Sonos S2 app search field weird behaviour

Nevermind….

changing wifi SSID's does not give consistent results…. it happened on the 2,4 SSID again...

It does seem to help, but only for a few searches, Then the problem returns. 

Changing router is not an option, it was provided by the ISP; own router is allowed but not supported.

I do have a bilingual English and Dutch keyboard, but this problem also occurs using a connected hardware keyboard. Changed it to only Dutch anyway, no positive result. And English only, no luck.

I switched off the 5Ghz SSID, to prevent  “conversations” occurring between the two bands. Did not help. 

The only sure way to type without the issue is to switch OFF WIFI on my android phone, then enter the search words (issue does not occur), and then connect to wifi again and hit search. 

It looks like the search results, that start appearing after typing the first 1-2 letters, are messing with the search field. Is that making any sense?

Hi @albertvanderiet 

The Sonos app itself does not actually perform a search - the “Associated Player” will do so on the app’s behalf. This Associated Player (AP) will be the first Sonos player to respond to the app’s discovery request when the app opens, so can vary from session to session. As you type a query, each character is sent to the AP and the refined results list is sent back to the app for display. I can only assume that the link between the AP and the app is somehow being affected while it is being utilised, causing a “reset” of the search box.

Due to the fact that the broadcasting of SonosNet from your Arc doesn’t seem to reach all your other devices (perhaps it’s surrounded by stone/brick construction?), your system is in what we call mixed mode. Some players are connected to SonosNet, one (the Beam) is connected to 2.4GHz WiFi, and the rest are connected to 5GHz WiFi. As the AP can change each time you open the Sonos App, this may explain why you’ve had different results from time to time - depending on which band your phone is connected to. On your most recent diagnostic from about a week ago the Beam was the AP, meaning the most direct route to it was via 2.4GHz WiFi (as opposed to using the bridge between the router’s 2.4 and 5GHz radios).

Having said all of this, I have literally never heard of this happening to anyone before, so I have to presume that there is a fault with the router. If it were simply down to which model of router you had, I’m sure someone would have come across this issue before. I think it may be difficult to convince your ISP of this issue, however - their contract with you likely only concerns getting you online and not to do with you having a great networking experience. If you have a single device connected to the internet, they’ll likely consider their job done, though to be fair it may vary from company to company, country to country. If the router isn’t actually faulty, then the only explanation I can think of would be electromagnetic interference near it causing issues, but if it were as simple as that I’m sure I would have come across this behaviour many times before.

Free routers provided by ISPs tend not to be the best, or anywhere close to it - ISPs literally have to give millions of the things away. They can be told to stop doing the job of routing, however, and instead perform as modems - you could purchase a better router for around €60 (I wouldn’t recommend going lower than that) to perform the routing duties instead, or spend about double that on a mesh WiFi system for better coverage. The important thing would be not to have to two devices configured as DHCP servers on your network, and to disable WiFi on your original router. This is exactly what I have done in my own home, and you can always return items if they don’t immediately fix the issues. More info can be found in my troubleshooting article:

It may be worth performing a factory reset of the router first - I think that’s likely the only thing that may actually help, other than getting a replacement.

I hope this helps.

Thank you @Corry P for this wonderful new insight!

The way Sonos search obviously works (through the AP) explains why this issue occurred on EVERY(android) device in my house. The device/app apparently wasn’t the cause, but the communication between the app and the AP!

We have a new baseline to work from. I proceeded with the next steps: 

Step 1: I unplugged all speakers except the Arc (wired LAN connection), and now I had flawless search entries! 

Step 2: factory reset the router.

Step 3: I kept all speakers unplugged except the Arc, and tested for one hour, because I wanted to be absolutely sure ;-). I used both WIFI SSID's on my phone (2,4 and 5Ghz). Still no issues.

Step 4: Plugged in the other speakers one by one, beginning with the ones closest to the Arc.

Two hours later I had all speakers connected.

Unfortunately the issue returned….

But I'm happy with this insight and will try to troubleshoot some more and perhaps invest in an add-on router. Or an iPhone because the issue is non existing on iOS devices. 

Will keep you posted.

Question about Sonosweb: not one of my speakers connected to the Arc's Sonosweb, they all have WM:1, (except the ARC and it's surrounds). Not even the One that is 5 meters away in the same room, no obstruction. I hoped the Sonosweb would be a stronger, more robust AND preferred connection. That is not the case? 

Each of your Sonos devices should display WM:0 next to it. If you don’t own a Move or Roam remove the WiFi credentials within the Sonos app since they are not required when operating the System in SonosNet mode.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3488?language=en_US

If you have by any chance disabled the WiFi radio on the wired device (the Arc?) re-enable it first.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3684?language=en_US

The Arc is wired connected and shows WM:0. Wifi is ON, Sonosnet is shown in the Network page of the app.

The other speakers (except the Arc surround One’s) show WM:1.

@albertvanderiet, Submit a diagnostic report for @Corry P to take a look into it, please.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/141?language=en_US

In the Sonos app, change the SonosNet channel, subsequently reboot the speakers that show WM:1; it might help them along.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/1219?language=en_US

Hi @albertvanderiet 

In the diagnostic I was looking at, TV KAMER is wired, with ZITKAMER and MONIQUE connected to SonosNet. The reset were connected to WiFi and would have been showing WM:1 instead of WM:0 - I assume these speakers are simply out-of-range of the broadcast coming from the Arc. This is why I guessed the Arc was near stonework of some kind, as it would limit the range.

As @Smilja suggested, it might be best to submit a support diagnostic again so I can get an updated picture of what’s happening. Just reply here with the number given. Thanks.

To begin with: I really appreciate your help so far!

Okay, next steps were:

1. Changed Sonosnet channel from 11 to 1 and rebooted speakers → they returned to WM:1
2. Shut Down my Sonos Roam and removed the 2.4Ghz network in the app
3. Rebooted the speakers → they connected to WM:0
4. Tested the search function: worked flawlessly!
5. Factory reset Sonos Roam and connect again, this time to my 5Ghz wifi
6. 15 minutes later all speakers still show WM:0, except the Roam of course
7. Search function: no issues up till now (30 minutes testing, phone connected to 2.4 and 5 Ghz).

Could the connection to the Roam have been the culprit? Perhaps it was corrupted or something?

@Corry P @Smilja I just sent a diagnostic report 180228859

Will keep testing and keep you posted!

Hi @albertvanderiet 

Ok now, that looks much better!

You shouldn’t have had to go through all that to get where you are now, but now that you’re there, all should be good!

When you give the Roam the credentials for WiFi, they get shared across the whole Sonos system, but only those units that are portable or not within range of SonosNet should use them. Why your speakers were ignoring SonosNet I’m not sure, but they’re not any more. Well done!

After a few days of testing now I've narrowed it down to the presence of my Roam in the system and the need for a wifi network in the Sonos system to get it connected. 

If the Roam is online → the issue occurs

If the Roam is offline (switched off) → the issue is gone

If I remove the wifi network (then to Roam goes off-line) → the issue is gone

The good news is that my other speakers are still on SonosNet (WM:0). 

I find this acceptable; shutting down the Roam is a good workaround to get good search results.

Perhaps I could get it fixed by changing my (IP provided-) router, but that could be the start of a whole new set of issues ;-). 

Thanks everybody, specially @Corry P for your input!