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SONOS and Xfinity XB7 Modem

  • 22 February 2022
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I have a fourteen zone SONOS S2 system connected to a Xfinity XB7 Modem that has the Xfinity Generation 2 Pods connected. The Xfinity XB7 modem has the Wi-Fi selection set to automatic and it appears to be using channel 6, which is the same channel that the SONOS system is on. I have eleven SONOS components connected to TP-LINK managed switches that have been configured for RSTP / STP.

The system can play music from my SYNOLOGY DS1821+ NAS which is running the DSM 7.x operating system. I have a SONOS specific account, and all music has been ripped in the FLAC format. The SONOS S2 system is using SMB3.

 

On various iPhones (8 and 8 Plus) and an iPad Air whenever we open the SONOS app the SONOS playlist may not be visible. If I force close the app a couple of times the Playlist will reappear. This will last for a short period of time and then it will disappear again. The Playlist will appear all of the time on the various Microsoft Windows 10 Pro computers that I have running the latest SONOS app.

I have also downloaded the Phonos Univeral app for the iPhone and Windows computer and it can locate the SONOS playlist every time. It does take a little time for the icons to display on all of the SONOS playlist.

My wife has created 65 playlists through the years. Is there a limit to the number of SONOS playlist that are allowed?

Currently all SONOS components are getting the IP Address from the Xfinity XB7 modem DHCP pool. Would there be any benefit is assigning the SONOS IP addresses from the DHCP Reserved list?

The SONOS technical support team is scheduled to call me on Friday and work with me again to attempt to resolve this issue which started when I transitioned from S1 to S2.

 

All suggestions on a possible solution are welcome.



 

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Best answer by Corry P 25 February 2022, 09:44

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11 replies

Userlevel 7
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Hi @PLCMAN58 

Thanks for your post!

On various iPhones (8 and 8 Plus) and an iPad Air whenever we open the SONOS app the SONOS playlist may not be visible. If I force close the app a couple of times the Playlist will reappear. This will last for a short period of time and then it will disappear again. The Playlist will appear all of the time on the various Microsoft Windows 10 Pro computers that I have running the latest SONOS app.

 

This sounds to me like the WiFi-connected devices are having trouble communicating on your network with the Sonos devices, while the computers (which I am assuming are ethernet-wired just by the amount of Sonos devices that are also wired) are not. This is most likely due to configuration options on your router, like the missing devices needing “unpaused”:

  1. Navigate to https://internet.xfinity.com/
  2. Sign in with your Xfinity xFi account
  3. Once logged in, click the Devices or Connect tab, then click on the Paused Sonos device
  4. On the following page, click on the Unpaused Device button
  5. Click on Apply Changes to complete the unblocking process of the device
  6. You may need to reboot the affected Sonos component(s).

My wife has created 65 playlists through the years. Is there a limit to the number of SONOS playlist that are allowed?

There is no hard limit for the number of playlists that can be made, but the total number of all tracks in all playlists may not exceed 10,000.

Currently all SONOS components are getting the IP Address from the Xfinity XB7 modem DHCP pool. Would there be any benefit is assigning the SONOS IP addresses from the DHCP Reserved list?

Reserving IP addresses for your Sonos devices can certainly help in some cases, but something else could be going on too. As I’m not familiar with the settings on your Xfinity router, it may be best to let our technical support team assist you with this later, assuming the steps above don’t help.

I hope this helps.

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Thanks for the reply.

 

  1. All computers are wired to the same Ethernet Switch as the SONOS devices.
     
  2. I can see all SONOS (Wired and Wireless) components and have no issues getting them to play music either as a single or group.
     
  3. The only issue is the SONOS Playlist on the iPhones and iPads.
     
  4. All SONOS components have been rebooted several times.
Userlevel 7
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Hi @PLCMAN58 

It’s a strange one, to be sure. Perhaps resetting the Sonos App will help - though it is a bit of a long-shot.

The playlists are stored on the speakers, not the app, so it still sounds like a communication issue, though it’s certainly strange that only playlists are affected.

 

 

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I have done the following.

  1. Reset the SONOS App on each iPhone and iPad.
  2. Updated the SONOS App on each iPhone and iPad.
  3. Complete Un-Install and Re-Install of the SONOS App on each iPhone and iPad.
  4. The last SONOS update also updated the firmware on all SONOS products.
  5. I have a scheduled call with SONOS technical support tomorrow.
  6. The only issue I can think of is a wireless issue, but no other device is having the same issue. The iPhones and iPads connect wireless for Internet, E-Mail, SONOS and SOMFY and the only ones that is having issues is the SONOS.
Userlevel 7
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Hi @PLCMAN58 

I think at this stage, getting directly in touch with our technical support team is the way to go.

The Xfinity XB7 modem has the Wi-Fi selection set to automatic and it appears to be using channel 6, which is the same channel that the SONOS system is on. 

 

 

Are you able to fix the channel used by the router?  Or at least change the SonosNet channel?  Given that most things are working, I don’t really expect this to help, but I think it ought to be eliminated.

 

 

 

Userlevel 7
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There have been occasional reports of playlist enumeration problems on the iOS app. As the PC app works reliably, and my app does too (thanks!), chances of a network issue being the root cause are low. It sounds like the OP has created a reasonably reliable repro of the iOS playlist bug, so hopefully Sonos support can get to the root cause.

Userlevel 4
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The Xfinity XB7 modem has the Wi-Fi selection set to automatic and it appears to be using channel 6, which is the same channel that the SONOS system is on. 

 

 

Are you able to fix the channel used by the router?  Or at least change the SonosNet channel?  Given that most things are working, I don’t really expect this to help, but I think it ought to be eliminated.

 

 

 

I do not have the ability to change the Xfinity XB7 channel. I can change the SonosNet channel. I have the call this afternoon with SONOS to hopefully resolve this issue.

 

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Had the scheduled call with SONOS technical support today and they identified some issue with the iPhone and iPad app having some issue with the browse request when looking for the Playlist. The requests are failing and returning errors.  They will be sending the diagnostics to the software development team to review and will schedule another troubleshooting session once it is completed.

They did not notice any issues with my wireless or wired connections.

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I just finished reserving the IP address for my SONOS devices. All fourteen SONOS and the Xfinity XB7 modem have been rebooted. The SONOS playlist appeared quickly on the iPhone and then disappeared just like before.

We can music on all zones (Wired and Wireless) without any issues from the SYNOLOGY DS1821+ NAS, SIRUS XM, iHeartRadio and Amazon Music.

SONOS is chasing down some internal issues related to the Playlist request timing out and I hope to hear from them this week. 

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SONOS has indicated that they are aware of the issue and are working on it but do not have a ETA on the fix..