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BT Smart Hub 2 - Connection Issues (April 2021)

BT Smart Hub 2 - Connection Issues (April 2021)
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261 replies

C

I've been following this thread ever since I had issues. I have raised a complaint with BT as MacBook works fine, but app does not. Sonos tried to do a workaround but lasted an hour or so. I saw the post about the public/private. Switched it off on iPhone, instantly worked for the app. MacBook then doesn't work. The app then stopped working. Clearly there is both and issue with BT and the Sonos app for iPhone on this.

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @phlash 

The BT Smart Hub 2 firmware update issue is only related to the Private Address on iPhones issue in the way that they both result in a Can’t Connect to Sonos situation. There are at least a dozen other things that also result in the same situation. This thread exists to explain to customers the details of this particular issue, but it doesn’t claim that every person with a Smart Hub 2 that Can’t Connect to Sonos is a victim of the firmware update - only those with the firmware version reported in the original post.

I have written a Troubleshooting Sonos on WiFi article - and I think I’ll now add the Local Network permissions and Private Addresses issues to that article as they do relate. Thanks.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
phlash
Badge

Hi @phlash 

I’m glad you got a fix, but that’s a completely different issue that results in the same symptom. In addition, not all Smart Hub 2 owners will have received the firmware update that caused the problems.

Thanks (I think) but not really addressing the point that there are several clearly linked issues created by one or both the BT hub firmware change and the iOS upgrade designed to increase security and reduce tracking. How are people to fault trace if they don’t know all of the possible scenarios? Instead of responding individually it would be better if someone in a position to offer an overview could post a useful summary of where we are and what does/doesn’t work. Navigating one’s way through these conflicting accounts is not easy.

James L.
Badge +17

I have this issue - I can confirm a cable into a Sonos Arc means my 4x Sonos Play:1 devices now work and the whole system is much quicker. 

It means I have a redundant Sonos Move which is incredibly frustrating. Turning off 5GhZ on the router is indeed a workaround but the WiFi speed was pathetically slow so this isn’t a solution. 

Does anyone know if a Sonos Boost would resolve the issue?

No, wiring a Sonos Boost would achieve the same effect that wiring any other Sonos player would. I do not suggest purchasing a Boost to work around this issue if wiring other devices doesn’t fix it for you. Move and Roam do not connect to SonosNet so wiring a Boost wouldn’t do anything that your Arc isn’t doing at the moment.

Mark good posts by pressing the like button, and select the best answer on questions you've asked to help others find solutions.
S

I have this issue - I can confirm a cable into a Sonos Arc means my 4x Sonos Play:1 devices now work and the whole system is much quicker. 

It means I have a redundant Sonos Move which is incredibly frustrating. Turning off 5GhZ on the router is indeed a workaround but the WiFi speed was pathetically slow so this isn’t a solution. 

Does anyone know if a Sonos Boost would resolve the issue?

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @phlash 

I’m glad you got a fix, but that’s a completely different issue that results in the same symptom. In addition, not all Smart Hub 2 owners will have received the firmware update that caused the problems.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
phlash
Badge

Maybe this is a shoal of red herrings! ? I saw another suggestion to disable the “private address” under Wi-fi on iOS and this has cured the problem for me whereas putting hub into wireless mode 2 and re-setting router made no difference. Clearly BT need to sort the router firmware but if you can live with downgraded security, the iPhone “fix” seems to work.

BHD
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We’ve been experiencing the same frustration with this issue. I have now switched the 5GHz option off, which immediately sorted the problem. However, I agree with some of the comments. It can only be a temporary solution as the BT Smart Hub 2 is an upgrade. Therefore, it costs more money and we’re stuck in the contract till 2023! Also, it took a number of days for me to find this thread of communication online. So some transparency is needed so customers like myself know that this is a common issue. 

phlash
Badge

Read this thread with growing frustration as disabling the 5 GHz band really is not an option and waiting for BT to issue new firmware is too uncertain. Issue affects both Sonos Move and Epson airprinter - what was really strange was that both iPhones were hit but neither of the iPads despite the fact they all use the 5 GHz network. Will give this suggestion a try.

Gooner
Badge

I’ve had the can’t find Sonos problem for a couple of weeks. Also problems connecting to my wireless Canon  scanner printer

a very helpful tech support person from Sonos suggested going into the Smart Hub settings page, Advanced and changing Wireless Mode from mode  1 to mode  2. Rebooted Smart Hub and both my Sonos speakers and everything is back working (as is my scanner).
 

