Sonos is forcing people to buy new hardware as they've broken the Connect:Amp and they refuse to fix it

I note that you have wired your Connect:Amp and "disabled Wi5". So you are presumably not aware that this is a misconfiguration of your system? Unless you wanted to prevent the use of SonosNet for some reason? Or is everything wired?

This would not explain dropouts on the CA itself, though.

I would not ever suspect Sonos of doing anything like this deliberately, that’s bordering on paranoia. The following is certainly far more likely the issue here…

Particularly if the device referred to here is an early/older Connect:Amp (gen1 or 2), then I would suspect that over the years the Connect:Amp memory modules are simply incurring more and more bad cells, which the OS is likely marking as ‘unusable’ and the device is perhaps slowly running out of steam… these things do not last forever.

If the Connect:Amp is acting as the root-bridge for a SonosNet network then, if practicable, swap it out for a newer more-modern product and maybe try not to use it as a group co-ordinator. Remove any unnecessary services, playlists, favourites etc. and see if that might improves things. It maybe worth replacing any network cables too (just in case).

If there were a generic problem with the CA in S2 I think it would have generated  a lot more posts than there are on that other thread, mostly from a handful of users.

Comments on such issues from front line support staff count for nothing 

Just to update on this, I have 4 CA’s which are only 6 years old so no I don’t expect them to last forever but I do expect more than 6 years of life out of them! All 4 exhibit dropout problems, I replaced as advised one of them with the newer Amp and guess what this one has been working fine for weeks!! The problem as I see it is that Sonos have issued multiple software updates that have eaten up the memory space causing dropouts! A lot of these updates are providing system enhancements which quite frankly I’m not interested in as all I want to do is stream live radio programs! As a result I have to scrap 4 CA’s which would normally work perfectly well and replace with the newer Amp’s which won’t do anymore than my 4 older CA’s for what I want.🙁🙁🙁🙁

Only the connect amp has the WiFi off, this was something I suggested to Sonos support to reduce load on the connect amp and Sonos agreed it should help. This isn't a misconfiguration, it's hardwired to ethernet, and it's not the root bridge in my sonosnet

It's not paranoia to state that Sonos are aware of this issue, and aren't fixing it. I'm not saying they're deliberately breaking something for fun, but they appear to have broken something and their response it to tell people to buy new products.

It's possible that it's an issue with memory cells degrading over time, but that seems to be very coincidental that this issue started appearing for multiple people at the same time, around the same time as a firmware update that mentioned memory on connect amps… of course I don't know what changes were made, so perhaps I'm reading more into it than I should, but it seems a weird coincidence.

As I've stated, the connect amp isn't the root bridge, this was a temp configuration I tried to prove that it wasn't a network issue. Because all other speakers connected via it had no drop outs. I've now returned to my previous configuration, which a few speakers connected to ethernet (with STP configured on my network), and the connect amp connected by ethernet with it's WiFi turned off. It's NOT a network issue. I've replaced network cables, I've reserved ip addresses, it's not the issue. I don't tend to use it as a group coordinator either.

As John B mentions though, if this applied to every Connect:Amp - these boards would light up with many hundreds complaining here and not just a few people. Older Connect Amps might have issues as mentioned, but some things can perhaps be resolved by using a more modern Sonos product say as the root-bridge, or as group co-ordinator, or even operating them in a slightly cooler environment in some cases. It still could be a cable that needs changing and I would never rule out interference as a network environment can change quite often.

Sometimes a reboot of the router/refresh of the network, a change of WiFi channels and/or channel-width, can solve quite a few issues, even moving devices onto other segments of the local network might assist the situation too.

There are a lot of threads on this though. Search for connect amp drop outs. Most OPs just get told its an issue with the environment and the topic gets closed. I don't think a lot of people have connected the dots, I think this is a bigger issue than people realise. Not to mention it's a drop out of a few seconds that people may not always notice, or think to raise. I had it for months before I spoke to support, and even longer still before I posted on here about it.

Let me just first say, I do sympathise with any issue another Sonos user is encountering, it’s why I voluntarily hang around this community to try to help others, but I don’t, even for one second, believe this would be a deliberate act by Sonos, by any means.

I can’t rule out a bug in their software though (who can🤔?). However, if that was indeed the case, I really would expect lots more (different) people here highlighting this matter, on a fairly regular/daily basis and I’m talking dozens, if not hundreds, of people and that’s not the case at the moment and people rarely (if ever) post here either, just to say ‘all is well’. 

In the meantime, I would perhaps continue to gather your diagnostic reports and any references and perhaps go back to Sonos Support …and if necessary, try to escalate your case to see if anything else might be at the centre of the issue. 

I’m not sure, as another Sonos user, what else I can say to you. I just don’t think you’re on the correct path if you think it is Sonos that might be doing this deliberately in order to make you upgrade. I still think it’s far more likely going to be something local to you.

I didn't say they did it on purpose to make me upgrade, but they are indifferent about fixing it. Also I spoke to support, did diagnostics and they said the issue is the hardware. It's not a network issue, I'm a software engineer, I have a decent network with good, expensive, equipment running it, I've set up pings to check if the Sonos drops off the network over time, it never has. That's not the issue. I checked all that, as I initially suspected it to be a local issue, but I'm satisfied, both with my testing, and what Sonos has said that it's an issue with the hardware itself. Remember I've had this issue for months at this stage, I've done lots if testing.

Also I don't buy what you said about lots of people would be raising it. It took me months to raise it with support, because I didn't get round to it, and initially suspected it was an issue my end. Then anyone who raises it on the forum immediately gets told its their network, and to change Sonosnet channels and reboot it, which may fix the issue temporarily (as the RAM gets reset on reboot), and they then get their thread closed. Not to mention, it's something that may take a while to get noticed in the first place.

Look, I'm just looking for some ownership from Sonos. Issue a article about it owning it, if it's a software issue, try and fix it, if it's to do with the device being too old, then if possible release an update whth features removed so the core functionality works on this device, or issue a good replacement scheme.

Sonos do have bugs, there was that issue with the Arc which they took a long time to acknowledge and fix. This could be a similar issue, and we need to make a noise for it to get seen and for it to be fixed. Just being fobbed off with “buy a new device” without even a special discount, is imo not acceptable.