Answered

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

Show first post
This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

151 replies

T
Badge

I have just been in touch with Sonos support here in the UK and my most recent era 100, not older ones, is doing exactly what others are doing. It’s frustrating and I assume it will get fixed in time. At the moment they have no time frame for a solution. 

M

Bonjour,

en France, même problème. Il faut relancer plusieurs fois Alexa pour que la demande soit prise en charge.

S

Exactly the same problem for me, rarely listens first time and needs three or four repeats. Sadly, this is going back if there is no fix.

Schlumpf
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

Exactly the same problem for me, rarely listens first time and needs three or four repeats. Sadly, this is going back if there is no fix.

Just relax… the problem was identified quickly and seems to be a software issue that will be fixed with an update of Sonos, Amazon or both of them. On your side you don’t need to do anything… just wait. 😉

And as I can say before it worked like a charm so waiting will be worth it. 

Ralf
R
Userlevel 2
Badge

Just relax… the problem was identified quickly and seems to be a software issue that will be fixed with an update of Sonos, Amazon or both of them. On your side you don’t need to do anything… just wait. 😉

I’m sadly not as relaxed as you. I have this in my open planned living room / kitchen, and use Alexa heavily; allowing me to control my lights, heating, timers, tv, shopping lists… you name it, she’s controlling it.

Completely understand that other people may just be using it to pause and play music; but for power users like myself, this is extremely inconvenient and more than happy to let Sonos know that a fix would be appreciated sooner rather than later.

So if Sonos could drop EVERYTHING and solve MY problem first, that would be great!😅😋 pretty please.

Schlumpf
Userlevel 7
Badge +16

@RichTea 

LOL… 😅 Never make yourself such dependent on a woman. 😉

I know in your situation it’s quite more frustrating as you just use Alexa for audio commands and SVC can be an alternative.

Don’t know if Sonos will drop everything else for your „lady“… maybe an email to the CEO describing your partnership situation with Alexa can drive things forward. 😎

Ralf
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

K
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

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

@KiPe 

If you read the whole tread, you will see that the issue is identified and that Sonos is already working on it.
ALL Era100 devices using Alexa are affected by this and it’s not a hardware but a software issue. 
Just wait for the fix… 

Ralf
T
Badge

Thought 16.0 update would solve the problem but unfortunately not. Will keep on waiting as suggested BUT it is very frustrating!

C
Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Yeh I got excited as well and thought 16.0 was the fix but alas not, very annoying.

A

Nope, sadly not resolved here either. Come on Sonos please fix this

E

New ERA 100 owner as of yesterday, love the sound quality but the Alexa issue here is really annoying, I’d be tempted to buy a another unit to replace my Echo devices but not going to happen until this issue is resolved.

R

Perhaps highlighting this to the media might help resolve it quicker. No one likes bad publicity 

Ken_Griffiths

Perhaps highlighting this to the media might help resolve it quicker. No one likes bad publicity 

I have the Era issue here and have given the data to Sonos. They acknowledged the issue and are working on a fix, I assume that's ‘perhaps’ with their partner Amazon in this instance. Not even a month has passed and I’m not sure that any media outlet would be interested in such trivia, particularly as the matter is being investigated/fixed, then most probably tested by Sonos for release. It’s not like this has been going on for months - I doubt it’s even reached the testing stage at this point. It’s more a case of just waiting patiently, I think.

C

Perhaps highlighting this to the media might help resolve it quicker. No one likes bad publicity 

I have the Era issue here and have given the data to Sonos. They acknowledged the issue and are working on a fix, I assume that's ‘perhaps’ with their partner Amazon in this instance. Not even a month has passed and I’m not sure that any media outlet would be interested in such trivia, particularly as the matter is being investigated/fixed, then most probably tested by Sonos for release. It’s not like this has been going on for months - I doubt it’s even reached the testing stage at this point. It’s more a case of just waiting patiently, I think.

It’s been going on for over 2 months

I think the recent release was hoped to solve the issue, but it hasn’t… so a fix is potentially even further away.

TBH - the lack of app development and stability issues is making sonos less compelling, this will result in some revenue loss if first time buyers don’t get the right first impression

Ken_Griffiths

It’s been going on for over 2 months

I think the recent release was hoped to solve the issue, but it hasn’t… so a fix is potentially even further away.

TBH - the lack of app development and stability issues is making sonos less compelling, this will result in some revenue loss if first time buyers don’t get the right first impression

I think it’s been half that time since the issue was made clear here in the community, but let’s not quibble over that. There’s been one update since of the firmware and I certainly did not expect to see it in that, as other issues were in line before that, not least the Sony Bluetooth issue and the ongoing issue with Connect Amp/Playbar. I actually don’t personally expect to see a fix for this issue in the next update either, but that’s just my own point of view, as I think there are bigger priorities than the issue I’m seeing/reported here and experiencing myself. 

I’m happy to wait patiently, rather than running off to tell the media, but I guess that’s your prerogative. If you can’t wait and your device is within the return period, then just send it back. I’m not about to cut off my nose to spite my face and will just wait patiently for the fix.

There are far more important things in the world than a minor speaker assistant intermittent non-listening issue. Meanwhile I will just use SVC installed on the device.

C

It’s been going on for over 2 months

I think the recent release was hoped to solve the issue, but it hasn’t… so a fix is potentially even further away.

