No, we’ve all been deceived and are mindlessly throwing our money away to support the evil overlords. 🤣 These can’t possibly be serious questions. How could you not know the answers to both of these questions, given the vast number of smart home products being sold and the millions of people using and posting about how they use them. Your post is like asking if a microwave is really worth the money, convenient and time saving. 😂
While local, Matter is still going to be over Wi-Fi or Thread.