Homepod Frequently Cannot Connect To The Internet

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psnyder1985 Author

Level 1

13 points

Homepod Frequently Cannot Connect To The Internet

Is anyone else having this same issue? My homepod is connected to the Wi-Fi just fine. I can ping it via my laptop. I have the network set to 5Ghz only and full power. I disabled the 2.4Ghz since I dont need it and for troubleshooting. My device is about 10 feet from my ATT Fiber Modem which provides the Wi-Fi connection. Randomly both home pods (not at the same time) will say I am having problems connecting to the Internet.

If I reboot the homepod (pain in the butt to do) it works. If I restart the Wi-Fi or boot the device off of Wi-Fi the homepod works. It is almost like an incompatibility between the homepod and the Wi-Fi chipset on the ATT Fiber modem. I am using WPA/2PSK. I have ZERO problems with any other device except my homepods!

I have factory reset them, re-added them and everything I can think of. Surely someone else has this problem and may have a solution other than return both homepods.

HomePod, iOS 12

Posted on Oct 10, 2018 7:56 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

psnyder1985 Author

Level 1

13 points

Oct 26, 2018 1:40 PM in response to vizion8

They would ping just fine. I solved my problem by getting a UniFi Nano HD WAP. Fixed my problem.

I could not turn off IPV6 on the modem nor can I even change the DHCP DNS that it hands out. So I could not verify if either of those were the problem but I can say with the new WAP all is well in HomePod Land.

It clearly was an issue with how they homepods worked with the wireless card on the ATT Fiber Modem. I’m still using their modem but have no more problems.

I’m still running 5Ghz only (2.4Ghz is disabled) and 80Mhz Channels with the new WAP just like I was before with the ATT Modem. I had even turned 2.4Ghz back on and that didn’t help.

What I would notice is under the IP Bindings on the ATT Modem the home pods would say “off” but I could locally ping them fine. It was like the modem would prevent them from making the NAT out to the Internet.

They are and were both within 15 feet of the modem in a one bedroom apartment. Noise is higher than in your typical home because of so many apartments so close but that is why I had 5Ghz only and there are plenty of clean 5Ghz spectrum.

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Answer 2

psnyder1985 Author

Level 1

13 points

Oct 24, 2018 2:48 PM in response to Ryan K.

Apples basic support is useless. I opted not to waste

hours and hours of my time escalating etc..

My solution was to get a different wireless access point to handle my wireless.

I ultimately figured out my problem was something between the HomePod and how it operates with the specific ATT Fiber Modem which is a typical Uverse style modem. The HomePod was somehow losing a connection and never would re-register itself properly. I assume this was a wireless chip set firmware problem and how the devices were operating together. The HomePod like other apple products has an energy saving mechanism that disables the wireless when not in use. The HomePod would simply not work at times for no apparent reason.

I did all the basic stuff. I also set a DHCP reservation and still always had problems.

It ***** you have to jump through hoops just to get someone who can read log files from the HomePod but that would have taken too much time and I was on edge about just returning both HomePods.

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Answer 3

wdefer

Level 1

4 points

Oct 26, 2018 11:43 AM in response to vizion8

Turning IPV6 on the router fixed it for me also 🙂

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Answer 4

vizion8

Level 1

18 points

Oct 25, 2018 6:19 PM in response to psnyder1985

Try turning off ipv6. I found out my homepod only received an ipv6 address.

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Answer 5

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Oct 11, 2018 8:54 AM in response to psnyder1985

The other thing that might help, though it shouldn't be necessary, is to define address reservations for your HomePods in your router so they always get the same IP addresses.

tt2

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Answer 6

vizion8

Level 1

18 points

Oct 26, 2018 1:10 PM in response to psnyder1985

Ping your HomePods for two minutes. Are there any breaks ? What is the latency ? How far are the pods from the router ?

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Answer 7

btmosley

Level 1

4 points

Oct 13, 2018 7:10 AM in response to psnyder1985

I have similar issues with HomePod. I have learned that asking the time, waiting for a reply and then another query can be performed with no trouble. It is a weird workaround. I equate it to waking/getting Siri's attention. Her mind wanders you know...

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Answer 8

Oct 26, 2018 12:20 PM in response to psnyder1985

I have the exact same issue. On Wednesday, October 24th I purchased 3 Apple HomePod devices and connected them to my network. Every minute or two they all lose internet connection, and about a minute later they work again. I’ve reset the devices and power cycled my modem and router but the issue continues. All other devices are working fine. I’m running on a Motorola Surfboard modem and a Netgear Nighthawk router. WiFi has been great and has not had any issues. I have a Google Home, Amazon Echo, Nest thermostat, Hue bulbs, iMac, iPad Pro, iPhone XS Max, iPad Air, Apple TV, Security camera, PS4, etc. that all work flawlessly on my WiFi.

I called Apple Support last night and ended up being handed off to one of their senior level techs. The first thing he asked me is if I had internet through Cox. He said that they have received numerous complaints similar to mine over the past 24 hours and the common theme is that everyone experiencing the issue has Cox as their internet provider. He also mentioned the problem might be related to IPV6. However, we went into my router's settings and IPV6 was already turned off and all of my IP addresses were normal, so that's not the issue. I really hope this gets resolved as I don't want to have to return them and get Google Home Max devices.

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Answer 9

Oct 21, 2018 3:32 PM in response to btmosley

I have the same problem, which started happening within the last week or so. Intermittently, the HomePod will claim it's having difficulty connecting to the Internet, and says "I'm having trouble connecting to the Internet. For more info check the Home app associated with this HomePod".

The thing is, as with the original poster, this can happen when the HomePod is blissfully playing music it's streaming over the Internet.

In any case, when I ask for the time, right after I get the reply I can issue another command it seems to work consistently.

Before reading this thread, I called Apple Care. They simply provided the standard troubleshooting tips, which were not helpful.

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Answer 10

turingtest2

Level 10

278,263 points

Oct 11, 2018 12:43 PM in response to psnyder1985

No, mine work fine. I happened to be fixing IP addresses and adding MAC address filters on my network for another purpose and did my HomePods while I was at it, not because of any particular issue at the time.

tt2

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Answer 11

JDB1972

Level 1

34 points

Oct 13, 2018 6:24 AM in response to psnyder1985

Not sure if this is the same issue, but my HomePod - only recently - will frequently tell me "I'm having trouble connecting to the internet right now" - especially when asking to do a homekit action. But then, when I ask it to play music from Apple Music it works fine (even if music is not in my library). Odd and frustrating.

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Answer 12

Ryan K.

Level 2

287 points

Oct 22, 2018 9:53 PM in response to psnyder1985

Same issue with the HomePod randomly having a problem connecting to the internet, even thou other devices like my iPad or iPhone are connected just fine. This just started happening last week, and it’s very frustrating. I tried several restarts, a reset, and restarted my network Multiple times and the HomePod still has issues. Did Apple just push an update? The HomePod worked flawlessly for months before last week.

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