TBH - the lack of app development and stability issues is making sonos less compelling, this will result in some revenue loss if first time buyers don’t get the right first impression

I think it’s been half that time since the issue was made clear here in the community, but let’s not quibble over that. There’s been one update since of the firmware and I certainly did not expect to see it in that, as other issues were in line before that, not least the Sony Bluetooth issue and the ongoing issue with Connect Amp/Playbar. I actually don’t personally expect to see a fix for this issue in the next update either, but that’s just my own point of view, as I think there are bigger priorities than the issue I’m seeing/reported here and experiencing myself. 

I’m happy to wait patiently, rather than running off to tell the media, but I guess that’s your prerogative. If you can’t wait and your device is within the return period, then just send it back. I’m not about to cut off my nose to spite my face and will just wait patiently for the fix.

There are far more important things in the world than a minor speaker assistant intermittent non-listening issue. Meanwhile I will just use SVC installed on the device.

I think you’ve landed on the crux of the issue here… Sonos aren’t providing fixes or improvements as quickly as you would expect. Whilst voice assistant isn’t the core feature of the speaker it’s still a large part of the product feature.

After 15 years and numerous products later, I purchased a WiiM Amp over xmas and I couldn’t be happier. Regular updates with improvements, fixes, stable app, zero network issues so far…

I think Sonos having released numerous products can’t keep the software development moving at the same speed. The bigger your product portfolio against a single code base, the bigger the regression risk.

Ken_Griffiths

I think you’ve landed on the crux of the issue here… Sonos aren’t providing fixes or improvements as quickly as you would expect. Whilst voice assistant isn’t the core feature of the speaker it’s still a large part of the product feature.

After 15 years and numerous products later, I purchased a WiiM Amp over xmas and I couldn’t be happier. Regular updates with improvements, fixes, stable app, zero network issues so far…

I think Sonos having released numerous products can’t keep the software development moving at the same speed. The bigger your product portfolio against a single code base, the bigger the regression risk.

I wouldn’t argue with the issues you raise, but either way I’m not going to dash-out to the media over a minor bug… I have waited many weeks in the past for Amazon, LG, Apple and Google to fix a variety of issues - These things can take weeks, rather than days, as there’s usually an order of priority. The bug probably needs writing up in detail and the proposed fix too, then post-coding, things need both testing/approval. If that testing fails then it might go round the mill again and eventually it presumably gets approved for release to the general public and included in an App/Firmware update alongside any other fixes and distributed worldwide… I tend to see (on average) that Sonos release an update about every 6 weeks, or so. My expectation is to therefore see an "acknowledged issue" fixed around 12-18 weeks later (give or take).

Note that some users who visit the community here, also complain about the Sonos App/device update frequency, saying they occur much too often… so I think my own expectation of around 3 months is quite reasonable, all things considered. If it happens sooner, then great!!!  

I’m just not seeing it ‘yet’, as an issue where I need to start banging a drum, or running to the media. My own view is to be a little more patient. I’m sure the Sonos Staff (who likely use these products themselves) want these ‘bug fixes’ resolved as much as we do.

T
Badge

I was told it’s their top priority (not sure about that) with no timeframe for a fix. I’m surprised they are still selling these with a known problem. They must be inundated with calls about the issue.

 It’s ok saying the hardware is fine so there’s no problem with the kit. These are sold with Alexa as part of the deal. If that part isn’t working properly then buyers are going to respond negatively. They need to fix this soon or there will definitely be bad press somewhere along the line. 

D

Same problem here. I’ve just had a long session with Sonos chat, and this is the conclusion they sent me after looking at the diagnostics on my Era 100:

 

Thank you for you patience! After a further check it seems the issue you are experiencing is a known issues with the Era100 which is not responding to the voice commands. We are currently investigating this issue and out engineers are trying to find a resolution as fast as possible.

 

They said there will be a software update when the issue is resolved, but couldn’t give any idea of time. Great.

Ken_Griffiths

Same problem here. I’ve just had a long session with Sonos chat, and this is the conclusion they sent me after looking at the diagnostics on my Era 100:

 

Thank you for you patience! After a further check it seems the issue you are experiencing is a known issues with the Era100 which is not responding to the voice commands. We are currently investigating this issue and out engineers are trying to find a resolution as fast as possible.

 

They said there will be a software update when the issue is resolved, but couldn’t give any idea of time. Great.

I’m fairly sure that’s the same for any company fix. Sonos have to identify the cause, fix it with software and then test it. No-one can predict if the testing will fail, or work etc. Then when it is fully tested, it will be released in a scheduled update alongside other bug fixes. There’s no saying if it will be in the next Sonos update, or a later one. All anyone can say is that Sonos are looking into the matter. I have the issue with two Era 100s and I’m just going to wait patiently. I love the little speaker and happy to wait for the issue to be resolved. We all hope that happens sooner, rather than later.🤞

F
Badge

Chiming in to say I am experiencing the same problem with Alexa & Era. Will await a future firmware update :).

If Sonos Voice Control could control Spotify then I wouldn’t really need Alexa tbh.

A

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

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @drbabbers et al,

We want to thank everyone for their patience going through this and all the troubleshooting you all have done so far.

While our teams are still investigating the root cause of this issue, we are not currently asking users to call in for troubleshooting - we only ask that you wait while we investigate this issue further.

If there is an update we can share we will be sure to post it in this thread.

Again, thank you for your patience

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Terms & ConditionsCookie settings