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

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.