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I bought a Homepod Mini on sale some time ago, and it's one of the worst experiences I've ever had. It continuously stutters. It stops working. I realize just h

I bought a Homepod Mini on sale some time ago, and it's one of the worst experiences I've ever had. It continuously stutters. It stops working. I realize just how magical it is that it works at all. But the realization that it needs WiFi to stream music to, despite having bluetooth, has been quite depressing. I don't think the product will ever work without jitter given the amount of overlapping WiFi signals in my area. It's a bit like the butterfly keyboard of speakers. A wonderful idea in theory. But it makes you wonder if anyone at Apple has ever tried using it an apartment building, a dusty environment, or some place that isn't a pristine lab or upper middle class suburbia

lstamour 4y ago
I set up a second wifi hotspot in the same room as the HomePods and they still struggle to connect to wifi. At this point I’ve given up and assume it’s like the Apple Watch - the wifi works when it wants to. It’s annoying that Apple makes both products that work great with wifi and products that don’t work great - and the ones that don’t work great with wifi often lack Ethernet connectivity options or I would use that instead. At least my watch can connect to cellular. It’s disappointing when you find yourself wanting 5G home speakers to ensure proper internet connectivity…
turtlebits 4y ago
I have a stereo pair of Homepods and they work perfectly. Maybe the wifi channel of your AP is congested? Surprisingly, the Homepod also works when there is no wifi available. It still boggles the mind why there is no wired input though.
- bob-44 4y ago
  On my home network, the HomePod Mini's demand to use both IPv4 and IPv6 is what I'm thinking is contributing to the unreliability of my stereo pair. My ISP doesn't provide me an IPv6 address, so my home router and pihole both seem to struggle with the HomePod Minis. My original HomePod doesn't have this issue. What I'd really love is if my HomePod Minis stopped assuming the primary HomeKit Hub role and instead let my Apple TV connected via Ethernet handle all of the requests. There's no way to select a device to be the primary hub as far as I can tell.
  - danaris 4y ago
    ...Why does a lack of external IPv6 address cause a problem within your home network? (I'm genuinely willing to believe it could, because I've seen stupider problems personally, but it does seem like a weird one.)
    - bob-44 4y ago
      My consumer mesh router takes an all or nothing approach for IPv6 settings, which causes problems, and there's no customization of IPv6 DNS settings. I've been meaning to take an old Netgear router, put dd-wrt on it, and then put that between my cable modem and the mesh router.
benhurmarcel 4y ago
Yes I wish the Homepod could use an ethernet adapter on its power supply, like the Chromecast does.

lstamour 4y ago

I set up a second wifi hotspot in the same room as the HomePods and they still struggle to connect to wifi. At this point I’ve given up and assume it’s like the Apple Watch - the wifi works when it wants to. It’s annoying that Apple makes both products that work great with wifi and products that don’t work great - and the ones that don’t work great with wifi often lack Ethernet connectivity options or I would use that instead. At least my watch can connect to cellular. It’s disappointing when you find yourself wanting 5G home speakers to ensure proper internet connectivity…

turtlebits 4y ago

I have a stereo pair of Homepods and they work perfectly. Maybe the wifi channel of your AP is congested? Surprisingly, the Homepod also works when there is no wifi available. It still boggles the mind why there is no wired input though.

bob-44 4y ago
On my home network, the HomePod Mini's demand to use both IPv4 and IPv6 is what I'm thinking is contributing to the unreliability of my stereo pair. My ISP doesn't provide me an IPv6 address, so my home router and pihole both seem to struggle with the HomePod Minis. My original HomePod doesn't have this issue. What I'd really love is if my HomePod Minis stopped assuming the primary HomeKit Hub role and instead let my Apple TV connected via Ethernet handle all of the requests. There's no way to select a device to be the primary hub as far as I can tell.
- danaris 4y ago
  ...Why does a lack of external IPv6 address cause a problem within your home network? (I'm genuinely willing to believe it could, because I've seen stupider problems personally, but it does seem like a weird one.)
  - bob-44 4y ago
    My consumer mesh router takes an all or nothing approach for IPv6 settings, which causes problems, and there's no customization of IPv6 DNS settings. I've been meaning to take an old Netgear router, put dd-wrt on it, and then put that between my cable modem and the mesh router.

benhurmarcel 4y ago

Yes I wish the Homepod could use an ethernet adapter on its power supply, like the Chromecast does.