I seem to think that because Orbi networks ‘may’ not allow the bonjour (multicasting) service to transverse it’s two (2.4Ghz/5Ghz) WiFi bands..  that this maybe a case where the Sonos product is on say the 2.4Ghz band and your Airplaying Mobile device is on the 5Ghz band - I’m not entirely sure that is the case, but perhaps just see if changing your mobile to use the 2.4Ghz band resolves the issue for you… or speak with Orbi support about what I think is perhaps a ‘device’ discovery issue and multicasting.

If you do get to resolve this, I hope you will come back here and pistbthe solution as it may help some other users too.

Some users have resolved the issue by wiring the Sonos device to the LAN/Primary Orbi Hub too, I believe.

Thanks Ken - great suggestion. I’ll give it a go today and let you know how I go. 

HI Ken and crew … I tested again today with both devices on the same spectrum (5GHz) but still no joy. Sonos app works but Airplay does not. Interestingly when I look at the Orbi app, the Sonos One does not appear on the list of connected devices even though it is clearly connected as I can stream via Sonos app.

So I then connected the Sonos One directly via ethernet into the router, disabled the wifi connection through the Sonos app, recycled the router and the speaker. The speaker connects and still streams via Sonos app but still not via Airplay - “unable to connect”. When I look at the Orbi app the Sonos One speaker is now showing as a connected wired device.

So we’ve ruled out one or two things but still the same problem  

Perhaps try rebooting the mobile device you are Airplaying from, or even remove it’s wifi network connection and set it up again. With the speaker wired to the primary Orbi Hub and the mobile connected to the same Hub, does it then work for you?

If still no joy, can you also try switching off the ‘Private Address’ MAC spoofing feature in the iOS WiFi connection properties settings,

Thanks Ken - I really appreciate your help … you’re a gent !

I have rebooted the router, the wifi router, the speaker and the phone many times. I’ve reset and rebuilt the wifi, same for the speaker. The speaker is hard wired into the back of the wifi router to which the phone is connected. 
 

ivr now tried your great suggestion around the private MAC address and restarted the phone … still no change.
 

perplexing. 

Does the speaker appear in the iOS device list to select it for Airplaying? Also if you do use Apple HomeKit, does it show as an ‘accessory’ in that App and is the Airplay options in the iOS Home App settings (accessible via ‘edit Home’ option) set to allow both Speaker & TV access on the same network?

Yes the speaker appears on Airplay lists but gives the “unable to connect” error whenever it is selected. 
 

in the Home app, I try to add the speaker, I can see the speaker but when I click on it I get the same error. 

Has the speaker ever previously been setup in a different iOS Home App, perhaps on the same, or a different network? I think the issues you have ‘may’ perhaps lie in this area. However, I can’t rule out that it’s maybe something to do with the Orbi network communication too, although I would expect that to have worked if the speaker is wired to the primary Orbi hub and the mobile is connected to the same hub aswell. 

I suspect the issue ’might’ possibly be easily fixed with a factory reset of the device, but I don’t like to suggest that in this case, as it’s your one and only Sonos device and will wipeout all your settings/services too, plus there’s no guarantee that will solve it.

As we don’t seem to be able to resolve it, my thoughts are to maybe speak/chat to the Sonos Support folk and refer them to this forum thread. They have tools that they can use to check things with the device setup on the network. I would also submit a Sonos system diagnostic report and post it’s reference back here albeit that may provide only limited information for the Staff to view. 

If you decide that’s worth trying first instead, then you can speak/chat to support here via this LINK.

I did also come across this netgear orbi thread too, which you might want to check:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Airplay-connection-issues-with-Orbi/td-p/1889886

Thanks Ken. 
 

it’s a brand new speaker so no previous network connection. I’ve already factory reset it twice and rebuilt after the wifi resets. 
 

I will call support when they open tomorrow a s share this thread - thanks a lot for your help. 

@willduck,

If you do find the answer to this, can you kindly post it back here too please, as it may assist myself and others too, if they encounter the same issue. Thanks.

Absolutely !

Update - had good chat support from Sonos then talked to Chona B this morning for 90 minutes who escalated to Howard W. Great, patient support from both of them - never asking stupid questions or going through daft diagnostic processes that are irrelevant to the issue (unlike many tech help desks).

Unfortunately the issue is not resolved but we have some more clues as to the symptoms … Howard has now escalated to the senior engineering team for review.

Thanks for your ongoing help !

Did the staff perhaps suggest powering off all the network devices, I mean your router/modem and all the Orbi hubs and speakers and bringing them back online in order…

• Router/Modem
• Orbi primary and secondary hubs
• Any wired Sonos device followed by the wireless devices

i just read that worked for one user on Reddit forum, so might be worth a try (if not done already)… there are quite a few reports of issues with Orbi and Airplay when i Google that topic.

Thanks Ken 

Yes, we tried that … I had already done it a few times over the weekend too … I powered them down, left the house, came back in and started all over again.  ;-)

The level 2 support engineer said that he had never seen this issue before across many Orbi/Sonos configs. We did see some interesting things that will help with diagnosis .. .for example, we switched from wired to wireless at one point and the Sonos could not see any SSIDs when it looked so we had to enter the name manually. 

I’ve now been pushed to level 3 engineering so fingers crossed. 

My personal guess is it might be something to do with multicasting, as mentioned/explained (simply) in this YT video (perhaps?)

But that’s just a guess.

I’ve tried toggling IGMP proxy - no effect.

Hopefully we’ll know soon - I’ve got my next session with a Sonos engineer at 2pm on Thursday

I had the call with an engineer … didn’t perform any further diagnostics but he had looked at the logs. He felt that the Sonos unit may be defective - they include a chip from Apple in the Sonos One which handles the handshake to support Airplay and he could see that this was getting into a loop and not resolving. He had seen one or two other instances where he believed the Apple chip was the problem so suggested we replace the speaker.

I will try and exchange today and see if that works - I’m still suspicious that some weird Orbi setting is the real culprit. 

Well I hope the exchange works for you.

Ken and crew

Success ! Swapped the unit and it all worked sweetly first time ! So it clearly was a hardware issue … I’ll never get those hours of wrestling with router setting back but I've learned heaps.

I’m so impressed by Sonos support, follow up and flexibility … amazing. Also to this community - really appreciate your help in trying to resolve this.  

@Ken_Griffiths - you are an absolute superstar. Thanks for all of your help - you really helped me to whittle things down, rule things out and stopped me from going crazy !

Nice of you to say @willduck …this is me now… ha ha

Anyhow, really glad to hear that all got sorted in the end.