Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple TV 4K 2021- slow wifi
- Thread starter Madchemic39
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
UPDATE:
Yes, the Homepods do "steal" quite a lot of bandwith. Wifi speed dropped from 500 Mb ish to 220 Mb ish.
Still OK to stream and I'll leave it there as with room setup the wired setup is not a option.
However, Apple should consider this as a bug.
What are your thoughts, should we let Apple know about this??
Yes, the Homepods do "steal" quite a lot of bandwith. Wifi speed dropped from 500 Mb ish to 220 Mb ish.
Still OK to stream and I'll leave it there as with room setup the wired setup is not a option.
However, Apple should consider this as a bug.
What are your thoughts, should we let Apple know about this??
You can still get a download greater than required for a good 4k and less it impacts other services, tuck it away and forget about it perhaps?
I rather suspect they know this.
A reason I hardwire where possible is such as this. If it is any help, I run sculpted trunking to the various parts of the room. You don't notice it.
I rather suspect they know this.
A reason I hardwire where possible is such as this. If it is any help, I run sculpted trunking to the various parts of the room. You don't notice it.
I changed the default audio output to TV speakers and tried again (best of 3 tries). Simply turning off the HomePods didn't affect the outcome.
| With HomePods | With TV Speakers | iPhone 12 | |
| Download | 195 Mbps | 301 Mbps | 367 Mbps |
| Upload | 111 Mbps | 308 Mbps | 373 Mbps |
| Ping | 14 ms | 12 ms | 12 ms |
| Jitter | 8.5 ms | 4.7 ms | 1.4 ms |
| Loss | 0% | 0% | 0% |
Apple TV+ streaming service is consistently noted for high bit rate, averaging 25-30 Mbps with a peak bit rate of 40-50 Mbps. I occasionally stream ripped contents over local network. Among the worst offenders are contents ripped from UHD Blu-Ray, which can peak at 144 Mbps. So 200 Mbps is still within the practical boundary.
I am guessing this is an intentional design of Apple TV's Home Theater Audio feature, as to minimize the latency between Apple TV and HomePods. I am willing to accept the limitation, but Apple should document the fact on their Using HomePods with Apple TV 4K support page.
Thank you very much for the detailed information.
I will try and contact support and let them know and maybe they can implement the solution.
This does to be a strange phenomeno, I have a 330MB ISP via cable and a Wifi 6 network (one main node and two wifi 6 child nodes). The 2021 ATV gives 160MB via wifi, but if I plug it into a child node i get the full 330 MB from my ISP. My iPhone 12 Pro gives 330MB throughout, so I’m unsure why the ATV wifi is slow.
I actually think the reason for the slow down is interference.
The Apple TV 4K connects via 5Ghz to Router. Speedtest over wifi 6 from my iPhone is 900+Mb/s
Apple TV with homepods connected via airplay. Speedtest over wifi 6 from my iPhone is 900+Mb/s
Apple TV with homepods paired as output speakers. Speedtest over wifi 6 from my iPhone is 700-800Mb/s
When you pair the homepods as output speakers a new mesh is created between the homepods and Apple TV. I believe this mesh is what is causing interference and slow down the wifi connection between Apple TV and router
I have my PS5 right next to the setup. With the speakers not connected as output speakers, my PS5 stays on wifi 6 continousy.
With my homepods connected as output speakers, my PS5 fluctuates between wifi 5 (866Mb/s) and 6 (1200mb/s)
I actually have the same issue with my HomePod mini which I think is related to this too
Single HomePod mini on my side table near my room. Another on my partners side
With them in single mode, my iPad and iPhone in the same room stay on wifi 6 and I can get 750-850mb/s
Now if I pair them in stereo my iPad and iPhone drop frequency to wifi 5 and the max rate I can get is 400-500mb/s
The Apple TV 4K connects via 5Ghz to Router. Speedtest over wifi 6 from my iPhone is 900+Mb/s
Apple TV with homepods connected via airplay. Speedtest over wifi 6 from my iPhone is 900+Mb/s
Apple TV with homepods paired as output speakers. Speedtest over wifi 6 from my iPhone is 700-800Mb/s
When you pair the homepods as output speakers a new mesh is created between the homepods and Apple TV. I believe this mesh is what is causing interference and slow down the wifi connection between Apple TV and router
I have my PS5 right next to the setup. With the speakers not connected as output speakers, my PS5 stays on wifi 6 continousy.
With my homepods connected as output speakers, my PS5 fluctuates between wifi 5 (866Mb/s) and 6 (1200mb/s)
I actually have the same issue with my HomePod mini which I think is related to this too
Single HomePod mini on my side table near my room. Another on my partners side
With them in single mode, my iPad and iPhone in the same room stay on wifi 6 and I can get 750-850mb/s
Now if I pair them in stereo my iPad and iPhone drop frequency to wifi 5 and the max rate I can get is 400-500mb/s
I completely eliminated the problem for me by using Ethernet (CAT 7 cable) to my Apple TV 4K instead of using WiFi. I now have full Internet speeds for my streaming and other Internet activities. I only needed about 20 ft of cable to go from my router to the Apple TV 4K and ran it along the walls at the bottom so it isn’t even visible as it is a flat white cable which is nice. I know many others probably have the Apple TV 4K or router in opposite rooms or may not be able to hide the cable like I did so this may not be a worthwhile option to you.
I have an extreme example of this right now.
Wifi speed on iPhone is 450mbps.
Ethernet speed on Mac is 950mbps.
Wifi speed on AppleTV 4k with homepods connected in stereo……
1.5mbps
Somehow upload is 15x higher at 30mbps
Disconnecting the Homepods instantly gets me 400mbps+
This seems like a design flaw of the Homepods?
Wifi speed on iPhone is 450mbps.
Ethernet speed on Mac is 950mbps.
Wifi speed on AppleTV 4k with homepods connected in stereo……
1.5mbps
Somehow upload is 15x higher at 30mbps
Disconnecting the Homepods instantly gets me 400mbps+
This seems like a design flaw of the Homepods?
Last edited:
I’ve definitely experienced this drop in bandwidth when using a stereo pair of OG HomePods as the default audio output for my Apple TV.
Has anyone tried with a pair of the HomePod 2s to see if the issue has gotten any less pronounced?
Has anyone tried with a pair of the HomePod 2s to see if the issue has gotten any less pronounced?
The HomePod (mini) uses 802.11n wifi in single-channel mode, which is 72Mbps at max. According to Apple it is for responsiveness and energy efficiency (article link). I find this typical PR BS. Apple simply didn't want to develop a S-series chip with 802.11ac or 802.11ax yet.
I have 8 HomePod mini's and all of them report a connection single channel 72Mbps downlink. Usually the uplink is 72Mbps too, but some go as low as 6Mbps.
When using an AppleTV 4K on wifi, the AP has to switch between 802.11n single channel and 802.11ac multi-channel back and forth. This lowers the actual attainable bandwidth. How much depends on the wifi AP (model/brand) and other connected clients. Put in a few other wifi devices that use other wifi modes, the whole network can slowdown even more.
In theory it should not be a problem to stream hi-res audio flawlessly to multiple HomePod's, but in my experience HomePod mini is limited to four (on the same wifi network). Adding a fifth to the same Airplay group and it breaks down. When looking at the network utilisation on my AP, I see it pushing 80%. That's probably also the reason why Apple doesn't support 5.1 sound with only HomePod's.
Last edited: