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Intermittent Alexa Voice Assistant.. Sonos Voice Control all OK!

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M
Userlevel 2
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So it seems the important step to do is completing or redoing the Alexa setup within Sonos app. And probably first installing the latest Alexa app update. 

Yes, I have done this and for quite some time I have been trying the Alexa voice continuously without closing the microphone

C
Userlevel 6
Badge +11

Just tried my ERA-100, and looks promising 😀

ERA-100 responded every time.

I updated Alexa App on phone yesterday, ERA-100 was not working this morning. I have NOT done anything with Sonos/Alexa/Skill. ERA-100 appears to be working again this evening.

Some silent Amazon Alexa? update possibly has happened in background?

 

G

Spot on for me now so all fine. My wife has now stopped telling me she is returning the speaker to the shop as it does not do what it should! Agree with earlier comment that Sonos needs to keep more on top of upgrades. Thanks and pleased all sorted. 

Ken_Griffiths

This is is a very frustrating issue as the Alexa voice assistant is almost unusable for us. :/ The Sonos Voice Control works 100% all the time.

Any other ideas or suggestions?

It maybe best to reproduce the issue and then submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support Staff via this LINK and see what the Staff can perhaps suggest to resolve the matter.

Schlumpf
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

Here is my diagnostic code, I am sorry for posting again:

1550060789

No problem… this just pushes the thread. 😉

But please contact support team via chat or phone and tell them the diagnosis number. 
https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/contact
Or (as I can see in your user profile you live in the Netherlands) if you prefer contact dutch support. 😎

https://support.sonos.com/nl-nl/contact

There’s also a dutch community…

https://nl.community.sonos.com

Ralf
Airgetlam

Might be worth a read of Diagnostics - How do they work? thread.

Bruce
R
Userlevel 2
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 @drbabbers I’m happy (and sad) to say I have the exact same issue with my Era 100!

I have just been through the entire process with Sonos: tech support, multiple emails, and have just received a brand new unit (less than 5 hours ago from UPS) to replace the ‘faulty’ unit.

After setting it up, and adding Alexa: Boom - the exact same issue.

I have just emailed support again to let them know and see what the next steps are.

A

I just bought a Era 100 and am also suffering from this frustrating problem. Sonos Voice Control is fine with no issues!. I had a Sonos 1 which was fine with no issues! From reading the posts it sounds like its a software and not a hardware problem. Sonos really need to sort out this problem as this is blighting an otherwise excellent product and has ruined my Sonos experience. Considering how much these cost it should work perfectly straight out of the box!

Come on Sonos PLEASE sort this out

R
Userlevel 2
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Worryingly it looks as though will not honor warranties for units with this issue(!) - not sure of the legality of this but have emailed their ‘CEO’ (although I seriously doubt the email address listed actually goes to Mr. Spence himself!).

Not a good look when you can grab an Echo for $50!!

Doesn’t surprise me; though I would expect them to remove ‘Works with Alexa’ from the product features list… or at least add ‘Works with Alexa - sometimes’.

Ken_Griffiths

Yea I assumed (wrongly) that I would stumble across something on Google but no such luck.. it is a very odd issue indeed.. IMO I’ve tried everything I can.. but can’t resolve it.

I might try again with Sonos or maybe Amazon support..  as I say I have Amazon Echos in the household all working 100% with Alexa on the same Wifi, Router and ISP etc.. Also the fact I can’t replicate this using the Sonos voice control seems to indicate the Sonos hardware is good and something specific between Sonos & Alexa.

Out of curiosity how do you think this is network related? Wifi or ISP? Any advice on what to do?

If I can’t find a fix then I think I will return the unit as using the Alexa voice assistant is a ‘must have’ for me. A new out of the box product shouldn’t be this problematic to get working.. I appreciate it is a 3rd party integration but still it should be working & stable.

I completely agree with your expectations here, but as mentioned, for me the Alexa VA is stable and working fine on the Era 100s here and presumably that’s the case for most other Sonos users too, otherwise I would have expected to read a good many reports from other users highlighting the same issue. 

The only reason I mentioned your network, was because you stated Sonos Support had highlighted it as being ‘busy’ and perhaps related to the cause. So to perhaps help sort that out, you could try using ‘fixed’ non-overlapping WiFi channels 1, 6 or 11 on your routers 2.4 GHz band and setting a channel-width of 20Mhz only and even try the 5Ghz band on 20/40Mhz channel-width, but I can’t ’hand on heart’ say whether those things will fix your issue. There is also this Sonos Support link that mentions other things to reduce network interference…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/reduce-wireless-interference

That might even involve trying the speaker at a different location around the Home, or even trying a different DNS server with your local router, such as the Google public DNS servers 8.8.8.8/8.8.4.4, or Cloudflare servers 1.1.1.1/1.0.0.1

Like I also mentioned earlier, a factory reset might be the solution to this too.. but it’s best to speak to both Sonos and Amazon Customer Support first. 

As another Sonos user, I can only suggest things for you to perhaps try, but I’m still not sure what the issue is here, personally speaking, but it’s not an issue that I’m seeing with my own ‘Sonos Era’/‘Amazon Alexa’ integration and so my own thoughts are it’s likely something local to yourself.

Schlumpf
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

Here is something to try and report back:

Go to Alexa App on your phone, click devices on bottom, select the Sonos device and check the setting for ‘Adaptive Listening’ if it’s set to ‘off’, set to ‘on’, this could help with this issue.

https://www.amazon.com/b?ie=UTF8&node=23623518011

 

Thanks for your advice and suggestion… but sadly this doesn’t seem to help. I activated the option for my Era100 but the issue still persists. 

Ralf
O

yeah having the same issue, just been shipped a new unit after the previous one was sent back with system diagnostic and the issue still persists with Alexa

Schlumpf
Userlevel 7
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yeah having the same issue, just been shipped a new unit after the previous one was sent back with system diagnostic and the issue still persists with Alexa

Yes, this was to be expected as it’s not a hardware issue. 

Ralf
D
Userlevel 2

This is my 1st experience with Sonos kit and support so I’m also very disappointed. :/

Airgetlam

There was no update to Sonos firmware that I am aware of. I can’t speak to changes made on the Amazon server that the Era 100 is pointing to to process commands. 

Bruce
Ken_Griffiths

My initial thoughts are either …

  1. That a (very sensitive) Amazon echo product(s), even located in other rooms of your Home, are hearing the Alexa ‘wake’ word and taking control and waiting for you give an instruction, but meanwhile the Era is ignoring the wake word as it believes another device is handling the voice request. … so perhaps as a quick-test, just temporarily switch off the mic on all your echo products around the Home and leave just the one mic enabled on your Era and see if the issue you are seeing then goes away.
  2. Or… that you are ‘perhaps’ not waiting long enough between using the Alexa ‘wake word’ - maybe just wait a short while longer until the status LED has dimmed before using the wake word again.

Thats just a bit of a guess, of course, but it might be worthwhile rebooting your local router and perhaps power-cycling the speaker too, or even removing and reinstalling the Alexa assistant on your Era device to see if that might fix things. 

Ken_Griffiths

What is odd, is I’m not seeing the same issue here🤔? ..but that said…

In your video @Hirsel (and @Minsou), you each seem use the ‘Alexa’ wake word really quickly/repeatedly, in close succession, almost giving the device no opportunity to respond - what happens if you slow things down a little and actually ask Alexa a question, something like this…

  • "Alexa, what’s the time” - wait for response, then after the feedback is complete, say…
  • “Alexa, what’s the weather today” - again wait for response, then after the feedback is complete, say..
  • "Alexa, what’s the time” - wait for response, then after the feedback is complete, say…
  • “Alexa, what’s the weather today” - again wait for response, then after the feedback is complete, (rinse and repeat the above)…

…rather than repeatedly keep saying ‘Alexa, Alexa, Alexa, Alexa… as the device is probably (still) listening, but you’re just not asking her a question, but looking for an LED light instead.

