HomePod Mini Internet Connectivity Issues

“I am REALLY not keen to replace a perfectly working and new...”

First of all, I am 100% confident that Apple is working on this and that either software and/or firmware patches are forthcoming. However, if you can’t wait then you don’t need to replace your main router as a simple and relatively inexpensive Powerline adapter will more than likely fix the issue as it did for me. I see them on Amazon for 40 euros.

I still can’t tell if what you did was successful or not but all I can say is, it seems to me that it is a router issue that needs to be fixed with software and/or firmware changes beyond user control. Failing that, a different router or use of a powerline adapter seems to work as a temporary solution

Yes that is the major purpose of a powerline adapter but it essentially functions as another router with its own IP address assigned by the main router. It also then transmits it's own Wi-Fi signal which you can either assign a unique SSID or combine it with the main SSID (I use the first option.) Bottom line is that when I connected the HomePod mini to the powerline SSID it worked perfectly from then on. This fits with what seems to be a apparent here which is that this is a router dependent issue. Anyway, the normal use case is to have two powerline adapters, one to take the signal from the router and then another to broadcast wifi and/or or hook up an ethernet cable in a another room. However I don't see any reason why you couldn't figure out how to do this with a single unit if you don't need the range extension.

As I've written before, I think it's best to be patient and let Apple work this out but if you can't wait this is one possible short term solution. It worked for me anyway.

Thank you. Do you think it could also solve the problem when I assign a permanent IP Adress to my homepod mini through the router settings?

I could definitely wait for Apple to solve the problem, but I am really not shure they will. I called Apple Support today and it looked like they had no idea... so that uncertainty is frustrating.

I would have my peace if I would know that Apple is working on this and will be able to solve it (an official announcement from apple would be nice...).

my plan was to equip the whole house with Homepod Minis - well definitely not going to do that now.

plus I get the feeling since I installed the mini my homepod also shows some issues from time to time.

"Do you think it could also solve the problem when I assign a permanent IP Adress to my homepod mini through the router settings?"

No

"Apple Support today and it looked like they had no idea... "

I wouldn't pay too much attention to that.

"I would have my peace if I would know that Apple is working on this and will be able to solve it (an official announcement from apple would be nice...)"

Multiple sources including reliable tech magazines have reported a fix is on the way. "official announcements" are not all that common until a fix is implemented.

I have said this before but it is my experience that Apple fixes all relatively common issues. It would be very uncharacteristic for them not to fix this one since it has been publicly reported in multiple venues.

( I know this issue is annoying but a word of advice, unasked for I realize, which is that one shouldn't lose peace of mind over something as trivial as a HomePod that doesn't answer Siri requests. If you, your family and your loved ones are healthy, that should be enough. My take anyway. Be well.)

Very well said, sgmerley!

As I wrote already above, Apple Germany told me that they are aware of the problem and that they working on a solution. As it is somehow related to the security script, they are in exchange with the companies building routers. So it takes a certain time. We have to be patient...

Stay healthy everyone out there!

I gave my HPM a static IP. Initially appeared to have made no difference but the HPM is clearly toying with my emotions now as it has remained online, uninterrupted for nearly 30 hours now. I was lucky to get 8 hours previously.

I'm also coming from what seems to be a worst-case-scenario of having it connected to an asus blue cave.

other details - I'm using separate SSID's for 2.4/5 on the blue cave (HPM is connected to 2.4) and I'm using cloudfare's 1.1.1.1 dns service for reference as opposed to slow IP dns.

with respect to several HPM's I would imagine (but haven't confirmed) that it's the first HPM (primary?) connection that is important and additional HPM's should use thread to mesh to each other?

Hi.

To add another detail which just happened, when I open the Control Center, I tap on AirPlay icons and there’s only my iPhone device but when I go in Apple Music, I tap on AirPlay icon too and the Homepod appear... it’s very strange to see it in Apple Music and not in the AirPlay Control center... and when I select the HomePod with some music playing, it works and when I come back in the Control Center, the Homepod is come back...