Time will tell if this is a permanent fix but it’s worked this evening

Belly M
Badge +20

Great. My download speeds are now too low to stream things on my Apple TV with 5ghz turned off so I’ve had to turn it back on, and now of course my Roam is no longer showing up in the Sonos app. 🙄 


What? 2.4GHz runs at least 30 Mbps, are you streaming five 4k UHD streams at the same time or something? No idea how 2.4GHz can be too slow for any video streaming. Xbox binary downloads, sure, I saw the difference there on a gigabit fiber connection, but video streaming should be fine.

I don’t know how crap the BT router is feature-wise (I could take a guess), but can you make a separate SSID for 5GHz and put your Apple TV on that, while leaving your Sonos gear and phone on the existing 2.4GHz SSID? You would not need to connect between the two wireless networks then, avoiding the broken code in the router.


Crappier than crap… you cannot split the SSID’s on the Smart Hub 2 nor set alternative DNS servers.

controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23

Great. My download speeds are now too low to stream things on my Apple TV with 5ghz turned off so I’ve had to turn it back on, and now of course my Roam is no longer showing up in the Sonos app. 🙄 


What? 2.4GHz runs at least 30 Mbps, are you streaming five 4k UHD streams at the same time or something? No idea how 2.4GHz can be too slow for any video streaming. Xbox binary downloads, sure, I saw the difference there on a gigabit fiber connection, but video streaming should be fine.

I don’t know how crap the BT router is feature-wise (I could take a guess), but can you make a separate SSID for 5GHz and put your Apple TV on that, while leaving your Sonos gear and phone on the existing 2.4GHz SSID? You would not need to connect between the two wireless networks then, avoiding the broken code in the router.

Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
M
Userlevel 2
Badge +1

Hi. I’ve been told to come here by another user on here. I’ve been having problems with my Sonos one speaker for about a month I think. The app won’t connect to my speaker. I’ve tried all the suggestions on the app and nothing. I’ve managed to get it working once or twice but the next day im back to the same problem. I am a BT customer and have the new router, I’m not technical at all. So what can I do to sort this out. It’s driving me mad as I use my speaker daily, it’s come close to being thrown out of a closed window lol. Thanks 

HI Jodie

Just log into the hub manager and go to advanced settings and then wireless and then toggle to 5ghz switch to off, when BT have got their act together just repeat and turned it back on 

Guyincognito76
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Great. My download speeds are now too low to stream things on my Apple TV with 5ghz turned off so I’ve had to turn it back on, and now of course my Roam is no longer showing up in the Sonos app. 🙄 

Turning off the 5Ghz is something that can be done to prove the issue is having devices using  different bands not communicating (i.e. once only the 2.4 band exists, all devices connect to it albeit at a slower speed) but it’s not a practical long term solution.  My IOS devices wouldn’t communicate with Sonos until I forced all of my Sonos devices to use the same band by plugging one of the Sonos devices into an ethernet socket either on the router or on a complete wifi disc.  It’s been fine since then but the long term solution is for BT to update the firmware on the router so the two bands can communicate in the normal manner.  I understand your frustration but don’t lose your 5Ghz band; if you don’t have a bt complete wifi disc to plug into, you’re entitled to request one (and I think you’re entitled to three actually).  Once you can plug in a Sonos device, you can bring your 5Ghz bak online and all should be fine.

 

OP says the disc workaround doesn’t work with the Roam. 

J
Badge

Great. My download speeds are now too low to stream things on my Apple TV with 5ghz turned off so I’ve had to turn it back on, and now of course my Roam is no longer showing up in the Sonos app. 🙄 

Turning off the 5Ghz is something that can be done to prove the issue is having devices using  different bands not communicating (i.e. once only the 2.4 band exists, all devices connect to it albeit at a slower speed) but it’s not a practical long term solution.  My IOS devices wouldn’t communicate with Sonos until I forced all of my Sonos devices to use the same band by plugging one of the Sonos devices into an ethernet socket either on the router or on a complete wifi disc.  It’s been fine since then but the long term solution is for BT to update the firmware on the router so the two bands can communicate in the normal manner.  I understand your frustration but don’t lose your 5Ghz band; if you don’t have a bt complete wifi disc to plug into, you’re entitled to request one (and I think you’re entitled to three actually).  Once you can plug in a Sonos device, you can bring your 5Ghz bak online and all should be fine.

