HomePod PISSED about HomePod

[Buerkletucson]

I don't think there has been much publicity regarding intended usage. Only way we can find out the limitations or practical use of anything is from experiences like this. Automatically coming to the defense of Apple, and making ridiculous analogies to prove a protectionist point really adds nothing.

I think the thread starter genuinely did not know the limitations of an "intended use" speaker. He even thanked those who "contributed" to solving his issue. Sometimes the best response is not criticism or sarcasm.

Has nothing to do with Apple or any specific company and I'm surely not defending Apple in any way, shape or form......
My comments stand for any product purchase.....

Don't criticize or call a product a POS because your using it outside the scope it was intended....and research before you impulse buy.
There has been a ton of press and information on the intended use of the Homepod.....not a valid response IMHO>

 

[TrueBlou]

Just got my HomePod yesterday and was super excited! It sounded amazing and really did rock my house. The quality was excellent and I LOVED the bass it produced.

I was so excited that I decided to pack in my luggage for my 13 day trip to daytona. I couldn’t wait to get to my hotel every night and jam out as if I was at the club.

Unfortunately, when I got to my hotel my HomePod would not connect to the WiFi network of the hotel even though my other devices were connected.

Then I saw this



This made me livid. I wasted space and time packing the HomePod and it won’t even work at all on public WiFi.

Is there ANY workaround guys??

Love the HomePod but these stupid restrictions have me leaning to returning it before the 14-day window.

Yeah, invest in a Kingston MobileLite G3. Then you have a handy mobile router which you can use with your iPhones hotspot, bypassing the limitation.

And you get the ability to transfer files from hard drives, memory cards and anything else you can plug into usb thrown in too.

You can even charge your phone from it in a pinch.

Bloody handy device, I’d be lost without mine.

 

[RichardMZhlubb]

No offense to the thread starter, but the prospect of a hotel guest “jamming out” to a speaker as loud and powerful as a Homepod sounds like a big potential issue for other guests at the hotel.

 

[TrueBlou]

No offense to the thread starter, but the prospect of a hotel guest “jamming out” to a speaker as loud and powerful as a Homepod sounds like a big potential issue for other guests at the hotel.

Screw them, if they forgot to pack earplugs it’s their own fault

Seriously though, I’ve stayed in some suites where there’s ample distance between say, the lounge and any other guests accommodation that playing the HomePod wouldn’t be an issue. Provided you’re not blasting it at full volume I suppose.

Otherwise I do agree a bit of decorum would need to be applied.

 

[sammy2066]

Wait, you're pissed because you think a hotel wifi network would somehow operate like your home wifi? That's not an Apple problem.

I'm sorry, if I drop $349 on a speaker that requires WiFi to stream music, then it absolutely is Apple's problem if it is unable to use public or other paid WiFi networks. It's naive to assume people will only use this within the confines of their homes. I'm certainly amazed at how some people defend even the most egregious of Apple's shortcomings on this website.

 

[TrueBlou]

I'm sorry, if I drop $349 on a speaker that requires WiFi to stream music, then it absolutely is Apple's problem if it is unable to use public or other paid WiFi networks. It's naive to assume people will only use this within the confines of their homes. I'm certainly amazed at how some people defend even the most egregious of Apple's shortcomings on this website.

There’s always the possibility it was a deliberate decision on Apple’s part to actively discourage people from using such a loud, disruptive device in places such as hotels, airports, wherever else, library’s maybe

We might not agree with it and I’m with you, it should really be our decision where, when and how we use them. It just seems to me like the kind of reason Apple would do such a thing.

At least there are ways to circumvent it.

 

[Zimmy68]

Yep, the guy in the room next to him is unknowingly thankful for this limitation.

But I thought the HomePod could just mirror the iPhone's wifi connection. Why can't the iPhone just send the connection details to it or act like a HomePod screen to accept the WiFi agreement.

 

[TrueBlou]

Yep, the guy in the room next to him is unknowingly thankful for this limitation.

But I thought the HomePod could just mirror the iPhone's wifi connection. Why can't the iPhone just send the connection details to it or act like a HomePod screen to accept the WiFi agreement.

In theory it should work with HomePod. Haven’t tried it yet however Direct Guest Access is listed in the HomePod Tech Specs. Which Apple defines as follows:

Peer-to-peer AirPlay requires a Mac (2012 or later) with OS X Yosemite or later, or an iOS device (late 2012 or later) with iOS 8 or later.

So they are saying peer-to-peer is in there.

 

[D.T.]

Sounds like it's the same scenario as the AppleTV, i.e., if there's an auth page/prompt, it can't connect (so you need ethernet / "hardwire"), or a controllable access point (outside of black magic like auth'ing with a computer with the spoofed MAC address of the device ...)

 

[TrueBlou]

Sounds like it's the same scenario as the AppleTV, i.e., if there's an auth page/prompt, it can't connect (so you need ethernet / "hardwire"), or a controllable access point (outside of black magic like auth'ing with a computer with the spoofed MAC address of the device ...)

That’s why I like my MobileLite for places like that. Once you connect it you’ve got a WiFi router and an Ethernet port to use. No more restrictions.

 

[ericwn]

I'm sorry, if I drop $349 on a speaker that requires WiFi to stream music, then it absolutely is Apple's problem if it is unable to use public or other paid WiFi networks. It's naive to assume people will only use this within the confines of their homes. I'm certainly amazed at how some people defend even the most egregious of Apple's shortcomings on this website.

