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My SONOS was working great for the past year- until it wasn’t last week (just as an app refresh was released.) After spending 4 days troubleshooting, with ChatGPT and multiple calls to SONOS, we narrowed down the likely issue to NAT interference between my Vodafone router and ExpressVPN. With that, we unplugged the power from my VPN, and tested with both Sonos radio and Gloval player. They worked.
 

The larger NAT interference solution from the SONOS tech was for me to call Vodafone and ask them to put my router in bridge mode, or switch the router out for a modem. Only snag  is that I’m posted to Germany. Still, Google translate helped me schedule a call with a Vodafone rep later today to try to address the issue.
 

In the meantime, even though my network is showing up in the app, my Sonos radio and Global Player are connected to the app, and I have internet and WiFi working, I’m getting an error message “Something went wrong. Try again.” 
 

Any ideas? My system goes from the cable hard-wired in the apartment building via Ethernet cable to my Vodaphone router. There is an Ethernet cable from the LAN port on the Vodaphone router to the Aircove ExpressVPN internet plug, but the Aircove ExpressVPN power supply is currently unplugged. My two Era 300s and Beam are connected wirelessly to the Vodaphone router. The plan is/was to make the Vodaphone router a bridge only, so the Aircove ExpressVPN is the only network. But for now, I can’t get anything to play anyway. Please help this poly-sci major turned network engineer! 

Hi ​@KMSFawkes, welcome to the Sonos Community!

We don’t support the use of VPNs with Sonos as they can cause issues across your system: since Sonos Radio and Global Player work after you disconnect your VPN, it seems likely it’s causing the problems. While they aren’t supported, this doesn’t mean they won't work, just that our first step will always be to disable the VPN and that we can’t help troubleshooting any issues that it may cause.

However, after looking into Aircove ExpressVPN, it says it allows for Split Tunneling. This would let Sonos to bypass the VPN without needing to disable it. If you enable this option and you’ve sorted out the Double NAT with Vodafone and Aircove, then you should be able to play without errors messages.

While I don’t have any more troubleshooting advice, my reply will put your post at the top of the recently active threads, where a community user with a similar setup or knowledge on how to use a VPN with Sonos may step in and offer their advice.

I hope this helps!

Something worth mentioning with the VPN. I run one but it has a "multi threading" ability.  I can specify things that bypass the VPN, things like Sonos. Take a look to see if you have that functionality. 

Thanks, will do!

Hi ​@KMSFawkes, welcome to the Sonos Community!

We don’t support the use of VPNs with Sonos as they can cause issues across your system: since Sonos Radio and Global Player work after you disconnect your VPN, it seems likely it’s causing the problems. While they aren’t supported, this doesn’t mean they won't work, just that our first step will always be to disable the VPN and that we can’t help troubleshooting any issues that it may cause.

However, after looking into Aircove ExpressVPN, it says it allows for Split Tunneling. This would let Sonos to bypass the VPN without needing to disable it. If you enable this option and you’ve sorted out the Double NAT with Vodafone and Aircove, then you should be able to play without errors messages.

While I don’t have any more troubleshooting advice, my reply will put your post at the top of the recently active threads, where a community user with a similar setup or knowledge on how to use a VPN with Sonos may step in and offer their advice.

I hope this helps!

Jamie, I appreciate your response. Of note, my Sonos didn’t have any issues over the past year I’ve had it set up with the VPN here in Germany. As American military members, the VPN keeps us in touch with our friends and family in the U.S., allows us to stay current on TV shows and streaming apps, etc. If Sonos is not made to run with VPNs, that should be transparent to the customer - especially ones who deploy and serve overseas regularly. I spent most of my Memorial Day weekend trying to get this straight. I haven’t gotten an answer from Vodafone in English, despite physically going to their store to ask. And in the meantime, as you’ll see in my post above, using the Vodafone router did not fix the issue. My post was prompted because that stopped working as well. In that case, with the VPN disabled and the Vodafone router plugged in, it’s back to being a Sonos issue. 

Every Chat GPT authored post about Sonos that I’ve ever seen has been dreadfully, pitifully wrong.  Not wrong on some little detail, but wrong about major things.  I would not rely on AI to diagnose or fix what’s wrong with my Sonos, it’s liable to screw things up more than fix them.  

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/sonos-system-requirements

 

Unsupported network setups and devices

. . . 

  • VPNs blocking access to local network resources

 

Listing VPNs under “Unsupported network setups and devices” in the official System Requirements seems pretty transparent to me.

In another post here AI instructed a user to buy a Port, connect it to the TV's analog outputs and then Group it to two Ace headphones.

We need to insist on an "AI Warning" on any posts here so we can prepare ourselves and not spit on our screens or alarm the cat.

 

I don’t use vpn but still disconnects within 30 minutes of playing music I use Apple Music. Have to always reboot soon as port and sometimes my router first, which is a gateway from Comcast Xfinity service. There’s no issue with Internet because I have very high speeds through them. It’s only when I’m using Sonos. I’m always having issues. What is the range supported Between phone and the Sonos port?

Not sure I understand, the range between your iPhone and your router is controlled by your WiFi signal. Unless you’re using AirPlay 2, you’re not connecting your phone directly to the Port.

Sonos certainly uses your network in a different fashion than most devices, so it’s conceivable that while everything else is working, your Sonos devices could be having trouble maintaining a connection.

I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it. Don’t post the resulting diagnostic number here, they get sensitive about GDPR.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the Support staff, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Thank you for prompt response.  I did contact support, Mark was really helpful.  He diagnosed the issue to ip hopping and router supporting 2.4mhz, 5.0mhz and 6.0mhz.  I have since then disabled 5 and 6 mhz.  I am only on 2.4 now.  Let’s see if this makes a difference in connectivity else I will be back to report.  Thanks again for prompt response.

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