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glennsonos
Contributor I
Oct 14, 2017 7:10 PM UTC
Answered

Sonos and Alexa in two houses

I have Sonos speakers and Echo dots in two houses. I activated the Sonos skill in the first house and all is good for using Alexa to control the Sonos speakers in the first house When I go to the second house and search for devices, the Echo dot does not find the Sonos. Is it not possible without using a second Amazon account?
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Keith N
Keith NAnswer
Sonos Staff
Oct 18, 2017 6:50 PM UTC
glennsonos & drammelt: Thanks for reaching out about this. Getting Amazon Alexa to work across multiple houses can be tricky with Sonos. You will need to have a separate Sonos ID to keep Alexa from controlling the wrong house. The best way to do this with just one Amazon account would be to create a separate Sonos ID for the vacation home and then:

- disable the Sonos skill in Alexa app
- ensure you are signed into the proper Sonos ID (if you are at the vacation home, sign into that account)
- re-enable the skill and re-discover (at this point you may see your speakers from both locations)

In most cases where people have multiple houses, the best success is found when you treat each house as a different "person". This means a separate Sonos ID and a different Amazon Account. This keeps you from accidentally controlling your main home from your vacation home.
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53 replies

drammelt
Lyricist I
Oct 14, 2017 7:16 PM UTC
Same issue. Alexa works with Sonos in my primary home, but cannot find Sonos units in my vacation home. Can Sonos help us?
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stumarg
Lyricist I
Oct 15, 2017 12:59 PM UTC
It won’t work at both places simultaneously, at least not yet. You need to disable the skill, then re-enable and rediscover the devices when you are in the house you want to use Alexa with Sonos in.
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Keith N
Keith NAnswer
Sonos Staff
Oct 18, 2017 6:50 PM UTC
glennsonos & drammelt: Thanks for reaching out about this. Getting Amazon Alexa to work across multiple houses can be tricky with Sonos. You will need to have a separate Sonos ID to keep Alexa from controlling the wrong house. The best way to do this with just one Amazon account would be to create a separate Sonos ID for the vacation home and then:

- disable the Sonos skill in Alexa app
- ensure you are signed into the proper Sonos ID (if you are at the vacation home, sign into that account)
- re-enable the skill and re-discover (at this point you may see your speakers from both locations)

In most cases where people have multiple houses, the best success is found when you treat each house as a different "person". This means a separate Sonos ID and a different Amazon Account. This keeps you from accidentally controlling your main home from your vacation home.
Translate
Steve Rakoczy
Contributor I
Nov 28, 2017 7:39 PM UTC
Do they plan to address this? Creating two separate account for each is not an answer, you can eliminate confusion by just giving the devices different name in each house. There is no reason you shouldn’t be able to do this.
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    eanania
    Lyricist I
    Dec 10, 2017 4:35 PM UTC
    Please fix this.
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      widrid
      Lyricist I
      Dec 21, 2017 11:16 PM UTC
      This is really disappointing. So I would need to logout of one Sonos account and login to another when I reach the weekend home? I know you don’t like giving dates for software enhancements, but can you confirm if this is likely going to be addressed in 2018 or not?
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        seacoulson
        Lyricist I
        Dec 28, 2017 8:49 PM UTC
        I agree different houses should be addressed with an easy and elegant solution. Please let us know when it is on the road map
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        side-burn
        Trending Lyricist I
        Jan 1, 2018 6:49 PM UTC
        Do they plan to address this? Creating two separate account for each is not an answer, you can eliminate confusion by just giving the devices different name in each house. There is no reason you shouldn’t be able to do this.

        I completely agree with this. I really don't want two accounts to fix a software limitation, not to mention those accounts end up getting used for other marketing/nefarious purposes so I try to avoid as many accounts as possible.
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        side-burn
        Trending Lyricist I
        Jan 1, 2018 6:50 PM UTC
        I agree different houses should be addressed with an easy and elegant solution. Please let us know when it is on the road map

        Alexa already supports location information as when I'm at my vacation home and ask about the weather I get the correct forecast for the area. Seems sonos could do the exact same thing?
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          ckb
          Lyricist II
          Jan 3, 2018 8:46 PM UTC
          I agree with everyone. Should be an easy fix. I named each SONOS item a different name.
          Please fix!
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