"The connection to Stingray music was lost"

R
Userlevel 1

I am starting yet another thread on this common topic to convince Sonos and Stingray to work out their kinks. This is beyond frustrating. One minute the service is working fine; the next, that annoying message comes up about being unable to play due to connection being lost. Nothing changed, so why is this happening? It’s been a constant annoyance ever since I got my first Sonos speakers a couple of years ago. FIX IT!!!

Over the years, I have unplugged and plugged in the router, unplugged and plugged in the speakers, unloaded and reloaded Stingray. All software has been updated. Even if that works, it’s temporary. Totally unsatisfactory performance.

Diagnostic: 2137151423.

 

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21 replies

Airgetlam

Note that the extent of Sonos’ participation that they point the Sonos software to a server location maintained by Stingray (or any other streamer, for that matter). They don’t actually do anything with the data until it is received by the speaker, at which time they just play it. So, unless there are posts about every stream on Sonos, the chances are extremely high that the issue is on Stingray’s side. It’s good that you’ve notified Sonos here, but you should also notify Stingray. 

Bruce
Krishma M
Userlevel 5
Badge +13

Hi @RobSS, thanks for reaching out. 

I appreciate the diagnostic and efforts. I understand what you’re feeling but I’m here to help. Have you tried checking a different music service? Just to confirm if it's only happening to Stingray. I also found out that you’re using an Asus router. Maybe you need to try this link with Asus RT Series compatibility.

Let us know if this helps. 

Help others find useful content by clicking the like button and selecting the best answer to your question.
R
Userlevel 1

No, I haven’t tried a different music service. I pay for Stingray via my Telus package. But I have had similar connection problems when trying to access my music library via the Sonos from time to time, so it’s a problem that extends beyond Stingray. I’ll try the ASUS fix and will report back if the problems continue. 

Thanks for weighing in with the suggestion.

N
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

Stingray Music is an amazing music service (which I get through Telus as well). I’ve yet to see radio stations as good as their human curated ones on other platforms (so much so that I wish they would evolve to a full music streaming platform with the ability to play specific songs, albums, and your own custom playlists on demand).

But alas, I’ve had the same problems occur way more often since using the S2 App and thus have stopped using Stingray all together as well.

I also agree that it’s probably on Stingray’s side. I’ll try to send them a report as well. 

N
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

A quick update on this issue based upon my experience with it. I tried rebooting my router and nothing changed. Later on another day, I tried uninstalling the service and reinstalling it and again no change. Still had the same problem. 
 

Finally a day ago, I decide to reboot my router and uninstall/reinstall the service immediately afterwards. It now works! I did have the error occur once more but for the most part, it actually works quite well now. The only weird quirk is that when starting a station it can take up to five seconds to start playing the music but after that, the songs play fine and jump to next song fine without any delay. 

C
Userlevel 1
Badge

I can attest that it’s only Stingray which is behaving this way.  Spotify works great, so does TuneIn.  My case is more or less the same: I set an Alarm to get my Sonos speakers (3) to wake us up with Stingray Classical Baroque.  Some mornings it’ll play fine for 2 hours, others for 3.  Alarm is set to play endlessly, we keep this music for working home too. 

 

When trouble begins, it’ll play one song, then stop.  Sometimes, I’ll load the title and say that it cannot play it because the connection to the service was lost.

 

Rebooting the router, removing / reinstalling the service, changing the 2.4 Ghz frequency channel on the router, all these amounts to no nothing.  I also tried to pick a different Stingray channel when this happens, to no success.  Stingray is a hit or miss.  Sadly, Stingray is amongst the best, if not the best itself, music service there is.  I often chat with their DJ and they’re truly passionate about music.  And this reflects in their music programmings.

 

Seriously Sonos and Stingray, please, oh please, fix this.

 

N
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

It worked for me for a bit but eventually I stopped using it because of the poor performance. I agree that other services work fine, so the issue appears to be on Stingray’s end. 

C
Userlevel 1
Badge

I’ve just contacted Stingray to let them know.  Maybe there is something they can do at their end.

A

I reported this to Stingray back on October 23rd and got this response today - Nov 4th.

Here’s what was recommended by Stingray support;

“I recommend trying the following troubleshooting tips:

  1. Restart the Stingray Music mobile app
  2. Close any other apps that you are not using
  3. Uninstall and reinstall the app
  4. Make sure you have the most updated version of the app
  5. Check that your device meets the minimum requirements
  6. Ensure that you do not have the battery-saving mode enabled on your device
  7. Ensure that you do not have a VPN connection on your device

If you are still having trouble using the app with Sonos, please let me know.

Thanks,
<name removed>
Stingray Customer Experience 

As I have done all of the above and more - I responded and suggested Stingray and SONOS have a discussion. Like others, I can play Amazon and Spotify 24/7 without the constant Stingray drops.

 

C
Userlevel 1
Badge

The problem is that these steps seem to refer to the Stingray app itself.  When I am listening to Stingray on my Sonos speakers, playback is initiated from the Sonos app on my iMac or iPhone. I occasionally use Spotify in this manner, though.  Always working perfectly.

I deal very little with the Stingray app itself, just when I am driving to be honnest.

