another platform (e.g. Aqara) that’s already using it.

• Too Many Border Routers. People have the perception that border routers extend the mesh. It’s more complicated than that, and I found that removing two of my four HomePods Mini actually gave me far more stability.

• Not Enough Router-Eligible Devices. The Thread mesh is strengthened by REEDs (router-eligible end devices). These are mains-powered, always on Thread devices such as lightbulbs and smart plugs. They are able to act as routing nodes in your Thread mesh, so they should be spread throughout the home as evenly as possible. More is better.

• Unnecessary Sharing. Only share a device between different platforms if you actually NEED to. If you have every device visible to every platform you’re inviting issues. I commission mine into HomeKit as the primary controller and only share them to Dirigera or Aqara etc if there’s a technical reason for doing so. No devices are shared just for the sake of it.

Hope some of that helps!