If one isn’t working properly, the mesh ensures the command will still be passed to every other bulb in the network It’s simple to use – but there’s no energy consumption feature. It has a data transfer rate of just 250kB/s, which makes it much slower than any Wi-Fi network. But because only tiny amounts of data are transferred, the slow speed of Zigbee doesn’t really matter.
The smart plug only works on the 2.4GHz band, which may mean you suffer connectivity issues if it’s installed in a different room to your router. The Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 is one of the more affordable smart plugs on the market that supports HomeKit as well as Alexa and Google Assistant. For iPhone owners, the QR code makes the smart plug super-easy to set up, although the Android setup isn’t complicated either. Known as the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS210, it comes in a twin-pack that costs £30.99 (around $40 / AU$60). A compact device, it integrates with Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit.
So, unless you are somehow building a truly enormous house, everything should connect to the one Zigbee network just fine. While many smart home devices that support Zigbee, act as repeaters passing the instruction through the network, some can send and receive commands but can’t forward them on. Unfortunately, the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 doesn’t monitor energy consumption. If you’re using an Android device, then your only option is the Meross app, but the process still took only a couple of minutes. Unlike Wi-Fi, these smart home standards use a fraction of the power, which means many smart home devices can run on batteries that don’t need changing or recharging for months or even years without needing to be replaced.
It’s simple to use – but there’s no energy consumption feature. During testing, the plug responded instantly using either the Meross app or Alexa to switch it on and off. When it comes to automating your home, there’s a wide array of products on the market that will make controlling everything from your lighting to heating from your smartphone, a breeze. However, it’s worth noting that it lacks features such as energy monitoring and an Away mode that randomizes when the smart plug turns on and off to imitate occupancy. If you want to use an iPhone to control the smart plug, rather than an Android device or Alexa or Google Assistant, you’ll need a HomePod Mini or an Apple TV 4K in your home to do so remotely; otherwise you really won’t get the best out of it.
This is, in part, thanks to wireless standards such as Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Thread. It’s best suited to those looking for a compact, simple device. These standards allow instructions, such as a smart light bulb illuminating a certain color at a specific time, to be sent to multiple devices at once, providing you have a compatible smart home hub that can talk to all of your smart home devices. If such tracking is a priority, we’d recommend the TP-Link HS110.
Only without actually dancing, of course. Z-Wave can transmit data further, at around 100 feet compared to between 30 and 60 feet for Zigbee, but it is slower, with a data transfer speed of between ten and 100 kilobits per second, compared to Zigbee’s 40 to 250kbps. You want to monitor energy usage Zigbee is certainly an unusual moniker, so you may be wondering where it came from? Turns out Zigbee got its name from how honeybees communicate with each other by moving, known as the waggle dance.
When she’s not discovering the next must-have gadget for the home, Carrie can be found cooking up a storm in her kitchen, and is particularly passionate about baking, often rustling up tasty cakes and bread. In the UK, Meross also offers a version that’s compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant – but not HomeKit. Meross may not be a name you’re familiar with for smart home gadgets, but it’s making headway in the market with its range of affordable, simple-to-use gadgets that work with Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple’s HomeKit. These are both considerably slower than Wi-Fi, which is measured in megabits per second and can transmit data between approximately 150 and 300 feet, depending on obstructions. Using the Routine tab in the app, we were able to set a schedule for when the plug should switch on or off automatically, both using a set time or sunrise or sunset.
However, with Wi-Fi, the signal decreases over distance or can be blocked entirely by the thick walls of an older property, which means the command may not reach the smart home devices that are furthest away at all. That would be a nuisance. The Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 is an affordable way to control an appliance, even when you’re not at home.
Some Zigbee products come with their own hub, however, Zigbee-enabled smart home devices can also be connected to a third-party Zigbee-enabled hub, such as an Amazon Echo smart speaker, or a Samsung SmartThings hub, which can work out more affordable and ensure you don’t have more devices than necessary in your home. The Alliance also says there are over 2,500 Zigbee-certified products and more than 300 million have been produced to date. The Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 is priced at $14.99 / £19.99 / AU$25.99 and is available worldwide through Amazon. We’ve also seen it discounted on Amazon, making it even cheaper. This is where a Zigbee-enabled hub comes into play, as it ensures the commands are relayed to all of the correct devices without relying solely on the Zigbee mesh to pass them along.
This smart plug lacks an Away mode that turns connected devices on and off at random times in a bid to deter intruders. You can pick it up as a single device or in packs of two, three and four smart plugs. You want a plug to simulate that you’re home As we’ve mentioned already, Zigbee is a wireless networking standard, and its specifications are maintained and updated by the non-profit organization Zigbee Alliance, which was established in 2002. It made a reassuring click each time, with the LED in the right-hand corner of the plug illuminating green when it’s on. Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals!
The Zigbee standard can broadcast data across distances of approximately 82 to 109 yards / 75 to 100 meters indoors, or around 328 yards / 300 meters in the open air, meaning it can easily offer strong, stable coverage in large homes. You don’t have a HomePod Mini or an Apple TV 4K In many cases, Zigbee is a technology that runs quietly in the background of your smart home. As a general rule, devices that are mainspowered act as repeaters, broadcasting all signals they receive from other nodes on the network. 
You want a compact smart plug First reviewed: September 2021 There is a limit to how many devices, or nodes, that can be connected to one Zigbee network.