And just this afternoon, I got a SiriusXM mobile subscription (for the Holidays, I like their lineup of xmas music channels).  It’s been working great all afternoon long.  Whereas Stingray was having the hickups minutes before I switched to SiriusXM.

Patience and perseverance !  All of us, we will find a way to get this fixed :)

A

Thanks carbmac - you are right on the money.

My initial support ticket to Stingray explicitly told them that this was a Sonos App/Stingray music service issue (as you described) and not the Stingray app...that was their response and “fix”(?!).

In hindsight I probably should have included that in my post so others wouldn’t waste their time.


Patience and perseverance !  All of us, we will find a way to get this fixed :)

Gonna be a long haul - I got time :grinning:

C
Userlevel 1
Badge

Update : After reaching Stingray’s Customer Service, I was asked to remove and then re-add the Stingray service to my Sonos setup.  Which I just did.  I will update tomorrow or Thursday if this has solved the issue.  

In the meantime, @Arjaypee , would you be able to also do this too ?  You do that in the Preferences for the Sonos app, under Services.  Have your credentials nearby, you’ll need them to re-authorized your Sonos speakers again.  After that, listen to whatever channel was causing the most trouble before.  Same for @Nollind , if you’d find the time to try it as well.

Thanks a lot in advance people.  We will find a way to make this work  :)

Ray

 

A

I’ll give it a shot tomorrow and give it a day or so and respond with results.

N
Userlevel 3
Badge +4

@carbmac that’s actually their usual suggestion. Sometimes it will work. Often times it doesn’t. For example, it worked I while for me and then the problem reoccurs. They need to go beyond this and figure out why it’s happening in the first place and resolve it on their end. Getting their customer to basically give their Sonos system a virtual "kick on the side” every time this happens, isn’t a solution. 

C
Userlevel 1
Badge

Well.. it didn’t work.  It did for yesterday, but this morning, music stopped after 30 minutes.  I will contact Stingray again.

A

I re-installed the Stingray music service yesterday and it ran uninterrupted for about 6 hours. Also fired it up today and it started immediately (rare - as I usually get “unable to play” ….  and “Connection to Stingray was lost”..

I have done this in the past (to @Nollind ‘s point) and seems to be a temporary fix.

Will see how long this lasts and post result.

A

Update. No surprise...worked for about an hour today..music just stopped at 15:05 EST “No music selected”.

Hit the play button on SONOS app (did not re-select the Stingray channel). Stingray channel started up again. Stopped again at 15:29 EST “No music selected”. Hit play again. Started up again. Odd though, that after it started up again - after about 4 songs, the song that was playing at 15:05 (when it stopped) played again. Stopped again at 16:20.

 

R
Userlevel 1

Just as a follow from my original post, the problem continues for me. Here’s the latest blurb from a Stingray rep:

”We've actually been communicating and working with Telus, as we were able to discover a few technical things on the back for a few users that were or are still also experiencing a similar issue.”
“Unfortunately this issue has been ongoing for quite some time at this point, and although our technical team has made huge advancements on resolving it for most users, we still have a handful of users expediting a connection issue when using the app on their Wi-Fi. At this time, I don't believe it is a specific to Telus end issue, which is why we are continuing to work on this on the back end and with any provider that has a users that is somehow being impacted by this.”
“Although technology isn't always perfect, we are doing our very best to pin point the root cause for each individual user still experiencing this issue, as our ultimate goal is to ensure you can listen to your favorite music without interruption or issue. It seems with this connection technical problem, that for each individual, the root cause is something different from one device and account to the other. Dissecting the issue, testing and making sure there is a true fix that is not temporary but consistent to ensure this doesn't continue or happen again has become quite the challenge for several of our teams, but for the majority of all Stingray Music app users, it has been resolved for some time now.”

“I am keeping you on our follow up list and the second I get information on a proper resolution for your account, I will contact you immediately.”
“I sincerely apologize for all inconvenience and frustration this may be causing and thank you for hanging in there with us as we work on fixing this for you.”

And so we wait....

A

I’ve had this same problem intermittently for years but the last few weeks (December 2020)have been the worst it’s ever been. I can’t listen to more than a few songs without losing connection.

I’ve reauthorized my account so many times but it’s never the true fix. After reading this thread, I deleted and reinstalled both apps (Sonos and Stingray) so I’ll see how it goes. I’m a Telus user too.

A

Update...still having issues and need to keep reauthorizing Stingray. Forgot to mention I’m also having an issue where the album art doesn’t match the song being played. And a few times I’ve had a song get stuck on repeat. Had to close and reopen the Sonos app (plus reauthorize Stingray) to get it to work again. I am so frustrated!!

B

In support of the ongoing Stingray “Connection Lost” issue… I’m using Shaw and experience the same, so not a Telus only issue.   It seems to be less of an issue in the morning, from 5A up until about 8A Mountain time…  Also seems to vary by station I choose… ex. Christmas Favorites may not work at all, but switch to Smooth Jazz Christmas and I get a connection and can listen for a hour before having a connection lost issue… To add to the issue I get a station to play and then it will get stuck and repeats the same song over and over again, BUT in the Sonos Controller app is showing that the songs are advancing… (Have tried all the suggested fixes so am assuming it’s a Stingray issue OR something to do with poor connectivity that Sonos controller / Stingray in combination aren’t correcting for...)

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