Home Sharing Dropping Out or continually Reconnecting

Question

Level 1

16 points

Home Sharing Dropping Out or continually Reconnecting

I have an intermittent issue with home sharing dropping out when streaming to my iPad Pro and my iPhone. Either streaming movies to my iPad or music to both iPad and iPhone it will take a long time to connect initially. Sometime I will have to physically wake up the iMac to get the connection started then it will work fine or randomly drop the connection then sometimes try to reconnect or just give me an error and stop there.

I am running all the latest related software on all devices. There is no beta software on anything.

Any suggestions would be welcome

Thanks

Alex

Equipment is

iMac (retina 4K 21.5" 2017)

iPhone 8

iPad Pro 12.9" first edition.

iMac Line (2012 and Later)

Posted on Apr 19, 2020 1:34 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

turingtest2

Level 10

272,911 points

Apr 21, 2020 1:01 AM in response to Substrate

Turn 5GHz off as a test to see if it helps. Everything should continue to work on 2.4GHz. If you need the extra speed of 5GHz change the password for that network and forget it from the iPhone used to configure the HomePod.

tt2

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Answer 2

Substrate Author

Level 1

16 points

Apr 26, 2020 6:01 AM in response to turingtest2

Hello Turingtest2

i split my 2.4 and 5 GHz networks with different SSID and you suggestion world perfectly. All iOS devices hold the home sharing connectIon when streaming. Many hanks for your help. This advice may be useful to everyone as I read many sites who just say keep the two frequencies on the same ssid and password for convenience.

Cheers substrate

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Answer 3

McViga

Level 1

15 points

Apr 29, 2020 12:17 PM in response to turingtest2

Hello tt2,

I had the same home sharing issue and your advice fixed it.

why do you think having 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz working together may impair home working? Is it a matter of old wifi routers, or something else?

Thanks!

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

272,911 points

Apr 29, 2020 12:35 PM in response to McViga

Just a hunch, but I think the HomePod might try to switch from one band to the other for best signal and then get stuck for reasons unknown. Some routers might handle the transition better so if it is only certain models of router under certain conditions that might explain why Apple haven't caught this issue themselves.

tt2

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

272,911 points

Apr 19, 2020 6:56 AM in response to Substrate

Does your router sport both 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz radio? HomePod seems to be more reliable if only one is active (or it only has the connection credentials for one). 2.4GHz has the better range.

tt2

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Answer 6

Substrate Author

Level 1

16 points

Apr 20, 2020 12:22 PM in response to turingtest2

Yes the router supports both, however I need both to run all of the attached appliances around the house. Should I separate the two with a different name and password?

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