Well I guess I also talked to Germany Support and not Switzerland Support and the guy wasnt aware of the problem. Plus there is no point in just exchange with some companies building routers if they dont exchange with the one company I (and others) have the router from.

but anyway, I try to be patient and hope Apple will fix this for ALL routers. After all, sgmerley is right a 100%. Sometimes one need to take a step back and look at what kind of first world problems we are talking about here...

@Baumpython - no changes to IP address, band steering or SSID schemes are likely to help. These issues almost certainly have to do with the way your router is handling Bonjour, multicast requests, and ports, and may not be adjustable by a user. Sad but probably true.

Most routers work fine with the HomePod Minis, but some get very confused. It's a frustrating issue I am sure, but given how small it is (e.g., number of affected users) I don't expect any rapid, direct action. It will probably get addressed along with dozens of other small issues in an update.

Keep in mind that Apple doesn't read these posts. If you want their attention, you need to file a bug report.

You can try that but based on my experience and I think everybody else here it won't work. It seems to be a router issues so you need to either change your router, use a powerline adapter, or wait for a fix. But go ahead if it makes you happy :-)

Throwing in my two sense here as someone who works in IT and was having all issues mentioned here with my stereo pair. They are in the living room in direct sight of the router. We have AT&T Fiber 1000 internet as well and were using the provided BGW210 Router. We were having issues with the internet about a year ago and the tech that came told me that the routers provided by AT&T seem to have issues with band steering and that one of the things that I should do was split the bands.

Enter homepod mini in November and the start of the issues. Stereo pair would always break, they wouldn't respond, one would play a song and the other would play a completely separate song. I was restarting them or completely resetting them multiple times a week. I thought back to what the AT&T tech said after reading this forum. I decided to split the bands and connect to the 5GHz network. That stopped the issues for a few days, but then they came back. I decided to move the HomePods to the 2.4GHz network and sure enough they worked like a charm since mid December, not a single issue. Recently, I was getting sick of the AT&T router always having issues so I decided to give the new Linksys Velop MX10 WiFi 6 system a try since it was getting homekit support sometime soon. Since I got that system up and running last week no issues with the homepods and they connect to the living room node just fine on the 5GHz band according to the app. On a side note the Linksys Velop Mesh Wifi system has been AMAZING.

However, I agree that I shouldn't need to buy new hardware or have networking knowledge just to get these things to work. That's what attracts people to Apple, ease of use. These have provided the most frustration of any product in awhile, and now that they are working I love them. I can see how someone without the knowledge to troubleshoot this would get frustrated and return the mini. The issue seems to have something to do with band steering on certain routers and the 5GHz band. Hopefully Apple will update these soon to help people and their frustration.

TerryKO, you are correct. AT&T does not currently support bypassing their router entirely. Not sure why since most other fiber providers that I know of allow you to. The ONT does most of the heavy lifting. I guess that is not the case in AT&Ts setup. As much as I would like to drop kick that equipment out of a window it still sits there.

In this case it is an IP Passthrough setup going to the Linksys router.

Vancouver22, I would be curious to know why it does work for certain setups. Like I said with this Linksys Velop setup it's working like a charm so far. Granted it's only been a week. And even when I did split my bands before the 5GHz one still became problematic. The minis just do not play nicely with some routers, it's weird. Definitely something that NEEDS to be fixed.

I had numerous issues with my HomePod minis. Various tweaks, such as disabling band steering improved things, however didn’t solve the issues altogether. In the end, replacing my 5 year old ASUS router with a relatively new TP-Link unit cleared up all the issues with the HomePod minis. There’s clearly something with the way some routers work that the Minis don’t like. None of my other 50 odd devices on my home network had issues, so this is definitely something with the way Apple have programmed the Minis. Bizarrely, the regular HomePod I’ve had since they came out has had no issues.