HomePod Mini Internet Connectivity Issues

J_MC, I think you may be right about C Crackle's findings. I am having my ISP come out on Monday (12/7/2020) or if they can remotely do a visual to see if my devices are overloading the IP address capacity or bandwidth. I have four apple TV's three of them on 24/7, three iPhones, 3 MAC's one of which is my music server and is always on, apple watch, alarm system, ring camera, Alexa device, and maybe a few others, that I can't think of.

Wouldn't it be something if the Apple User Community comes up with the cause and remedy for Apple's newest music delivery device?

With so many Apple customers on this Blog having similar technical issues with their new HomePod Mini, I was wondering if most of you are using only Apple Music streaming service with your new HomePod Mini. I do not have a subscription to Apple Music. I am using an11(and I even tried my old IP 8), playing music via airplay with the Apple Music App, or music via airplay through a MBP via Apple TV, with music from my iTunes library. I have tried all different types of sceniors and could not get the mini pod to play without stoping and restarting 5-10 minutes later. I restored the device to factory settings 4 time. I tried 2G and back to 5G and I am done. Hopefully, the senior advisor will get back to me with some info or maybe my ISP will find a fix. Either way, I will get back to this community as soon as I achieve a fix or decide to return the device to Best Buy and purchase the Sonos Move for $400. I have been an Apple customer since 2000 and I have never had an issue like this with any of their products. Hopefully, this is just a one-off. Cheers.

I am just a lurker here, an Apple user who does not have this problem - my Mini and 3 other HomePods all work fine on an eero Pro mesh WiFi setup. That's not the point.

People posting about this issue MUST indicate the type of WiFi router they are using. The problem clearly doesn't exist everywhere, and is most likely a poor interaction between certain router configurations and the Mini. If Apple is to solve this issue (and I do not doubt they will) they need to know what y'all are using.

Anecdotally, it is easy to spot the Asus Blue Cave in these posts as a suspect router, but they may well be others. Whatever you're using, make sure to state it. That will help to solve this issue for all.

Valid point Bradley. I agree that would help and could benefit those of us who have open case numbers with Apple. I will inform my senior advisor when he calls of our router discoveries from this blog. However, let me ask you this, are you using an Apple Music subscription for your music source? Router aside, the starting and stopping of play when you have an iPhone right next to the mini using airplay, seems more like a device software issue. Because I do not have Apple Music, I could not test the performance of the mini with streaming Apple Music through a cell phone. I was streaming music from my iTunes library via an iPhone 11 and an 8 with no success.

Also, to address your suggestion, I am using a no-name box from HTC (Horry Telephone Cooperative) in SC. However, I went throughout my home and disabled half of my wifi connected devices, rebooted the router and still had the issue. I did this before I went online to search for a forum with HomePod Mini issues.

I have to admit, this is the first time in 20 years of using Apple products that I had to resort to seeking technical assistance from a Web forum to trouble shoot an Apple product. Apple's tech support is 2nd to none. They are the best in the industry and all calls stay in the US. What other technology company does that?

Bradley, thanks again for your time and input. Bob

Small Update on my testing... I am using an enterprise Cisco WiFi AIR-2702-I-Z-K9 With a Meraki DHCP server Connecting at 5Ghz at -48db (as measured by iphone 12pro max in diag mode) the 3 x Home Pod Mini will always stay associated to WiFi but loose connectivity after about 24 hours. If I change the DHCP least time to 30 minutes then the 3 x Home Pod Mini kept working for 5 days + If I change the DHCP lease time to 7 days then the then the 3 x Home Pod Mini kept working for abount 24 hours. I have now set a DHCP reservation for the IP address soand I will run a continuious ping to see exactly how long the network connectivity lasts.

Hey Bob -

Sounds like you're trying everything you can with what you've got - I'm sure the HTC provided router is made by some company that provides "white label" manufacturing, who knows.

I am an Apple Music user with a family plan. We use our 4 HomePods both with Apple Music streaming as well as AirPlay for things like Spotify or my favorite iPhone podcast app (Overcast). We also use HomePods and AirPlay as the default audio output for an Apple TV. To answer your question: the HomePod Mini appears to work equally well receiving AirPlay audio or streaming from Apple Music. My eero Wifi system is stock normal and is configured in HomeKit to extend device security (via an eero Secure subscription).

