These are two quite common problems I have with my Sonos system.
1. I've noticed that quite often when a new unit joins the network (someone coming home with their iPhone, waking a sleeping computer e.t.c.) Sonos will mute and often skip to the next song. I'm quite sure this has to do with DHCP-intervals. So for some reason when a unit gets it's IP refreshed Sonos will lose connection for a while. This could be an issue with my router but since it's a year old Airprort Extreme I would expect it to hande these things quite well. Is there some other Wifi router that is considered more superior in the Sonos context?
2. Another issue I get quite often, especially with the Mac OSX Sonos controller is that it fails to refresh completely. So if I open my laptop and switch to the already running Sonos Controller it's either completely blank or it fails to update to the songs currently playing. Since there's no refresh button a complete restart of the contoller is the solution which feels a bit 1990. I get this in iOS too but I believe it's more common with the laptop version.
So are these problems something extremely uncommon or just the way this software usually behaves?
IP-refresh problems and blank Controller problems
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Connection problems which appear suddenly are often caused by network problems, not Sonos problems. The typical cause is duplicate IP addresses. These often show up after an update or power outage because a reboot requires the device to request a new IP, and the router, having lost track of current IP assignments, issues a new IP that is in use by another device. To cure this, do the following:
Reboot/power cycle your devices in the following order:
Modem
Router
Switches or hubs
Wired Sonos units
Wireless Sonos units
Computers/printers
Wireless devices - phones/tablets etc.
Allow each device to come back up before proceeding to the next. Note that you can permanently prevent duplicate IP addresses by assigning an IP to each device's MAC address in the router setup. See your router manual for details.
Reboot/power cycle your devices in the following order:
Modem
Router
Switches or hubs
Wired Sonos units
Wireless Sonos units
Computers/printers
Wireless devices - phones/tablets etc.
Allow each device to come back up before proceeding to the next. Note that you can permanently prevent duplicate IP addresses by assigning an IP to each device's MAC address in the router setup. See your router manual for details.
Please note jgatie's last paragraph. It's extremely helpful for a long term stable system, especially if your router is frequently 'confused' as to what is being assigned.
In my experience, and also by recommendation from Sonos support, fixed MAC-to-IP-assignments does not work very well in the long run. That's why DHCP was invented in the first place.
I don't believe this is a general network problem, it's Sonos specific. It seems to me Sonos is the sensitive device here. Thanks anyway.
I've often wondered if the problem might be that Sonos-units, especially a bit older ones have too small cache size for really stable network performance. It seems it has a hard time whenever there are minor disturbances, like it runs out of memory too quick.
I don't believe this is a general network problem, it's Sonos specific. It seems to me Sonos is the sensitive device here. Thanks anyway.
I've often wondered if the problem might be that Sonos-units, especially a bit older ones have too small cache size for really stable network performance. It seems it has a hard time whenever there are minor disturbances, like it runs out of memory too quick.
I own two of the original Sonos devices, the ZP80 and ZP100, along with newer models. I was used to occasional hiccups occurring after updates due to duplicate IP addresses. I reserved IP assignments in the router setup and never had a problem since. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the older units that was not seen in the newer units until I straightened out my router.
Incidentally, I've dealt with Sonos support on a number of occasions and never heard once that reserving IP assignments is not recommended. Also, reserving IPs is not assigning static IP addresses, and it in no way eliminates DHCP, it just assures a device is allocated the same IP from the pool.
Incidentally, I've dealt with Sonos support on a number of occasions and never heard once that reserving IP assignments is not recommended. Also, reserving IPs is not assigning static IP addresses, and it in no way eliminates DHCP, it just assures a device is allocated the same IP from the pool.
But do you mean that reserved IP will not be affected by the router when i t's refreshing (other) IP-adresses? In my experience there are things happening, like short interruptions, when IP:s are refreshed even when a unit gets the same IP. I do believe Sonos will have to negotiate the IP (and get the same) in any case and when it does there might be an interruption.
