Homepod Minis on separate WiFi from other iDevices

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Level 1

82 points

Homepod Minis on separate WiFi from other iDevices

I need to switch my Homepod Minis to a different Wifi SSID than my iPhone, iPad and Apple TVs. The problem is that when I make my preferred WiFi compatible with the Mini’s WiFi 4 capabilities, it slows down everything else, which are all WiFi 5 or 6 capable.

If I set my WiFi to the best settings and put the Minis on a 2.4ghz network that supports 802.11n, the Homepod Minis simply won’t connect once I change my other devices to a more capable WiFi network, since they will switch to either my iPhone or iPad Wifi network, which is too advanced for the Minis.

Is this possible? I don’t understand why Apple wouldn’t spend the extra 25 cents to put in at least an 802.11ac capable wifi system in the Mini.

Posted on Dec 30, 2021 12:50 PM

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Answer 1

turingtest2

Level 10

274,228 points

Jan 1, 2022 12:41 PM in response to AppleBoy123

The HomePod mini - Technical Specifications says that the wireless is 802.11n Wi-Fi, which suggests that only 2.4 GHz is supported. If you have a dual band router then it should be able to bridge between devices connected to the different bands as long as you're not using client isolation features or similar that grant access to the Internet but block communication between devices.

tt2

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Answer 2

Vancouver22

Level 8

36,733 points

Jan 1, 2022 6:25 PM in response to AppleBoy123

Mine are using this according to my Mac Stats which is also using 5G - everything is. I don’t really know if I should be using my 2.4GHZ to improve connectivity issues? Seems to all work on either band. but it’s never perfect with the HomePods. I disabled the Dual Band.

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Answer 3

AppleBoy123 Author

Level 1

82 points

Jan 1, 2022 12:52 PM in response to turingtest2

no, 802.11n works on 5ghz, I do have it set up that way. The problem is that I would prefer to have it on 2.4ghz N, AC is backward compatible with N, but the Mini seems to have problems with that, so I set the 5ghz wifi to accept a mix of protocols (n, ac, etc). Unfortunately, doing so slows down the 5ghz bands performance.

I’m just looking for a way to keep my iphone, mac and ipad on the 5ghz band and let the homekit stuff stay on the 2.4ghz band (so as to not impede perfomance on the 5ghz band and 2.4ghz has better range to connect to homekit items outside in the yard).

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Answer 4

turingtest2

Level 10

274,228 points

Jan 1, 2022 1:37 PM in response to AppleBoy123

Right you are. I obviously confused myself with a poor reference, and someone else complaining that HomePod mini wasn't 5GHz capable in a different thread. 🤭

Short of using a separate access point and some MAC address filtering I don't think I know of a way to force devices to use one connection over another, and by design the HomePod is going to learn all of the wireless credentials known to your setup device via iCloud keychain.

tt2

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Answer 5

Vancouver22

Level 8

36,733 points

Jan 1, 2022 12:24 PM in response to AppleBoy123

The minis should work on 5G. Mine do. Preferably, every device needs to be on the same network to work.

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Homepod Minis on separate WiFi from other iDevices

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