Based upon the symptoms mentioned on this forum, it certainly sounds like the affected HomePod Minis are having trouble receiving and setting network config (IP address and/or DNS goof up) that would prevent both streaming or AirPlay functionality from working. It's a problem that likely affects some percentage of router/Mini combinations, but certainly not all. I'm sure Apple will issue a fix, but until then I suspect that those combinations just won't work well.  😕

Best of luck, Bob!

All, Not much has changed with my mini pod with a not so mini issue. I have spent more hours that I should have to get this device working correctly. Got a call back from my senior advisor. He listed all the things that the engineers told him to tell me and I kept saying, I did that, I did that, so he sent me a link to send iPhone videos of the procedures that I have done to resolve the issues. I even video taped the downloading of the new software just so they could see that now I was using the latest version. I have some interesting footage to share with them.

However, after I concluded the video taping, I decided to restore the mini to factory settings and after holding my finger on the center of the mimi pod and then plugging in the power cord, the Pod would not power up. I am letting it sit for a while and I will see what happens later this evening. I my have fried it with all the testing. Best I can see online, there are no Apple Homepod Mini's to be had anywhere until later this month. At least in South Carolina. Do any of you know of a retail store that has any inventory of these little bastards? Cheers.

Before I upgraded the firmware I ran a test.

The DHCP Lease time is 7 Days. Connected 802.11a (5 Ghz)

3 x Home Pod Mini Power cycled at 11.00.am

a continuous ping every 5 seconds to each Home pod mini

11:00am next day pings stopped to all 3 home pod mini

Exactly 24 hours later.... All 3 x Home Pod Mini stopped responding to the Ping..

I will upgrade the firmware now and re run the test....

I have posted this before, lots.

have you tried this.

go to the home app on the device used to set up the mini.

go to the little house symbol top right.

go to home settings.

press on your picture used or where the picture should be.

turn off “recognise my voice”.

see if this works, if it does, it’s a little inconvenient but at least the mini I’d working for now, then, you can always turn on recognise my voice again.

good luck.

The firmware Update has NOT fixed the issue.

the 3 x home pods mini are still disconnecting from the network (but associated to the WiFi)

The Big Home Pod does not suffer from this issue.

The DHCP Lease time is 7 Days. Connected 802.11a (5 Ghz)

3 x Home Pod Mini Power cycled at 11.00.am

a continuous ping every 5 seconds to each Home pod mini

11:00am next day pings stopped to all 3 home pod mini

The DHCP Lease time is 1 Days. Connected 802.11a (5 Ghz)

3 x Home Pod Mini Power cycled at 11.00.am

a continuous ping every 5 seconds to each Home pod mini

11:00am next day pings stopped to all 3 home pod mini

The DHCP Lease time is 30 Minutes. Connected 802.11a (5 Ghz)

3 x Home Pod Mini Power cycled at 11.00.am

a continuous ping every 5 seconds to each Home pod mini

3 days later home pods still working.......

Has anyone tried my fix?? Go to the home app, tap on the little house top left. Go to home settings. Tap on your picture, if no picture still tap on your user name, turn off “recognise my voice” turn it back on. This works yet no one seems to try it!

Has anyone tried my fix?? Go to the home app, tap on the little house top left. Go to home settings. Tap on your picture, if no picture still tap on your user name, turn off “recognise my voice” turn it back on. This works yet no one seems to try it!

Has anyone tried my fix?? Go to the home app, tap on the little house top left. Go to home settings. Tap on your picture, if no picture still tap on your user name, turn off “recognise my voice” turn it back on. This works yet no one seems to try it!

I'm not a native English speaker. The feature/option you are talking about is only available in English. The option is turned off in my settings and the home pod mini still doesn't work. My normal HomePod is working.

Just got off the phone with the Apple Support, THERE MIGHT BE A SOLUTION.

Haven’t tried it yet, but wanted to let you know anyways. 

I was told it have a look at the time settings on the device with which I set the homepod up. To my surprise, there seemed to be something wrong, no time zone was set, only the sign that something was loading. A reset of the privacy settings and a restart of the phone solved this issue.

Now the correct time zone was automatically set. Now got to reset the homepod mini (you can do that in the home app) and set it up again with my phone working properly...

Let’s see if it helps.

Apparently the problem is causes by Siri having trouble to connect to the correct apple servers (location and timing). I didn’t completely understand that part.

Feel free to tell me if it works for you, I’ll try it when I’m back home tonight.