Just see what happens when you slow things down a little and ask Alexa a question, after using the ‘Alexa’ wake word. In my case the Era works every time and Alexa always responds.

H
Userlevel 2

Did anyone get any news here?

M
Userlevel 3
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What is odd, is I’m not seeing the same issue here🤔? ..but that said…

In your video @Hirsel, you seem use the ‘Alexa’ wake word really quickly/repeatedly, in close succession, almost giving the device no opportunity to respond - what happens if you slow things down a little and actually ask Alexa a question, something like this…

  • "Alexa, what’s the time” - wait for response, then after the feedback is complete, say…
  • “Alexa, what’s the weather today” - again wait for response, then after the feedback is complete, say..
  • "Alexa, what’s the time” - wait for response, then after the feedback is complete, say…
  • “Alexa, what’s the weather today” - again wait for response, then after the feedback is complete, (rinse and repeat the above)…

…rather than repeatedly keep saying ‘Alexa, Alexa, Alexa, Alexa… as the device is probably (still) listening, but you’re just not asking her a question, but looking for an LED light instead.

Just see what happens when you slow things down a little and ask Alexa a question, after using the ‘Alexa’ wake word. In my case the Era works every time and Alexa always responds.

I have no chance to say the entire phrase because when i speak “Alexa what’s time” i have the same result randomly with the led that turn on and immediatly turn off after.

K
Userlevel 2
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Hello @all from the german Sonos community. Some other users there including myself can confirm exactly the same behavior. And only Era 100 is affected… the problem first occurred about 2 weeks ago. Imho after an Alexa or a Sonos update. 
I also tried everything mentioned above but nothing changed. All my other Sonos devices including an Era300 work fine with Alexa.

Sonos products are on version 15.11 and Alexa app (iOS) also is on latest version. 
Maybe it’s an regional Alexa problem because an user from Austria also can‘t confirm or reproduce the problem. 
I stay in contact with german Sonos support but there the problem wasn’t known yet. But the last two days the are several users having the same problem. 
 

Perhaps it would make sense to mention the region we are using our Sonos/Alexa systems. 
For Germany I definitely can confirm the problem. 
I there are news on our side or fron german support team, I will share over here. 
 

Best Regards 

Ralf

 

Same here. Also Germany.

Other devices (beam and roam) using Alexa works flawlessly.

Schlumpf
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

Did anyone get any news here?

No update of information yet… 

Ralf
A

My device arrived today and indeed having the same issue:) 

Ken_Griffiths

I have no chance to say the entire phrase because when i speak “Alexa what’s time” i have the same result randomly with the led that turn on and immediatly turn off after.

Have you tried removing/reinstalling the Alexa voice assistant and perhaps also removing/reinstalling the Sonos skill? I see a few users are reporting the issue here now, but it still maybe worth trying that, perhaps?

M
Userlevel 2
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This is the response from the team/CEO to my request for clarification on the ERA 100/Alexa problem - ITALY
Hi Piero,

Thank you for contacting our CEO.

Your email has been forwarded to me. My name is Ryan and I'm one of the supervisors at Sonos.

We're sorry to hear that you're experiencing issues with your system while trying Alexa. There is currently a problem with the Era100 and Alexa. As you said, the problem may not necessarily be with the service itself.

Our engineers are currently investigating the issue and are trying to find a fix which will be available via a software update. We can't say when the issue will be resolved as the team is still working on it. We could replace your speakers, however, the problems would still occur as it is highly likely to be a software issue.

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Best regards

Ryan A
Sonos | Supervisor | Contact us
Ask questions, find answers, and share your thoughts on the Sonos Community.

M
Userlevel 3
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This is how i fix the issue for now with a legacy alexa echo dot beside and turn off the voice control mic on the era 100

 

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