Alexa issues when switching wifi networks


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Recently I moved one of my Sonos devices to my office. I still have two SonosOnes and a Move at home. The problem is Alexa - “she” loses most music-related functionality when I move between networks. Alexa will respond to voice prompt and do things internal like tell the time or weather. However, she no longer will pause/play/stop or adjust volume, and when I ask to play Spotify she says “OK, playing ____ from Spotify”, but no music. If I delete and restore the Sonos Skill in the Alexa app it then works, but the _OTHER_ network now has the problem. I can still play on the Sonos using Airplay from my iPhone without problems, so the issue appears to be specific to Alexa. Any ideas? Resetting the Sonos Skill twice a day is not a great solution...


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It’s definitely working @sjw on Android. I didn’t encounter any issues, but the advice still stands and that is if you do encounter an error, then it’s often best to reboot the speaker and the controller device too - In the past, I’ve got away with rebooting the speaker and fully closing the Sonos App (slide off screen) plus toggling off/on the mobile network connection.

Not sure if that assists, but maybe ensure no vpn/security software is getting in the way on the controller App.

Ken,

I will have to try the fake network trick tonight when I get home and can borrow a hotspot. I did uninstall and reinstall the Sonos app and after that it was working fine at Home on those devices. When I got to the Office I re-connected the Sonos One and did a network update. The System showed both wifi networks again - very strange that I can only see both when at work but when at home it only shows the home network SSID. I went ahead and selected the work network and the system went through setup and I could interact with Alexa. However, this was still the ‘dumb’ Alexa who says she is doing things but music doesn’t play, eg from Spotify and no daily news brief. She still can answer basic questions and perform internal functions. From prior experience I will need to disable and re-enable the Sonos skill to fix. Interestingly this procedure also re-activates my News skills even though I am not disabling and re-enabling those.The Sonos Alexa Skill seems to be buggy.

Can’t yet marked this one Solved as Dumb Alexa is still popping up.

The controller is auto-switching its households - it’s because you created a new system at work/office and then on return home you connected to the existing system. That’s why you are seeing two WiFi networks in one location (Work) and one WiFi network at the other (Home) - you are still using two different systems/households.. you will likely have a different My Sonos tab for example when at Home, compared to Work.

Can I suggest you stick to the Home setup? If so, when at Home with your office speaker, before you start the steps outlined in my lengthy post earlier in this thread, connect your mobile to the Home network, then just reset the controller app via ‘Settings/App Preferences’ - the App will close.

On reopening the App, skip past the opening screens and agree to the T&C’s and choose to connect back to the ‘existing system’ - do not create a new system and follow the instructions and let the App find your Sonos system on your Home WiFi network. Sign into your Sonos Account in the App (important) then ensure all is working and then follow the steps mentioned earlier. It will ensure you then do not auto-switch to the work Sonos Household, which will be wiped out when you go onto add the office speaker to your Home system.

Hope that makes sense and you are able to follow the things mentioned.👍

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