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Due to my speakers constantly going missing from the app resulting in a router reboot to find them again, I decided (reluctantly) to invest in a boost. I like almost everything about my Sonos system but since charging to full fibre broadband my system has gone from being occasionally unreliable to unbearably unreliable. Before getting the boost I spent many hours reading all the excellent advice that I found on here and all the relevant Sonos articles. I have switched to Channel 1, 6 then 11. No use at all. Then I decided to try the reserved IP address solution. In the three days since I’ve only rebooted the router once so it has helped.  Oddly the surround speakers seems to ignore the reserved address sometimes and use another one (do they get this from the Beam?). Anyway, after the last reboot (and spending way too long babysitting the system) I cracked and bought the Boost. Ok plug in and ‘add product….’. Nothing found, no response. Waited patiently, tried again and again. Scoured this forum and tried various solutions. Nope. Called Sonos and apparently because the light on the boost was going: green green green white green… it was not booting up correctly. Asked me to send a video. So I order another which would be ready to collect today. So onto Boost II. Initially the light did flash green (no white in between) but after waiting ages the same pattern happened. Called support but they are shut. Sorry this is really long but

1 any advice on installing a boost please?  Never had any issues installing product before but surely I can’t have bought two duff boosts?

On another topic;

2 when my system lost speakers it always found the Sonos Five (not the closest to the router). If it could find this I’d have expected it to find the others or that the Sonos Five would connect to the other speakers  

3 I have quite a lot of stuff using the router so I suspect interference is the main issue but why does it always work perfectly for a few hours after a reboot? Surely there is interference or not?

4 why does everything else work so well?  Why is Sonos so fragile?  Cheapish Blink cameras - no problem. Hue lights, perfect.  Alexas, perfect etc.  In fact everything other than Sonos has maybe 98% reliability but Sonos is more like 10%. 

it would be great to have a reliable system to just enjoy. Thanks for reading!

Temporarily wire one of the speakers (other than a home theatre surround or sub) to the router. Then try adding the Boost as before. 

Sonos isn’t ‘fragile’ as such, but because it places extra demands on the local network for device-to-device communication it can easily expose shortcomings in the core network equipment.

Your full fibre… BT by any chance?

 

 

Thanks - will try wiring a speaker. And no, I should have mentioned that I’m not BT. 

Thanks - will try wiring a speaker. And no, I should have mentioned that I’m not BT. 

Was worth asking, if wiring does not help do post which router and extenders you have then in case it’s anything obvious that Ratty will pick up on 😁

Success. All devices are WM: 0. Sonosnet is using channel 1 and my 2.4 network is using channel 11. The installation was not straightforward - 1st attempt I had an error message saying that the connection to the boost was lost. Make sure the boost is powered on. 2nd attempt same thing. 3rd attempt I had ‘the boost couldn’t be set up. Unplug and try again. 4th attempt ‘we didn’t detect a button press from your boost’. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion and fingers crossed that reliability improves. 

Going back a bit, if you find speakers not honoring your static/reserved IP address suggestions make sure you powered down all your Sonos, then reboot the router and controller before powering your Sonos (wired first) back up.

Make sure when in wired/SonosNet mode that your WiFi credentials are removed from the Controller’s settings menu if you don’t have a WiFi connected Sonos device.

Next glitch send Sonos a diagnostic and contact them with the number it gives you so they can look at internal details us mere users are not allowed to see.

Going back a bit, if you find speakers not honoring your static/reserved IP address suggestions make sure you powered down all your Sonos, then reboot the router and controller before powering your Sonos (wired first) back up.

Make sure when in wired/SonosNet mode that your WiFi credentials are removed from the Controller’s settings menu if you don’t have a WiFi connected Sonos device.

Next glitch send Sonos a diagnostic and contact them with the number it gives you so they can look at internal details us mere users are not allowed to see.

 


Thanks - I have never rebooted the controller. I will try that if there is another glitch. Should the boost have a reserved IP address too?  


I did try Sonos support but had no real leads. In fact I was told to create sonosnet from a surround speaker. I can connect the router to either surround or the sub but have never done so due to documentation. I queried this but he was quite sure - maybe it has changed or I’ve got my wires crossed?

No you are right. It is a bad idea to wire a surround or Sub - certainly not to be done if that is the only wired device.

In fact I was told to create sonosnet from a surround speaker. I can connect the router to either surround or the sub but have never done so due to documentation. I queried this but he was quite sure - maybe it has changed or I’ve got my wires crossed?

It hasn’t changed. Some of the advice offered by first line support can be a little misguided.

 

On the IP reservation question, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to include the Boost if you’ve reserved addresses for the rest.

I suspect the problems you had with reservation for the surrounds with the original arrangement were due to the way IP requests are proxied through the home theatre master player when the system’s in WiFi/’wireless’ mode. These issues shouldn’t arise now you’re in SonosNet/’wired’ mode.

I wasn’t sure here so I reserved an IP for my players, the Boost and all my controllers.

As far as I can tell the Controller reservation was not needed as I have added and changed controllers without any of the issues returning. The controller reboot does seem to be a good thing when adding/changing the Sonos addresses.

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