How can I fix a smart home routine that's off due to wi-fi latency?

[IsabellaA]

I’ve been trying to get my smart lights and thermostat to work together through a single routine, but the timing is always slightly off. I think the issue is my Wi-Fi network’s latency, but I’m not sure how to actually measure or fix that without just buying a whole new router. Has anyone else dealt with this kind of sync problem?

[Kenneth51]

I chased the same problem last month. I started by timing the actual sequence: thermostat fires, then the lights catch up a beat later. I kept seeing a drift whenever the network was busy, and I kept blaming latency to the router. It wasn’t just the router, it was how the hub queued commands and timed them.

[Michael_H]

I did a quick ping to the hub during a run and saw jitter spikes whenever other devices streamed video. After I dropped two downloads from the WiFi, the timing got steadier, though not perfect.

[Noah.J]

I ended up using a local automation routine that runs on the hub rather than cloud timing. The sequence became more predictable, and I stopped chasing external delays.

[EdwardS]

I moved the hub closer to the router and disabled the guest network for the devices involved. The change didn't fix it entirely, but I noticed the sporadic delays reduced a bit.

[Savannah_T]

I keep telling myself it might be me overthinking, but I still see the mismatch. I tried setting the lights to a slightly later offset; still felt off under certain conditions.

[RichardJ]

Do you think the real issue is cloud time sync vs local execution?