The former is slightly quicker since it just involves scanning the QR code on the right-hand side of the plug. For example, if you have a home full of Zigbee-compatible smart light bulbs, you may want them all to be illuminated at the same time. Zigbee uses the IEEE’s 802.15.4 personal-area network standard for communication and operates on the 2.4GHz, 90MHz, and 868MHz frequencies. Super-compact, the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 connects to your home Wi-Fi network, and lets you set schedules and timers for the smart plug to switch on and off. If you often worry once you’ve left the house that you may have left your coffee maker or hair straighteners switched on, this smart plug aims to provide peace of mind, giving you a way to turn them off if they have in fact been left on.
Zigbee sends instructions between smart home devices, from a smart speaker to a light bulb, for example, or from a switch to a bulb – without first going via a central control hub, like a Wi-Fi router. The security-conscious should consider models from TP-Link or WeMo instead. In theory, each device acts as a node, receiving and transmitting data to every other device, helping the instructions data spread further and the smart home network can cover a large area. There are more than 400 tech firms that support that standard including behemoths like Apple, Amazon, and Google, alongside names such as Belkin, Huawei,Ikea, Intel, Qualcomm, and Signify, as well as many others.
Measuring 2.7 x 1.5 x 1.5 inches / 6.8 x 3.8 x 3.8cm in the US, and 2.0 x 2.4 x 1.3 inches / 5.1 x 6.1 x 3.3 cm in the UK and Australia, this is one of the smallest smart plugs we’ve tested and is ideal for those who want a discreet smart home device. But fear not, smart home builders, because that number is 65,000 nodes. You might install a Philips Hue smart lighting system controlled by a Hue Bridge and have no idea that the wireless technology powering it is Zigbee. Carrie specializes in smart home devices such as smart plugs and smart lights, as well as large and small appliances including vacuum cleaners, air fryers, and blenders.
Like most smart plugs on the market, the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 sports an inoffensive white design. It was just as responsive https://jiji.ug/company/smart-watches using the manual power button, too. For that reason, Zigbee makes for a better smart home technology, but only if you own a particularly large house and plan to pack it full of over 200 smart devices. The Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 is an affordable way to control an appliance, even when you’re not at home. Already know that Zigbee is the perfect choice for your smart home?
Then check out the best prices on offer right now for our pick of Zigbee-enabled smart home devices. Nor is there an Away mode that simulates occupancy by turning the plug on or off at random times. Zigbee operates as a mesh network, which means instructions can be sent between devices attached to the same Zigbee network. The mesh structure of a Zigbee network also means there’s no one point of failure in the network. Battery-powered Zigbee devices generally do not do this; instead, they simply send and receive commands.
Thanks to the popularity of voice assistants like Alexa, Google Assistant and Siri, you can even ensure devices from different manufacturers can work together. We were also offered the ability to create automations, where several Meross devices can be controlled at once, or choose to have a smart device turn off or on after a set duration has passed. At $14.99 / £19.99 / AU$25.99, it’s the most affordable smart plug we’ve tested that supports the three major voice assistant based smart home systems. That’s partially the point of standards like Zigbee (and Z-Wave, too), as they just get on with their job without asking you to configure them as you do with Wi-Fi.
A compact device, it integrates with Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit. You can even access a user manual by selecting the pencil symbol to the right of the smart plug icon. There’s a pin-head-sized LED in the top right-hand corner that illuminates white when the plug is switched on, and alternates between green and orange when in set-up mode.
The Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 is the company’s latest smart home device. Carrie-Ann Skinner is Smart Home & Appliances Editor at TechRadar, and has more than two decades experience in both online and print journalism, with 13 years of that spent covering all-things tech. It’s a bit tenuous, but just imagine Zigbee devices share messages with each other in the same way bees do. You want a simple to set-up smart plug However, in practice, this may not be the case.
The front of the smart plug features a single socket, with a manual power button on the left-hand side. It’s also possible to edit the image assigned to the smart plug, as well as its name. Thank you for signing up to TechRadar.
Zigbee may not be as commonplace as Wi-Fi, but it is featured in a surprising number of products; the Zigbee Alliance has over 400 members from 35 countries. 
Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 review
A simple smart plug that works with Alexa, Google Assistant and HomeKit
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p>By Carrie-Ann Skinner last updated 21 September 2021 If simple, quick setup is a priority, this is the smart plug for you. This signal can also be sent and understood by the recipient device. no matter which manufacturer made it. You will receive a verification email shortly. For comparison, Z-Wave, another wireless smart home technology, is limited to 232 devices (or nodes) per hub.
This single socket can be plugged into a power outlet and controlled using Meross’s own app, through Apple’s Home app if you own an iPhone, and various voice assistants. As well as using set times, you can even use sunrise and sunset times to activate the schedule. The MSS110 is extremely simple to set up if you’re using an iPhone, either using Apple HomeKit or Meross’s own app. In the US, the compact smart plug measures 2.7 x 1.5 x 1.5 inches / 6.8 x 3.8 x 3.8cm ( w x h x d), while in the UK and Australia, the plug sits vertically in the wall socket and measures 2.0 x 2.4 x 1.3 inches / 5.1 x 6.1 x 3.3cm.
You want a HomeKit-enabled smart plug on a budget So long as they all support Zigbee, they speak the same language. As mentioned, the Meross Smart Wi-Fi Plug Mini MSS110 offers integration with Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple HomeKit. A list of Meross devices installed in your home is displayed upon launch and, in the case of the smart plug, tapping the icon turns the device on or off.
Sadly, and unlike some other smart plugs, it doesn’t offer any energy monitoring features. The Meross app is very easy to navigate.