LiftMaster Internet Gateway vs. MyQ Smart Garage Hub: Which One Should You Choose

Today, I was messing around with my garage door, trying to get it hooked up to the internet. I picked up this LiftMaster Internet Gateway thing a while back, and I figured it was time to finally set it up. This is what happened.

First off, I grabbed the gateway and the Ethernet cable that came with it. I plugged one end of the cable into the gateway and the other into my router. Nothing to it, really. The gateway started blinking, which I guessed meant it was trying to connect to the internet.

Next, I needed to get the gateway to talk to my garage door opener. My opener is a LiftMaster, and it has a “learn” button on it. I pressed the “learn” button on the opener, and then I pressed the button on the gateway. They blinked at each other for a bit, and then the light on the opener stayed solid. I figured that meant they were talking now.

• Grab the gateway and Ethernet cable.
• Connect the gateway to the router using the Ethernet cable.
• Observe the gateway’s blinking lights, indicating an attempt to connect to the internet.
• Press the “learn” button on the LiftMaster garage door opener.
• Press the button on the gateway.
• Wait for the devices to communicate, indicated by blinking lights.
• Confirm successful pairing when the light on the opener stays solid.

The last part was downloading the myQ app on my phone. I made an account and followed the steps to add the gateway to the app. It asked for the serial number on the gateway, which was easy enough to find. Once I typed that in, the app found the gateway, and I was good to go.

Now I can open and close my garage door from my phone, no matter where I am. It’s pretty cool, to be honest. I can also check if the door is open or closed, which is handy. I set up some alerts, too, so I get a notification whenever the door opens or closes. Also, I noticed that if your garage door opener has the yellow learn button and it says “powered by myQ” on it, you don’t even need this gateway thing. It’s built-in. Mine didn’t, so I had to do this whole process.

I saw some people online asking about the difference between the “Smart Garage Hub” and the “Smart Garage Control.” They look pretty much the same, so it’s confusing. I think the hub is just for newer models, but don’t quote me on that.

All in all, it wasn’t too hard to set up the LiftMaster Internet Gateway. It took me maybe 30 minutes, and most of that was just reading the instructions. Now my garage door is “smart,” which is pretty neat. I wish I had done it sooner, haha.