Last year I was playing with larger thread networks of 50+ devices on a single network. With Apple just releasing the Homepod with Thread, it has me thinking on the protocol again.
Apple will have a Thread network inside your home for Apple devices to communicate with each other.
If you bring another Thread network into the home, could the Homepod relay messages between your Thread devices?
My device #1 -> Apple Homepod -> My device #2
This would let you expand the range of your thread network.
Thread devices in one Thread network cannot communicate directly using IEEE 802.15.4 to devices in another Thread network. Each Thread network has its own security credentials that intentionally prevents devices outside the Thread network from participating.
That said, devices in different Thread networks can communicate using IPv6 via one or more Thread border routers. For example, it is possible to connect two different Thread networks to the same Wi-Fi network and have devices in each Thread network communicate end-to-end using IPv6.
In your example, you would need to add another Thread border router on the path.