Google Home and Chromecast devices are reportedly knocking out people's Wi-Fi. Originally reported by Android Police, the problem was thought to be isolated to the Google Home Max, and the TP-Link Archer C7 router. However there are now reports from users experiencing the same issues with different models and brands of routers, as well as less expensive Google Home devices.
I must admit, I don't understand the appeal or the need for a product like the Google Home, this is a serious problem that will hopefully be resolved by Google quickly, especially if products as ubiquitous as the Chromecast are affected.
A TP-link engineer explains the issue on their FAQ.
This issue stems from these devices’ “Cast” feature, which sends MDNS multicast discovery packets in order to discover and keep a live connection with Google products such as Google Home. These packets 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 its “sleep” state, and could exceed more than 100,000 packets. The longer your device is in “sleep”, the larger this packet burst will be. This issue may eventually cause some of router’s primary features to shut down – including wireless connectivity.
I must admit, I don't understand the appeal or the need for a product like the Google Home, this is a serious problem that will hopefully be resolved by Google quickly, especially if products as ubiquitous as the Chromecast are affected.
A TP-link engineer explains the issue on their FAQ.
This issue stems from these devices’ “Cast” feature, which sends MDNS multicast discovery packets in order to discover and keep a live connection with Google products such as Google Home. These packets 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 its “sleep” state, and could exceed more than 100,000 packets. The longer your device is in “sleep”, the larger this packet burst will be. This issue may eventually cause some of router’s primary features to shut down – including wireless connectivity.