Google has been pushing Home hardware into as many households as possible, but it appears not all of the smart speakers are integrating well into family life.
Reports have shown that the Google Home Max as well as other Cast-enabled devices appear to be borking the Wi-Fi connections of some users.
The issue first came to light through an Android Police report that centres on the new Home Max and the TP-Link Archer C7 router.
TP-Link has released some new firmware for the Archer C7, which aims to solve the problems. However, it’s now emerged the issue is affecting more Google products and other firms’ routers.
A Reddit thread indicates that some Chromecast dongles are taking down networks, while owners of routers from Asus, Netgear, Linksys and Synology are also suffering.
Google has responded to the reports, claiming its “team is working quickly to share a solution.”
Why is it happening?
The cause of the issue appears to be the same problem that knocked down the Wi-Fi networks of Nexus Player owners late last year.
A TP-Link engineer has posted an explanation of the reason he believes the Google devices are impacting users’ Wi-Fi connections. He believes it’s the result of the amount of data the devices are sending to the router on emerging from sleep mode.
The engineer said (via 9to5Google): “These packets are normally sent in a 20-second interval. However, we have discovered that the devices will sometimes broadcast a large amount of these packets at a very high speed in a short amount of time.
“This occurs when the device is awakened from the “sleep mode”, and could exceed more than 100,000 packets in a short amount of time. The longer your device is in “sleep”, the larger this packet burst will be. This issue may eventually cause some of a router’s primary features to shut down – including wireless connectivity.”
Have you been experiencing any problems with your Wi-Fi when using a Google Home product? Share your experiences with us @TrustedReviews on Twitter.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
