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Frustrated beyond normal! Where to start...

  • 15 July 2024
  • 6 replies
  • 127 views

I am an easy going islander. I am in IT and used to bugs, figuring out workarounds, even just accepting system issues, latency, and helping users with adoption and change. THIS? THIS IS RIDICULOUS AND FRUSTRATING BEYOND BELIEF and it takes a lot to rile me up. 

I have invested quite a bit in all sonos products excwpt the eros which I think are ugly. Finally experiencing buyers remorse after ~4 years? 

System chooses where and when it should play. Just now I could not connet to the amp. Workaround, connect to the arc and then add the amp. Aint I the smart one...wait...it won't allow me to increase the volumn...it finally connected...you can see the indicator but volumn at 0. Increase, and back down to zero it goes!! And that is just the latest...alarm to music doesn't work any more, instead it will alarm to chime and won't shut off...I had to unplug the amp...the list goes on and on... 🤬 Can I go back to the old app? I am sure no, because you are literally forced to upgrade. I will no longer recommend sonos!

6 replies

Bumper

You can go back to the old app, 16.1, on Android. 
 

If you are on iOS you can install SonoPhone ($3) and it works great. It doesn’t have admin functions but it actually works. Lots of comments on this here and r/sonos on Reddit. 
 

In addition the Sonos desktop apps work on Mac and Pc. 
 

Either of these 3 options and you can avoid the dumpster fire that is the new app and have reliable controllers  

If you choose any of these I would turn off auto updates in the Sonos app so that a Sonos update does t lock you out of using one of these alternative controls. If you have Android also turnoff Sonos app updates in the App Store  

 

C

Thanks Dumper, I will give that a try. I normally use my android phone, but even now on my ipad, i chose a song to play, it shows it as playing, but it is a totally different song that is playing!!! 😵‍💫

Airgetlam

Sure sounds like an issue in the network with communication between your controller and the speaker. Since you’re an IT person, I expect you're familiar with how to deal with potential duplicate IP addresses caused by your router. If you’ve double checked that, I’d recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this problem, and call Sonos Support to discuss it.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your network and Sonos system.

Bruce
buzz

The new controllers use the network very differently from the earlier scheme. Based on the number and similarity of user reports I’m beginning to suspect that certain networking gear reacts poorly to the new scheme. In reports filed here and certainly with reports filed with support, complete network details should be included. Simple statements such as: “My WiFi is perfect”, or “Works with everything else”, do not help the effort to identify the cause of any issues.

Here is a list of routers known to have compatibility issues with the original scheme. I expect that the list will grow as issues with the new scheme are identified.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

The changes are explained here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-happened-sonos-app-technical-analysis-andy-pennell-wigwc

press250
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

The new controllers use the network very differently from the earlier scheme. Based on the number and similarity of user reports I’m beginning to suspect that certain networking gear reacts poorly to the new scheme. In reports filed here and certainly with reports filed with support, complete network details should be included. Simple statements such as: “My WiFi is perfect”, or “Works with everything else”, do not help the effort to identify the cause of any issues.

Here is a list of routers known to have compatibility issues with the original scheme. I expect that the list will grow as issues with the new scheme are identified.

Totally agree @buzz, methinks the new device APIs are behind many of the “works here, broken there” mysteries documented on these forums.

As you observe, the root cause of some of these problems will come down to Wi-Fi router issues ...

  • Many of these issues will be exceptions and corner-cases not properly handled by new app/new APIs/new firmware. Over time, one hopes these will be tackled by Sonos.
  • Other issues may be user-fixable via configuration tweaks buried in Wi-Fi router setup.
  • And some issues may be subtle router incompatibilities.

I’ve always encouraged users with “broken here, works there” problems to try the Windows/Mac desktop app and see if that fixes things. The desktop apps (and the v16.1 Android app) use the ‘old’ APIs and are quite stable and full-featured. If nothing else, trying the desktop app often saves a lot of frustration.

 

Here is the article that does a fabulous job explaining the new device APIs …

 

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