Answered

Help. VERY Inconsistant Sonos Experiences

E

Hello Sonos Community!  Long time lurker, first time help-requester… Allow me please, to set the stage of my current environment:

Roughly 3000 sq. Ft home (two stories with an unfinished basement)

Basement: 1x Sonos One

First Floor: 1x Sonos One, 1x Sonos Roam, 1x Sonos Move, 1x Sonos Five

Second Floor: 3x Sonos One

Music Sources: Spotify, Apple Music, U-Turn Turntable (setup line-in on the Sonos Five)

Wireless: Eero 6 Pro (3x nodes, one on each floor) All Sonos devices are wireless.

Internet: 1.2 Gbps cable (roughly 30 Mbps up)

Devices: An all-Apple household (iPhone or iPad interacting with the Sonos app)

 

My Issue: 

I have had a VERY inconsistent experience with Sonos actually “playing” music when asked.  Let me explain…  The central music player in our house is the turntable.  I do have auto-play turned on for the Sonos 5 (where the turntable is connected).  No matter what order I go about things (drop the needle on a record and then add rooms, or add groups, or add groups then drop the needle), my system maybe plays where I expect it to 25% of the time.  

 

I will occasionally get an error in the app that it can’t connect.  Maybe 10% of the time.  Most of the time though, speakers just don’t play.  No errors.  It’s not the same speaker.  I usually just tap the “Everywhere” group.  Sometimes the Move doesn’t play.  Sometimes the Five doesn’t play.  This is also the case when I use a streaming service like Spotify.

 

25% of the time, it works.  I tap a group, play some vinyl and I’m happy with the four-figure purchase I made.  75% of the time though, I’m fiddling with the app, rebooting speakers, and occasionally just giving up and wishing I’d never went down this road.  

 

I do not have ANY issues with anything else on my wireless.  I have coverage everywhere, and I test it.  We have 100+ devices connected to my network.  I’m an IT guy by trade.  

 

Is this normal?  Does Sonos HATE Eero networks?  Are there changes I need to be making?  I have friends that swear by Sonos.  They have ZERO technical ability.  If it worked as badly as mine did, they’d never have the patience to fix it.  I just keep banging my head agains the wall.

 

I’ve tried rebooting things.  Killing the app.  Resetting every single speaker and re-adding it to my account.  I’ve tried moving speakers around.  Most of them are within 25 ft of a mesh node.  

 

Please help, if someone can.  I’ve spent too much money, and too much time trying to convince my accountant wife this was the best solution for it to work this poorly.  If there’s something I’ve missed, or something I need to change, I’m all ears.  I just…can’t live like this anymore.  LOL

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Best answer by skullc 15 May 2023, 20:32

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16 replies

skullc
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Just wire one of the sonos speakers to a mesh node, I have one of my 5's wired 

It will create a sonosnet network this should solve most of your issues

Also reserve the ip's of all your sonos products on the eero gateway 

I have this setup and never had any problems 

And I am using a 5g cellular router for my Internet 😊

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
skullc
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Also make sure your isp router is in bridge mode 👍

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
E

Okay. So static IPs and wire at least one of my speakers. Doesn’t matter which one?  I have the Sonos One in the basement sitting right next to a switch…. Should that work?

buzz

Yes, wire to the switch. If you can wire to other switch ports, this will increase reliability. Additional wiring to an Eero mesh point can cause issues because Eero might move the port to another subnet. If you are using a managed switch, enable STP.

Airgetlam

And ‘right next’ could be an issue, it should be at least a meter (3feet) for optimum radio signals. Electricity can be unfriendly to radios. 

Bruce
skullc
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

It's always best to wire a speaker to the gateway eero but a satellite hub will do but from the detail you provided it didn't sound possible.

The eero system is strange in some ways there is no way to change subnets or the names of the subnets as it is a simplified mesh system compared to other ones.

Good in the way it's easier to manage but bad as in less granular control 😊

It's the reason I picked it as the last thing I wanted was to come home from a hard day fixing IT issues then having to do it at home!

I have used eero for longer than I have had sonos and it's never let me down even changed isp's in that time and just unplugged the eero from one isp to the next didn't miss a beat.

Oh my 5 is plugged into an unmanaged switch and is about 2.5 feet away from my gateway eero haven't had a problem with this so far 

My moves connect even in the garden they use the wifi but can group ok with music on the sonosnet side no problem.

Hope my suggestions help you out good luck👍

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
E

THANK YOU ALL!!!!!!

I’m a collaboration sales engineer for one of the larger technology companies in the world, but spent 13 years in IT on the “fixing broken stuff” side of the house.  I know there are guys that LOVE tinkering with stuff and work in IT.  I am not one of them.  My dad was a mechanic.  He always said “the last thing I want is a muscle car to work on when I’m not working.”  I am the same way.  Hence, the Eero setup.  It felt very “set it and forget it”.

I have a 10-port POE switch coming today.  My current 5-port was full.  I should also clarify that when I said “right next” I meant like…10 feet away.  So I should be good on interference.  Once I get it, I’ll get the Sonos One in my basement wired up and see how things work.  I will certainly update the thread in the next couple of days with progress.

I’ll be interested to see how the Roam and Move work.  My Roam is in my garage.  It’s the furthest thing from my wireless and it’s been PERFECT.  The one I’ve actually not had any issues with.  The Move has been my most problematic.  I know they won’t connect via Sonosnet, but maybe the Move gets better with less traffic on the Wi-Fi.  Time will tell.

I’ll update once I have some progress.  Thank you all again for your help.  I sincerely appreciate it!

E

Should clarify…I’ll also assign them all to static IPs…. Updates to follow.

E

I just wanted to update the thread on my progress. I have the Sonos One in my basement wired to the new 8-port managed switch that is directly wired to the base Eero, not a satellite. I have reservations set for every speaker in the Eero app. I have verified in the Sonos app that everything but the Move and Roam show “WM0” in the About My System to confirm I’m using Sonosnet.  I think that was everything I was supposed to change. 

I’m actually on PTO this week with my mother-in-law in town, so the system has gotten a bunch of use (both playing line-in from the Five and Spotify). Overall, my experience has been better. I fire up the turntable, select my group(s) and things played. Probably four for four over the weekend. 

Yesterday morning, I pulled up Spotify (in the Sonos app) selected a playlist and selected “Everywhere” as the group. Every speaker came on and started playing BUT the Sonos One in the basement. The one that is hard wired. I went into the app to check it to add to the group, and after a few seconds I got the “Unable to Connect” error in the Sonos app. 
 

I haven’t tried it since, but I thought that seemed weird as it’s the only wired speaker and everything else worked. I don’t know. I was optimistic I had a fix. Now I’m not sure. 

E

I will continue to test today. Anything else I may have missed, I’m all ears :)
skullc
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Sounds like you did everything did you disable wifi on the wired one?

That would cause an issue apart from that cannot think of anything but I don't use groups that much 😊

Live on my own… So no real use for groups maybe some other user can help you with that 

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
E

Dumb question…how does one disable Wifi on the wired speaker?

E

🤦‍♂️ Found it. Just had to dig. Will try that now. 

skullc
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

🤦‍♂️ Found it. Just had to dig. Will try that now. 

Noooooooo

Disabling that is bad

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
E

Even if it is wired?

skullc
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Yes it is transmitting the sonosnet bit for your other speakers 👍

Network= livewire cpe pro 3 +eero 6 pro wireless
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