And why.
I think it depends on the person you ask:
Customer with some good will - It works sometimes. Hopefully it’ll get better. Maybe I can workaround it.
Angry customer - This is junk!
Engineering - We don’t know why it doesn’t work sometimes, we need root cause analysis, code review, and full-on integration test.
Marketing- It works! It’s fine! Let’s ship it!
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Love the perspective! I didn’t expect that. I read it to a friend and she got a good laugh.
In a different sense, without looking them up, I don’t know that I’d be able to use sporadic and intermittent precisely. People don’t usually distinguish between words that are roughly synonymous (roughly the same is good enough) but it’s fun to know there are distinctions that might come in handy.
One of the moderators used sporadic this morning which prompted this post, though I’d been thinking about synonyms for a while. 
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I guess the first thing that came into mind when I saw your post was the different ways people see inconsistency. 
My understanding of these words are:
Inconsistent - Usually works, but doesn’t always work well
Intermittent - Sometimes something (neutral) happens
Sporadic - Usually works, but rarely something bad happens
Another word would be:
Unreliable - Usually doesn’t work
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Nice! Have you been using them distinctly, consciously, in that way? Or is it only on reflection (prompted by this brilliant topic) that the distinctions have become known?
( BREAKING: Virtuous 
sprains shoulder patting self on back! )
Definitely the latter. 
I realized the word ‘inconsistent’ has a very specific meaning to me from my years of working in IT, so I wouldn’t use other words interchangeably.
Curious if others understand these words differently. Maybe I’ve been misinterpreting all these emails and phone calls after all…
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Likewyze.
Now and then
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Combining @IL1 's and yours:
Usually works. Performs poorly now and then.
Hmm. Unpredictability. Uncertainty.
People would tend to hate that in a tool meant to order one’s environment and life.
‘But that’s the nature of the beast.’ 
So the realistic goal is to keep things below the ‘pain point.’
Hmm.
Order (verb)
To put into a methodical, systematic arrangement
“Spiders” 
Why do they like to hang out in my shower two or three times a week?
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We used to have carpenter ants. They ate the deck. Exterminator found the nest under the bathtub. Still see one once in a while.
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I have a Spider by my garage recently that keeps tricking my Floodlight Pro into thinking it is a person all week long in the middle of the night. I’ve run a broom up there a couple of times to wipe away any web strands, but it keeps coming back to give me person announcements while I’m up working. I need to put some bug spray up there one of these days, just haven’t felt like pulling out the ladder.
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Hard to know what you’ve got going on in there. Let’s mount a cam or two in the stall and find out.
We had a maiden aunt we couldn’t get rid of. She eventually wandered off. 
Here’s the thing about the ‘Pro’ designation in consumer products. Professionals use ‘Commercial’ quality. Not ‘Pro’.
Am I the only one insulted by infantile marketing terms? Yes. Yes, I am.
Maybe you’re assuming the wrong definition of “Pro”…there are several. I can help give you some alternative ways of thinking of it instead so it doesn’t keep flash mobbing your OCPD everytime you see “Pro” for a device model name…or I might just make it worse for you…I’m okay with either result. 
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Maybe it means the actual word “Pro” instead of an abbreviation…as in “In favor of a proposition”
(ie: I am “Pro” Wyze, or “Pro” trolling @cyberdog_17 whenever I get the chance)…in this case, I am PRO having 4 of this new improved model! -
Sometimes “Pro” just means “an advantage or reason for doing something” and Wyze’s Pro line does give an advantage over the original models.
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Maybe it is short for some form of the word “PROductivity” (productive) since it is more productive and efficient in doing the tasks you want.
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Maybe it is short for “PROmotion” since it is an UPGRADE over the regular version. Actually, this fits the use of it quite nicely, come to think of it.
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Maybe it’s short for “PROgress” since it has progressed from the original version in a significantly improved way.
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Maybe it is implying improved “PROtection” for your family, home, belongings, seeing things, etc.
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It could be that it is more “PROgrammable” with more features
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It is also more “PROficient” at being a good Floodlight that can be set to trigger for only persons, not all heated motion.
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In this case, it helps you manage your “PROperty” better.
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It also has improved “PROximithy” features.
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This camera “PROvisions” improved floodlights than the previous model.
I mostly started making a list as a joke, but come to think of it, some of those are pretty good, like the PROmotion one because that is exactly how Smart Home Companies are actually using the “Pro” designation…they don’t quite mean Professional/Commercial, but it is usually a significant upgrade over their entry-level offering. Having PRO be short for Promotion would actually make a ton of sense and be describing exactly what it is used for. I kind of like it. I’m not saying that’s what all the smart home companies INTENDED it to mean, I’m just saying that it makes a ton more sense in context than trying to have it mean “Professional” for exactly the point you made.
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Are you saying Mr. A’s shower is not shipshape? And Tom and I share a personality disorder?
Boys, are you going to let him diss us like that?
Remember, first they came for not me, and then they came again for not me, and a third time, also not me. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to be not me.
Tragicomic, like the maiden 
wandering away…
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I will give you this because it struck me as plausible and preferable as I first read it and I am nothing if not fair-minded. 
(The low hanging fruit was PROlix but we* vowed to reach higher recently so omitted )
/edit
* Actually I vowed - Carver pretty much always reaches higher.
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I’m trying out a new character.
How do you think it’s going? 
later…
Here’s my motive, folks, in case there’s any doubt:
Stated years ago, it remains the same. It’s honorable. Cheers.