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Home / HomePod mini issues

Bunches of my Home smart plugs and cameras 'disconnect' at the same time. In seemingly random combinations.


I've had a routine of power-cycling them, which normally works (tedious though).


Recently, power-cycling didn't solve the issues. Camera images, in particular, remained visible "live" but were disconnected and therefore not recording.


I checked everything - all disconnected devices were visible on Bonjour, wifi was rock solid, 2.4GHz devices were on the 2.4GHz band, etc. etc.


So, as a last option I re-started my (newish) HomePod mini. To my astonishment the 10 devices which were offline/unreachable instantly re-connected.


The last thing I expected to be the issue on Apple Home was an Apple HomePod. So it was not my Eve and Meross devices at all, which I'd been blaming for all the the hassle!


(Ironically my old Apple TV HD worked faultlessly as a hub.)


All devices are using the latest soft/firmware. 'Thread' connected devices were unaffected.


Has anybody else experienced similar issues? Is my HomePod mini faulty?



An example of random mass-disconnection...




HomePod mini, 15

Posted on Aug 30, 2022 2:50 AM

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5 replies

Aug 30, 2022 4:06 AM in response to IanMetz

Distance of device and blocking walls, pipes, and file cabinets are a major factor in the weakness of wifi. Furthermore, if your WiFI router is reaching its limit of bandwidth you could start seeing disconnects like this. WiFi itself works best between 5 and 150 feet (2 and 50 meters) with line of sight. Too close to the router, overlapping waves can cancel each other out. Too far you need a wireless distribution system setup with your WiFi routers to echo the signal of the same network beyond the stretch. When you are out of line of sight, this distance can be hampered by said devices. One way to test this is to look at your WiFi signal strength on your cell phone adjacent to the devices experiencing the most disconnects. If it is less than 2 isobars in any situation, you need a booster or a stronger router.

Aug 31, 2022 10:50 AM in response to IanMetz

I’d initially suspect your Wi-Fi router is probably failing or bad, or you’re in an area with Wi-Fi interference, or maybe your ISP uplink is wobbling.


If you’re trying to run a whole lot of camera video, you may well be overloading a lower- or mid-grade Wi-Fi router or its available coverage, too.


Options include a replacement, and potentially a migration to access points if your coverage area is large or features walls or wiring. 5 GHz signal coverage drops off pretty fast with walls, too.


Some Wi-Fi gear allows scanning for other networks and for interference. Mac can use built-in or add-on Wi-Fi scanning tools. One network I scanned had thirty-some local Wi-Fi networks visible, and I stopped paging through the network list before it finished.


I chased one of these cases with some AirPort Time Capsule Wi-Fi gear a while back. The AirPort Time Capsule just dropped Wi-Fi coverage for about 15 seconds randomly, maybe once an hour and slowly more frequently, until the Wi-Fi became untenable. The Wi-Fi network scan had a wonderful signal coverage, right up until it dropped out, and then restarted. No errors were shown in AirPort utility and no amber light, either. Since then, I’ve met several that did this same drop-out. Overheating? Donno. All that Wi-Fi gear got replaced.


Not a huge fan of mesh networks, as when part of the mesh goes weird, it’s hard to trace what happened. Hopefully, that’s all improved since I last had one that needed troubleshooting. I’ve been running old-style, with access points, in the Wi-Fi networks I deal with.

Home / HomePod mini issues

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