Regarding reserved IP:s this is what Sonos said when I was in contact with them (translated from Swedish) in a support case:
"You also talk about having reserved IP to avoid IP conflicts. This usually does the opposite, ie. creates IP conflicts unless you have reserved the reserved IP addresses outside of your DHCP range as your apple router delivers."
Regarding reserved IP:s this is what Sonos said when I was in contact with them (translated from Swedish) in a support case:
"You also talk about having reserved IP to avoid IP conflicts. This usually does the opposite, ie. creates IP conflicts unless you have reserved the reserved IP addresses outside of your DHCP range as your apple router delivers."
Regarding reserved IP:s this is what Sonos said when I was in contact with them (translated from Swedish) in a support case:
"You also talk about having reserved IP to avoid IP conflicts. This usually does the opposite, ie. creates IP conflicts unless you have reserved the reserved IP addresses outside of your DHCP range as your apple router delivers."
This might just be a misunderstanding about 'DCHP'. For example, I start my DCHP allocation at 100, keeping anything under that (apart from 1, obviously) for either reservations or fixed IP addresses. The Sonos devices and the NAS devices that serve them all have reserved addresses. So any device joining the network will only allocate from the pool over 100 - so will not conflict with the Sonos kit. At the same time, when the devices are rebooted they will pick up the same address each time. So they could be referring to my addresses below 100 as 'outside the DCHP range', as they're simply not available for allocation.
Yes, I see what you mean. It's not totally clear.
However, if I set the DHCP interval to let's say 1 day. Will not also the units with reserved IP:s have to negotiate with the server once a day resulting in a small interruption in some cases?
Anyway, in my experience regardless of how I set Sonos it seems to me interruptions and new units being introduced to the network seems to correlate.
However, if I set the DHCP interval to let's say 1 day. Will not also the units with reserved IP:s have to negotiate with the server once a day resulting in a small interruption in some cases?
Anyway, in my experience regardless of how I set Sonos it seems to me interruptions and new units being introduced to the network seems to correlate.
My lease interval is set to 120 minutes - the router default. I haven't experienced any problem due to this, AFAIA.
I'm afraid that I'm not familiar with Apple kit, but I've used a variety of cheap routers over the last six years of using Sonos, and none of them have demonstrated this problem.
On my 2011 Time Capsule the DHCP range is set from 50 to 200. I use the space up to 50 to specify reservations for Sonos devices and all those hosting Sonos controllers; only 20 are used till now.
Sonos works flawlessly, and every update is done with no hiccups.
DHCP lease is set to 1 day. Plenty of friends wander in and out of the home, with access to my WiFi.
Sonos works flawlessly, and every update is done with no hiccups.
DHCP lease is set to 1 day. Plenty of friends wander in and out of the home, with access to my WiFi.
OK, I guess my theory is wrong then. I wonder why I get this? I mean, I can watch a Netflix Movie via wifi on a cheap Sony Blueray player with wireless streaming capabilities without a single interruption but with Sonos it happens every once in a while.
More than likely, it's because the duplicate IP address problem is on your speakers, but not on your cheap Sony Blueray player or computer? It's frequently exposed due to the update process of new firmware, during which Sonos reboots the speaker. If the router has lost track of its list of IP addresses, it can then hand out an already used one to the Sonos devices. It's pretty rare for other devices to do this sort of "soft reboot" process, so they don't often get the chance to experience the duplicate IP address issue.
Most video streams have significantly larger buffers, too, in order to cover up these kinds of issues. Sonos doesn't do this, to my knowledge.
Most video streams have significantly larger buffers, too, in order to cover up these kinds of issues. Sonos doesn't do this, to my knowledge.
Most video streams have significantly larger buffers, too, in order to cover up these kinds of issues. Sonos doesn't do this, to my knowledge.
No, I don't think that's the full explanation. Sonos is much more prone to interruptions always, than other players apart from my very old and slow Minimac. And it doesn't only happen in relation to me having updated Sonos.
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