All of a sudden, Alexa has stopped working in India. I thought may be it’s an issue with my system. I did a full reset of my Sonos Arc and Sonos Roam and added Alexa voice assistant. While the basic functionality of Alexa is working (asking time, weather etc), it just won’t play any music. Here is a response I am getting when I ask Sonos Roam - Alexa, play some music.
response: sorry to do that first enable the skill for your Sonos roam in the Alexa app, then ask me to discover devices. (Similar case with Sonos Arc)
in Alexa app, there is no SONOS skill listed to enable. (See the screenshot included below)
I have been using Sonos for the past three years. Didn’t have to go through this process of enabling skill while setting up Alexa back when I installed Sonos for the first time. if worked like a charm right after enabling it from the Sonos app (I didn’t even have to install Alexa on my phone, let alone enabling the skill).
I don’t know if this is just for me or something is seriously broken at Sonos.
Were you using a VPN before? Have you moved location? Have you updated your Amazon or Sonos location recently?
Well, India was very well supported until now. I have been using it in India so far, no VPN, nothing. My system has been in the same location ever since I bought it, with India as my registered location. If Sonos has dropped support for India recently, then may be that is the reason. But had that been the case, then why Sonos app is allowing enabling Alexa in India?
Perhaps Amazon changed the way they’re looking at locations? Or perhaps Sonos did? Without legal agreements by Amazon authorizing Sonos to offer Alexa access in your location, any use by Sonos customers would be considered a breach of contract, I assume. Of course, I’m not a lawyer. But relying on an error of access seems to be fraught for future disappointment, as situations and methods of blocking change.
May be that is the case, but would love to hear official statement from Sonos on this. If Alexa is not available in India, then why offer that option in app and market it. And funny thing is HINDI as a language is supported my Alexa on Sonos, as per this page but the country where the language is spoken the most is no longer supported
Similar issue in Bermuda, Alexa has worked for 6 years with no issues and 2 days ago all Alexa has stopped. I’ve checked my system, my firewall rules, traffic blocking in my logs and everything is clean. There must be a new location algorithm that Amazon is using or Sonos.
What will it take to get a response from Sonos official representative on this thread?
What will it take to get a response from Sonos official representative on this thread?
You probably won’t get an official response. User @Kumar knows a lot about this maybe he will see the thread and comment.
Hi @darshakparmar
Thanks for your post!
Sorry to hear of this issue you are having with Alexa not working in India.
In addition to the information given in our Amazon Alexa availability on Sonos help pages - which do not list India as a supported country - Amazon’s own page here does not list India as a supported country either.
If it worked before, perhaps that has changed recently - I do not know, as that information is not listed on either of those pages.
I am sorry I could not be of more help.
Below is a form post from 4 years ago where Sonos staff states that Alexa is not supportted in India. If you use the forum search, you will see numerous other threads stating that it is not supportted, although it does appear that some users have found work arounds.
@Corry P Thank you for that response. Any ETA on the official availability of Alexa on Sonos devices? Considering Sonos devices are selling across all major retail stores and online stores India, there is a huge number of Sonos users here. BTW, the Amazon page you have linked (https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=202207000) does list Bermuda as a supported country and yet @JTBermuda has reported issues.
@melvimbe Yes, I am aware of the existing thread on this, however, since Alexa was working in India (with Hindi language as the supported language on the Sonos support page), and Sonos expanding its sales here, I assumed that they have rolled out Alexa for this country too.
Unfortunately, it isn’t Sonos who decides where they can make Alexa available, they must get legal authorization from Amazon. Your best bet would be to register your expectations with Amazon.
@Airgetlam Thanks, but I disagree. I think the onus is equally on Sonos to make it happen. At the end of the day, it is impacting Sonos users, not Amazon. Based on multiple threads on this forum, Sonos has been promising it for over 7 years!
Hi @darshakparmar
I find it highly doubtful that we promised any such thing. As @Airgetlam correctly states, we are only permitted to allow the installation of Alexa in certain countries, and it is Amazon who sets that list. I have no idea why Alexa would support the Hindi language and not India.
We do not ship to or support customers in India directly, nor have we ever. We only do so through distributers.
Bermuda is not listed on our list of supported countries - again, this is Amazon’s choice.
I hope this helps.
@Corry P Thanks. I agree. There is no official promise from Sonos, my bad. Having said that, it seems Alexa integration for India has been a long-discussed topic, and it seems the feature has been requested by @Shanty and @tanujh007 in the past. As, @Airgetlam mentioned, and confirmed by you, it is not upto Sonos. But like i said earlier, it is Sonos customers who are impacted, at the end of the day.
Hi @darshakparmar
Yes, Sonos customers are affected. That does not change the fact that we are unable to do anything about it, much as we’d like to.
Weird that I am in Germany that this is happening to me only on Sonos Arc Ultra and not on other Sonos devices. Highly pissed !! The Amazon account was created 15 years ago in India, but is always used in Germany and alexa fully works on all Amazon & Non-Amazon (including Sonos) Alexa devices, except Arc Ultra. My Alexa country is set to Germany. Any explanation, Sonos?
If you open the Sonos App/General Settings/Voice Assistants/Amazon Alexa, is your Sonos Ace shown as Enabled? If not, are you able to add it?
