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Hello,

Could someone from Sonos please explain to me what this message means:

The connection to Spotify was lost

E.g. where in the network the connection couldn’t be made.

This is usually what I experience:

  • If I press the Play button on the speaker, Sonos plays the music from Spotify from the playlist/artist I was listening the day before (or a few hours before)
  • If I got to the SONOS App, I can browse Spotify music. But when I try to add the music to the speaker, the message appears.
  • Now, If I try to play a radio from TuneIn, on the same speaker, the music plays fine.

So, where does the network connection issue resides?

Note: sometimes, when using the Spotify App and choosing to stream on a SONOS speaker, I get around the issue. But not always.

Note 2: This has been going on for YEARS. I spoke to Spotify support, Linksys support, SONOS support, none of them managed to find the root cause of the issue.

Hi @osalmon 

Thanks for your post!

That’s a difficult question to answer without knowing much more about your network and how Sonos is connecting to it. I would first recommend a reboot of your router - switch it off for at least 30 seconds.

If this doesn’t help, please submit a diagnostic immediately after experiencing the issue and report back here with the number given. Thanks.

Please also describe your network (router, extenders, mesh and modem details, if each is present) and how Sonos connects to it (WiFi, ethernet, where the ethernet connects). Thanks.

Hi @Corry P 

I‘ve submitted numerous diagnostics to SONOS and done many tests with SONOS and Linksys. I’ve rebooted my router, connected one SONOS speaker using an Ethernet cable, and much more. I’ve past the stage of doing tests and changing my network configuration. 

This is an intermittent issue and neither SONOS, SPOTIFY or LINKSYS have been able to tell me why this is happening.

Everything in my network works fine. We have around 50 devices and all work fine apart from SONOS when trying to play music from SPOTIFY, intermittently.

So, my question is how the SONOS App sends the streaming Spotify music to a SONOS speaker. At what point the connection gets lost?

In terms of network I have a BT Smart Hub router (150Mb download / 30MB upload), a Linksys mesh WiFi system (9 nodes) and an ethernet port for devices that doesn’t support WiFI (Philips Hue hub, Samsung Smart hub and BT youview TV). All with latest firmware & software updates.

Hi @osalmon 

The app does no such thing - it merely tells the selected speaker to fetch the music. The speaker selected (or the one listed first in the group) then contacts Spotify for the stream directly.

The error message you’re receiving could be a result of a bad router, bad network configuration, WiFi interference or several other possibilities. If you have your two bands (2.4 GHz and 5GHz) broadcasting with the same SSID (network name), the router could be “band steering” the Sonos devices to 5 GHz which many Sonos devices will refuse to do, resulting in frequent disconnections.

As you have not used the same email address here as on your Sonos system, I can neither lookup your old diagnostics, nor can I lookup your previous case history. If you’d like me to try, please submit a diagnostic and report the number given here. Thanks.

 

Thank you Corry.

 

Yes, I have two bands, with the same SSID. That’s the purpose of a Mesh WiFi, no?

 

What I don’t get, if the network configuration is bad is why:

  • I can stream radio station on the speaker but not Spotify
  • I can stream Spotify on the speaker by pressing the play button, but not being able to stream a new playlist using the App.
  • I can stream music from the Spotify App to the same speaker that is receiving the error from the Sonos App (note: that is not always the case, sometimes it fails on both)

Hi @osalmon 

The purpose of a mesh WiFi is to give you multiple WiFi access points. Unfortunately, most mesh systems do not allow the separation of the bands. Connecting one Sonos device to ethernet will make all your speakers (apart from Moves or Roams) connect to the Sonos-only WiFi that the wired speaker creates.

It may help to wire Sonos to the main node of the mesh instead of to your router, but if this is the case, then the mesh is likely not configured in Bridge mode. There’s more info on my Troubleshooting Sonos on WiFi article:

Again, without diagnostics, I can only guess.

The purpose of WiFi speaker is to not have to wire them :-)

Anyway, I did some changes in my network yesterday. The BT Smart Hub remains as my main modem. I’ve removed all the Velop nodes and added a Velop Router. Only one Node remains to extend the signal in the garage. The router has changed room, and I’ve connected the SONOS playbar using an RJ45 cable to the router. 

I will keep monitoring the issue moving forward. So far, I haven’t experienced it. But it’s an intermittent issue. 

Hi @osalmon 

Fingers crossed!

Please be aware that having two routers on your network can cause some very strange and inconsistent behaviour of devices on your network. Most devices will not care, as they aren’t trying to talk to your other devices - only to the internet. Sonos devices (and the apps) chat to each other constantly, however, and will be affected. Whether your second router is a Velop router or a Velop mesh (also a router) is irrelevant - one of the two routers must be configured to not actually be a router. For simplicity, it’s best that the most “upstream” device performs this task. The downstream router should be configured to be in Bridge (or AP) mode. If you don’t do this, very often things can seem fine, until something, somewhere, reboots. Sonos updates often get blamed at this point as they cause all Sonos products to reboot.

The main issue with having two routers is that when a device connects to the network, it asks for an IP address and both routers will reply. The client device will listen to the first reply only, and which replies first may vary. Essentially, the end result is that you have two networks overlaid on one physical hardware layer. Bad.

The BT modem/router only acts as a modem.

The Velop router acts as a router.

The Velop node is only extending the Velop router range. It’s not set as a router.

Hi @osalmon 

OK great. Fingers still crossed for you!

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