Terrible priority. Sonos has serious problems they don't want to fix. Terrible customer service

My Sonios has been rock solid for 9 years.  Your problems will be specific to your local network.  They are in 99% of cases.  I suggest you submit a system diagnostic when you are having problems and call Sonos Support with the confirmation number, or post it here  with a description of the problems.  Your system could be as reliable as mine.  There is no general software issue to fix.

In most cases, the issues experienced are a result of local network issues, and not of either the Sonos hardware or software.

Without specifics of your personal concerns, I’d suggest two things. First, review the wifi interference FAQ. The great majority of issues experienced are covered there. Second, perform a simple network refresh, by unplugging all of your Sonos devices from power. While they are unplugged, reboot your router. When the router comes back up, go ahead and plug back in your Sonos devices. 

If neither of those two suggestions fix your issues, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it, or post the diagnostic number here for a Community Moderator to pick up.

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 phone folks, there are more options available beyond just the diagnostic analysis. 

It’s easy to blame Sonos, the simple fact is that most often, that is not where the issue lies, as evidenced by the solutions posted here in these forums.

My system is working just fine here too - this is quite a useful video to watch regarding WiFi interference:

Wireless Interference and Sonos

13+ years here.

I’ll just add my voice that there is no “damn connectivity issue” inherent in the Sonos system. Without a decent road a Ferrari cannot perform. The same is true of Sonos and the local network.

12+ years here.  Reserve IP addresses helps a lot if your network is wonky.

Looking at their trustpilot, its clearly a major problem.

I live in a small apartment, WiFi connectivity or stability has never been a problem.

I've attached a picture of my sonos app, and it's connectivity issues. Which is 9/10 of the times I open the app. 

And their trustpilot

Trustpllot is a joke.  Shall we try and tackle your local problem?  What Sonos devices do you have?  Are any wired to your network?

What about your network - mesh or conventional?  any extenders or access points?

Further question - do you have a VPN installed anywhere, including on your phone?

I think this is the best description of the situation ever on this board, but I don’t think it was intentional.

On diverse networks, with NASs, computers, TVs and lots of other devices that work fine, Sonos seems to have problems for a substantial minority.  The arguments go back and forth on this board, and invariably the diehards are proven right - it was a network issue, and they go back to sip their brandy in haughty superiority.

Yet nobody asks the question - why is the Sonos so much more finicky than any other device on the network?  Why isn’t it more fault tolerant?  Sure, a Ferrari doesn’t handle a Kansas dirt road very well.  But that’s what consumer networks are - messy, ad-hoc, rarely tuned or refined or tweaked.  Why is a device market to the masses (it’s sold at Target and Best Buy, not dusty hifi shops only frequented by the elite) so damned finicky?

And nobody here can accuse me of being a Sonos hater - I’ve recommended it to many and love showing off my 7 zone system  at my house.  We can love its good points and still ask why some things haven’t been fixed yet.

Many of the devices typically found on a home network are just one end of an internet connection.

Sonos asks significantly more of the local network, as would any real-time distribution system.

Latency needs to be kept within reasonable bounds for multi-room sync and certain network traffic types, required for peer discovery and stream distribution, have to be handled correctly.

In terms of fault tolerance, the SonosNet mesh already makes the system more resilient than on conventional WiFi, with built-in redundancy and low latency. It’s no coincidence that a lot of users’ problems arise when using the system in “wireless” (WiFi) mode, as opposed to ‘classic’ SonosNet operation.

Really?  I don’t typically think of people who spend their free time trying to assist people with their issues as having a superiority complex.  From what I see, if you come in with an attitude, not asking for help just venting that it’s all Sonos fault, when you really don’t know what’s going on, you tend not to get a warm welcome.  However, these brandy sippers are still offering to help with your issue.

It’s a question with an unknown answer.  Sonos requires a solid IP address and network connection in order to handle the functions it’s designed to handle.  Other devices can handle duplicate IP addresses because they aren’t communicating with other devices on the network.  Other devices can better deal with network interference because playing in sync isn’t a a feature, the are dealing with small amounts of data or they can build up a large buffer to deal with it.  

Look at it this way.  Why do you think other multiroom audio systems typically don’t match Sonos features.  They don’t have an aux input or do TV audio.  They don’t allow you to stream your own music library.  You can’t modify a speaker group ‘on the fly’. This is surely because they don’t want to blatantly copy Sonos IP (any more than they do), but also because these features require more of your network.

Perhaps, I’m misunderstanding the issues, but effectively, fixing these issues so they never happen (or even more rare) would mean removing features.  Or maybe some complex configuration, that customers wouldn’t like or possibly even understand, that limits features based on network capabilities.  Or Sonos creates their own routers. 

They kind of did, back in the early 00s. It’s called SonosNet.

I think other factors have in recent times added to the difficulties for Sonos:

1. (Actually this one is self-inflicted).  The dropping of the requirement to have a wired device, i.e. to use SonosNet

2. The growth of mesh WiFi systems, with their infinite variety of peculiarities.  For example, some insist on giving no control over wireless channel, and using  different channels on different nodes.  it makes no difference to single devices (TVs etc) whether they connect to channel x or y, but it can make a difference to Sonos if one speaker in a stereo pair connects to one channel and the other speaker to another channel.  (Ironically, the best solution for these issues is often…. wire a Sonos device and use SonosNet!)

Sonos can’t afford to sit on its hands and complain about this.  It probably needs to look at ways of improving robustness in the light of changing network practice.  But it cannot make the physics of networking go away, or become simpler.

And let’s not forget… The forum is a ‘hospital’ and can give a monumentally false impression of the extent of difficulties because the millions of users for whom Sonos does ‘just work’ don’t appear on here.  I must know at least 20 friends, family members and colleagues who fall into that category.

SonosNet isn’t a router.

Sonos clearly has lots of network issues.  I would wager it is their highest number of support calls.  Being a Sonos owner doesn’t mean you have to excuse this.

Network issues are not reflected just on this forum but in just about every place that sells Sonos gear.

They seem to have issues with mesh network especially.  

I do see better network connectivity with the newer products like the Arc and the Five,  Those use a new network hardware and software stack although they inexplicably still don’t do 5 ghz which would help with interference issues.  I assume that is to save costs.

Speaking of customer support Sonos customer support has taken a nose dive.  The pandemic isn’t a good enough reason for this.  It’s made me rethink buying more sonos gear.

I have seen @ratty make that very point numerous times.  I think we can be confident he understands SonosNet better than any of us.

You assume wrongly.  Because of the better distance and wall penetration capability of 2.4GHz Sonos has preferred to stick to that for inter-room communicaton.  5GHz  has been used within HT setups because low latency is more important than distance and wall penetration for that situation.  And Sonos’ more recent speakers CAN connect to 5GHz.  The likely reason is better radios in the most recent speakers.  The soundbars don’t, the 5GHz radio being reserved for communication with Sub and surrounds.

Specifically, the Arc cannot connect to 5GHz WiFi but has a 5GHz radio to communicate with Sub and surrounds.  The Five CAN connect to 5GHz WiFi.

I hope that clarifies the situation. 

And it isn’t a “network” either.

I was careful to use the phrase “kind of”, in agreeing with @melvimbe’s suggestion that Sonos should in effect control the infrastructure, particularly for intercommunication between units.