 

Guyincognito76
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Great. My download speeds are now too low to stream things on my Apple TV with 5ghz turned off so I’ve had to turn it back on, and now of course my Roam is no longer showing up in the Sonos app. 🙄 

M
Userlevel 1
Badge

I have complained to BT, they rung me up, acknowledging the problem is their firmware update and assured me a new update will be pushed to my router very soon. Wow, just goes to show how wrong you can be, I was convinced this was an apple issue with their new anti tracking features, only my iPhone and iPad had the problem, windows and macs are fine, for me though, phone is the most important i always have my phone handy but pcs, not so much.

 

Don’t really want to turn off 5ghz, would rather just wait for the firmware fix, which he did say would be over this current weekend some time

Guyincognito76
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

I don’t know if this is a good trade off for 8Mbps internet speed on my phone, mind, seeing as I’m paying for Infinity. 

I’m not sure where the 8Mbps figure is coming from. If I connect to my BT Hub’s 2.4GHz I see the full available Infinity line rate (around 55Mbps where I live). If it’s as low as 8Mbps there must be some pretty horrible interference coming from somewhere.

It’s an iOS thing. When I had the Homehub I had to split the bands so the iOS devices could connect to 5ghz. 

The 55Mbps I just recorded on 2.4GHz was measured using an iPad 6 running the latest iPadOS. iOS thing…?

I’m sure it’s not everyone with an iOS device. There were other people with the same problem on the BT forums when I was trying to solve the issue. You’re right that something is probably interfering with it on the 2.4ghz. Speeds vary throughout the day. 

ratty

I don’t know if this is a good trade off for 8Mbps internet speed on my phone, mind, seeing as I’m paying for Infinity. 

I’m not sure where the 8Mbps figure is coming from. If I connect to my BT Hub’s 2.4GHz I see the full available Infinity line rate (around 55Mbps where I live). If it’s as low as 8Mbps there must be some pretty horrible interference coming from somewhere.

It’s an iOS thing. When I had the Homehub I had to split the bands so the iOS devices could connect to 5ghz. 

The 55Mbps I just recorded on 2.4GHz was measured using an iPad 6 running the latest iPadOS. iOS thing…?

Guyincognito76
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

I don’t know if this is a good trade off for 8Mbps internet speed on my phone, mind, seeing as I’m paying for Infinity. 

I’m not sure where the 8Mbps figure is coming from. If I connect to my BT Hub’s 2.4GHz I see the full available Infinity line rate (around 55Mbps where I live). If it’s as low as 8Mbps there must be some pretty horrible interference coming from somewhere.

It’s an iOS thing. When I had the Homehub I had to split the bands so the iOS devices could connect to 5ghz. 

O

Thanks for the reply, though not ideal that does seem to have solved it for now 👍

ratty

I don’t know if this is a good trade off for 8Mbps internet speed on my phone, mind, seeing as I’m paying for Infinity. 

I’m not sure where the 8Mbps figure is coming from. If I connect to my BT Hub’s 2.4GHz I see the full available Infinity line rate (around 55Mbps where I live). If it’s as low as 8Mbps there must be some pretty horrible interference coming from somewhere.

H

I had or have the same issue. Sonos connected on my iPad (after spending hours getting incredibly frustrated), but it did not work or pick up any of my Sonos products on my iPhone 12.

after yet more hours of resetting to no avail, I managed a fix it by going to wifi and disabling the ‘private address’ feature which I assume is relatively new to iOS 14, Sonos now works across both devices.

Weirdly, however, the iPad picks up my Sonos network even with the private address function enabled, so don’t know what the issue is. I did end up doing a hard reset and tried reconnecting on my iPad which got it to work, so may have something to do with it.

It is a major issue that software updates like this are not looked into and addressed by the Sonos team, I feel the app has got worse over the last 12 months. 

edit. For reference I had major connectivity issues on Sky router,  it it eventually always found the network, I switched to BT, signal is better but clearly some issues across hub - Sonos - iOS. 

I

I have the same issue exactly as you, iPhone and iPad can not connect, mac and windows pc can.  Even though this looks to be an apple issue, the Sonos support does seem to be lacking, responses look automated and consist of mainly turning things on and off again which is clearly not going to help with this issue.

 

Here’s hoping that the imminent iOS 14.5 fixes the problem

Same thing happened here, 4 days ago, with iOS 14.5. :(

Guyincognito76
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

I only started having real problems with my Sonos fairly recently but Airplay has been unusable on my Sonos ever since it launched. I also have a HomePod Mini which I’ve never been able to airplay to. 
 

Since switching 5ghz off last night Airplay does seem to be working, although I’ve not tried an extended test. I don’t know if this is a good trade off for 8Mbps internet speed on my phone, mind, seeing as I’m paying for Infinity. 

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