Well it’s more or less obvious that this setup isn’t going to work. The level of obviousness depends on how technical the user is in understanding the scenario.
The hotel’s WiFi is not set up for anything that isn’t a computer with a browser interface. That will exclude a lot of other WiFi devices from being used on the network. Doesn’t matter who we try to blame for it, the scenario won’t change.

 

[A MacBook lover]

If you don't get my point, I can't help you.......

Use a product outside the scope it was intended then call it a POS is just plain stupid......
....and if you impulse buy without researching a product first, you have no one to blame but yourself.

You were just subtlety trolling, which was your real point, and isn’t appreciated. Next time don’t post at all if your opting out to help another member and instead criticize.

On another note, I consider myself quite technical savvy - why couldn’t peer to peer be enabled right out of the box? I’m used to apple products being ridiculously easy. Oh well, it works now - I’m happy.

 

[TrueBlou]

You were just subtlety trolling, which was your real point, and isn’t appreciated. Next time don’t post at all if your opting out to help another member and instead criticize.

On another note, I consider myself quite technical savvy - why couldn’t peer to peer be enabled right out of the box? I’m used to apple products being ridiculously easy. Oh well, it works now - I’m happy.

That’s just it though, according to the HomePod specs, peer-to-peer is enabled on the HomePod. I’m going to have to check this out at some point.

 

[A MacBook lover]

That’s just it though, according to the HomePod specs, peer-to-peer is enabled on the HomePod. I’m going to have to check this out at some point.

The HomePod requires open WiFi for initial setup. Once setup you need to manually enable peer-to-peer in the home app. Only then will it work without WiFi

 

[spacemnspiff]

Hyperbolic headline for a problem that OP is facing.

 

[Brookzy]

For other people facing this problem (e.g. setting it up at work or in a university/college residence) you can work around it if your organisation allows the whitelisting of devices by MAC address.

The problem is that Apple decided not to print the MAC address on the packaging or device, so you have to either set it up in a place with normal Wi-Fi (or use a computer and personal hotspot plus some trickery - this process is detailed in other threads) to then ascertain the MAC, and then go from there.

[Of course if Apple put the effort in the whole thing could be avoided by a more advanced setup process that would allow your iPhone to momentarily in effect act as a remote display for your HomePod in order to connect to Wi-Fi and accept the terms. Same goes for the Apple Watch. But Apple obviously isn't interested in doing that.]

 

[TrueBlou]

The HomePod requires open WiFi for initial setup. Once setup you need to manually enable peer-to-peer in the home app. Only then will it work without WiFi

Indeed, I wasn’t counting initial setup in my comment as the op had already done that part at home.
When I set my HomePod up for the first time peer-to-peer was already active by default. I assumed that would be the same for everyone.

 

[vipergts2207]

If you don't get my point, I can't help you.......

Use a product outside the scope it was intended then call it a POS is just plain stupid......
....and if you impulse buy without researching a product first, you have no one to blame but yourself.

I hardly think using it in a hotel room is outside the scope of what could be considered normal use.

 

[A MacBook lover]

Indeed, I wasn’t counting initial setup in my comment as the op had already done that part at home.
When I set my HomePod up for the first time peer-to-peer was already active by default. I assumed that would be the same for everyone.

I initially set it up at home, and when I got to my hotel it didn’t show up as a device - so for me it was not set by default.

 

[NT1440]

I'm sorry, if I drop $349 on a speaker that requires WiFi to stream music, then it absolutely is Apple's problem if it is unable to use public or other paid WiFi networks. It's naive to assume people will only use this within the confines of their homes. I'm certainly amazed at how some people defend even the most egregious of Apple's shortcomings on this website.

Uh, as it’s been explained several times in this thread...you’re demanding that smart speakers come with a mechanism that somehow circumvents the captive portals a private company has put in place on their private network.

It doesn’t matter what you paid, it’s a nonsensical expectation.

That’s not even getting into the fact that the device, HOMEpod, is explicitly named for the use-case it was designed for. It is NOT a travel speaker regardless of what you paid for it.

 

[TrueBlou]

I initially set it up at home, and when I got to my hotel it didn’t show up as a device - so for me it was not set by default.

Curious, wonder why it’s different. I am on the 11.3 Dev beta, maybe that’s got something to do with it.

 

[vipergts2207]

Uh, as it’s been explained several times in this thread...you’re demanding that smart speakers come with a mechanism that somehow circumvents the captive portals a private company has put in place on their private network.

It doesn’t matter what you paid, it’s a nonsensical expectation.

You’d think Apple could have come up with a way to route the request through an iPhone or iPad.

 

[TrueBlou]

You’d think Apple could have come up with a way to route the request through an iPhone or iPad.

Maybe if the iPad was setup as a personal hotspot and both the HomePod and iPhone connected to that. Don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Of course you’d need a cellular iPad to do that.

 

[NT1440]

You’d think Apple could have come up with a way to route the request through an iPhone or iPad.

Why? In what world is it rational to travel with a device that couldn’t possibly be more explicit in being a home-based product.

 

[sammy2066]

Well it’s more or less obvious that this setup isn’t going to work. The level of obviousness depends on how technical the user is in understanding the scenario.
The hotel’s WiFi is not set up for anything that isn’t a computer with a browser interface. That will exclude a lot of other WiFi devices from being used on the network. Doesn’t matter who we try to blame for it, the scenario won’t change.

Totally agree. But developing a restrictive piece of expensive hardware that requires WiFi is my point of contention.