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I have a Sonos Play 5 (gen 1) and Sonos S1 app on a Samsung Galaxy S22 phone. Have been running into problems connecting to my system as it comes back as not being able to be found. At times, I’m able to connect wirelessly using the Windows Sonos S1 app but again I sometimes run into connectivity problems. Have gone through all of the normal troubleshooting steps to no avail. Had a Sonos tech on the phone yesterday and they finally suggested I have Optimum (my ISP whose modem/router only they can look at and change many of the router settings) verify some settings. Well, after Optimum botched things up to the point where I had no access, we were finally able to get my internet and wireless back on line supposedly with the recommended settings in play. However, Optimum suggested there might be a problem with the router and I should visit one of their stores to have it replaced. Problem is that I’m not seeing any issues with any other connected devices and their router is consistently seeing my Play 5 connected as ZonosZP and thus being shown as connected properly to the network despite devices not being able to get to it. Was able to eventually get my phone to play nice using the Sonos S1 app with my Play 5 but then turned off the Play 5 overnight only to find that I was back to square zero again this morning in that the phone app couldn’t find my system. Finally was able to get everything working again after using an ethernet cable but then things are still very flaky. I can have the App open and playing, turn around and it’s indicating Unable to connect to Sonos while my music is continuing to play. So it doesn’t necessarily seem like an issue with connectivity between the Play 5 and my network but more with the Sonos S1 app on my S22 and the network. Even tried with an Apple XR phone without success. In fact, I was just listening with the app open, blinked and lost connection, shutdown the app, restarted without success, restarted again and it was successful. And with all devices within a couple feet of each other. Both the phone and Play 5 are on the same 2.4Ghz Wi-Fi network as earlier in the summer I was having problems on account of Optimum having implemented their supposedly Smart Wi-Fi feature that allows a single SSID for both 2.4GHz and 5GHz such that devices freely roam between both whereas Sonos devices and printers, which I was also having connectivity issues at the time, only play on 2.4GHz. Besides for what I’m doing 2.4GHz has a farther reach than 5Ghz and I’m not needing the speed or bandwidth. So, I’ve forced most devices to 2.4GHZ leaving dedicated things like Roku’s to 5GHZ. Thanks.

I am starting to think it’s something to do with recognizing my S22 on the network as it appears that my S22 may be randomly changing it’s MAC address whereas my Play 5 apparently remains connected to the network as streaming music continues uninterrupted while whatever is controlling it seems to be what’s getting disconnected. Trying to break down the problem as to whether it’s the play 5, my modem/router (Ubee UBC 1322), the Sonos S1 app, or my phone. Any insight would be great. Thanks.


I think I might be on to something here. Looks like I’m seeing different instances of my S 22 in my router’s list of connected devices, all with different MAC addresses. I went into the phone and checked for this Wi-Fi network and the phone is configured to use Randomized MAC addresses rather than the phone’s actual MAC address. I’ve changed the setting to Phone MAC Address and so far in shutting down and starting the Sonos S1 app, I’m not having any connection problems. Just hope I haven’t jinxed myself yet as it hasn’t yet passed the shutdown of the Play 5, power off and then move to a new location and power back up, and test with the Sonos S1 app on the phone. Got to bite the bullet at some point.


Ok, at the risk of jinxing myself even further, looks like having randomized MAC addressing on the Sonos S1 app controlling device might be the issue with randomly losing connection between the Sonos S1 app and devices as well as the Sonos S1 not being able to find one’s system. Since changing my phone Wi-Fi settings for the Wi-Fi network being connected to from Randomized MAC address to Phone MAC address, I haven’t experienced any problems with the app on my phone. Previously wasn’t having too much of a problem with the Windows app as the PC is Ethernet tied to the router and the router was consistently seeing the Play 5 as SonosZP. And as long as I could get something to start streaming to the Play 5, it had no problem staying connected and streaming even when any controlling app was shutdown. That suggested to me that the Play 5 wasn’t the problem nor the router as they seemed to be in sync. But the multiple instances of my phone listed in the router’s list of devices with varying MAC addresses was suspicious. I did have to connect the Play 5 to the network by Ethernet after making the phone changes but have since powered it up and down and move it to another room and been able to re-establish connection using the Sonos S1 app without hiccup. We’ll see after it’s been down over night and through some phone and network restarts, etc. If everything holds true, I’ll try to update my Sonos tech support open ticket number.


Dang, while everything worked all day yesterday after changing my phone to Phone MAC and through various power cycles and device relocations, awoke this morning and the app couldn’t find my system. So I rebooted my modem/router in an attempt to clear any remaining history of the S22’s randomized MAC addresses that were still being displayed as connected devices. Upon restart, still wasn’t able to connect but Play 5 control buttons were showing as being connected to the network. However, when I went to review the router settings and what was connected via Optimum’s My network webpage (again, they don’t trust users to be able to have direct access to the modem set-up), not only wasn’t the Play 5 showing up but the Optimum list wasn’t reflecting things that were obviously connected either wired or Wi-Fi. So that took me down yet another rabbit hole again with Optimum since multiple refreshes weren’t showing obviously connected devices like the PC that I was in an online chat with an Optimum rep or an HP printer that I had sent a print job to. They ended up doing something on their end that improved the refresh list response but still wasn’t showing things that were obviously connected. Eventually it seemed to reflect what was actually connected but wasn’t instantaneous and had glitchy response to refresh requests. The Play 5 eventually showed up along with wired devices like my PC that I had been doing the online chat with the Optimum tech for over an hour. But I still couldn’t connect to the Play 5 via the Sonos S1 app so I again connected the Play 5 by ethernet to synch everything and check the system settings which were fine. Disconnected the ethernet and was able to connect via the Sonos S1 app and have since done a couple of disconnects and power cycles without issue. Again, needs to pass the test of time I guess but still not sure if the problem is with the modem/router (latest Optimum glitches raise suspicion), the Play 5 (doesn’t seem apparent as all indication is that it’s connecting to the network, just mapping to it gets messed up), a problem with the Sonos S1 app (still a possibility), or a characteristic of smart phones using either randomized MAC address vs. Phone Mac. This is just too bizarre but I’m becoming more suspicious of a modem/router issue given the other glitches that seem to be suspect and since I’m not aware of having had problems when the Play 5 was being used earlier this year grouped with a Play 5 (gen 2) on a Comcast/Xfinity modem/router set-up at our other residence.


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