Forcing Updates

This Bed Time Story is well known to the community. It's being retold almost daily, commonly accompanied by threats to issue a warning to neighbours, friends, colleagues about Sonos' inferiority or by philosophizing about class action suits.

I generally prefer genuine replies. You are surprised that I didn't mention any of those things? I'll tell you why, because I've owned Sonos since 2013 and I have NEVER had any of these issues until the last 15-months or so... specifically when Sonos made the decision to start adding voice capabilities to the speakers.

There's no logical reason to think the integration of voice assistants somehow caused network related issues during system upgrades. The frequency of updates has increased, but not the nature of the upgrades themselves.

It is quite common for people to come here and assume that the issues they have are experienced by everyone else, and that it has to be solved by Sonos doing something different. The regulars around her will usually try and offer solutions to 'fix' their network so that updates don't kick off issues for them. People are usually grateful for the advice, even if they just initially just came here to rant.

I have a degree in computer science and I can eventually fix most issues... so your items 1.-5 are all in play and all things that I have leveraged to get the system back up and running once it goes down. But I have to tell you... I didn't buy these expensive speakers to spend a hour trouble shooting, rebooting and/or contacting customer service (by the way...just try...try...try to speak with an actual SONOS customer service rep). If anyone chooses to go that route, put on a pot of coffee... its going to take awhile.

if you've tried these fixes, particularly reserving IP addresses, it's very unusual to continue having network issues after an update.

I'm really really surprised that your approach to dealing with these matters is to point customers to technical solutions.... solutions that WERE NOT required just a year or so ago. If SONOS had started out this way, it would have failed day-one.

Again, there is nothing changed regarding the nature of upgrades. It is much more likely than your network has changed in some way over time. Additional devices, different router (or router firmware), neighbors wifi, etc. Your the first person I've seen suggest that the upgrade problems you're having are related to voice assistant.

What I've noticed from this forum are more defensive "'redirects" instead of addressing the issue full on.. My post was specifically addressing the "forced upgrades" matter which Ken's response above totally ignored and quite frankly, I'm not sure you can because its tough to reconcile the corporate party-line with the consume reality. Beyond the scripted responses, I can tell you that you have a problem that's becoming more and more prominent.

But Ken and others were addressing the issue full on. Users state they are having issues with their network and they are given advice on how to fix the issue. I get that you want a debate on whether updates are forced or not, frequency, etc, but the outcome of that debate doesn't usually get users systems back up and running.

A Bed Time Story: Once upon a time a company called Microsoft had an operating system called "Windows XP". I just worked. Then they decided they need to come up with solutions to problems that didn't exist. They pissed off so many loyal customers that they turned in mass to a tiny company called Apple which delivered a computer and operating system that did what it was supposed to do, Customers raved and a star was re-born.

Apple was not that tiny, and they existed long before. They actually had a good chuck of the market before Microsoft came along, but microsoft beat them by opening up their software to multiple hardware platforms while Apple remained closed. You could argue that it was Apple's refusal to change that caused them to stagnate. What brought Apple back from the bed was getting the iPod right, followed by the iPhone. People switched to mac just as much because of the success of Apple's other products as it was missteps by microsoft.

All this said though, it would be good if Sonos can further improve the update process. It would be great if a customer could somehow turn off updates without having to be concerned with a update of a controller from the apps store, or something of that nature. I do think the automatic updates is a big improvement, but it has not resolved everyone's issues.

As far as the idea that Sonos should just have a legacy version they never touch, or just chose to provide updates/enhancements less frequently, it's important to remember that Sonos makes it's money off new product sales, not off licensing fees. They also need to make sure the systems are up to date with security and bug fixes. That's not to say that Sonos should have no concern for legacy customers, but that shouldn't be their top concern. They are in a competitive market, and they need to stay competitive. If they don't they'll repeat the story of Blackberry.

Apple does not allow legacy apps to be maintained, they must remain as is. With this being the case, very soon changes to firmware, codecs, streaming services, security, etc. would render them useless. This is why Sonos does not bother with legacy apps.

Sonos can contine to blame customers for not being technically savvy or what have you...but there are significant problems with the update process, policy and approach and I think pointing the finger at customers is a HUGE mistake. Yesterday I spoke with my cash...i just ordered a $4K sound system for my vacation home and I never thought I'd say this but.... Sonos not in scope. I also ordered a homepod for my 86yo dad so I don't get calls from him ranting about updates and Sonos not working. Good luck

Sonos can contine to blame customers for not being technically savvy or what have you...but there are significant problems with the update process, policy and approach and I think pointing the finger at customers is a HUGE mistake. Yesterday I spoke with my cash...i just ordered a $4K sound system for my vacation home and I never thought I'd say this but.... Sonos not in scope. I also ordered a homepod for my 86yo dad so I don't get calls from him ranting about updates and Sonos not working. Good luck


Good luck with your new purchases. Horses for courses applies.

Sonos can contine to blame customers for not being technically savvy or what have you...but there are significant problems with the update process, policy and approach and I think pointing the finger at customers is a HUGE mistake.

When did Sonos blame customers? Sonos has not replied in this thread at all. What Sonos does do when users report issues is provide as much assistance with troubleshooting the issue as possible, even when the problem is with a router, wireless interference, whatever, and not the Sonos device itself.

I completely agree and have ran into some of the same problems. Sonos is constantly preventing older devices and operating systems from controlling their speakers. They claim it's the OS and device manufacturer's fault but that doesn't compute when one day the app is working fine and the next not working because of a speaker firmware update. There needs to be a simple way to prevent updates to both the speakers' firmware as well as the apps on any device being used to control the speakers. While there is an option to prevent updates under the Android OS there seems to be no option in the Windows 7 version of the app to do the same so there is no way to avoid the prompts to upgrade the app or speaker firmware using a Windows laptop. They need to leave well enough alone but I suspect they are probably patching more security flaws in the version of Linux or whatever other OS the speakers are using internally more than they are adding features, however they will likely never admit it. I will not be purchasing any more Sonos products to add to my system or recommending them to anyone else.

I feel Ya Vizen2.

I've been away in Europe for a month and when I came back the system would not work because I needed to update. Sonos maintains that they do not force updates but they do. For example, I have turned off auto updates for my Apps. So the sonos app on my phone still needed to be updated yet the system somehow would not work until I updated my app. Yup they added some new features but nothing that I'm interested in or asked for.

I"m in the process of riding myself of the Sonos Update Nazi's. My son just started college and we've been testing the Bluesound Products with great fanfare. I bought him two of the Flex 2i speakers for his apartment and they work pretty much like Sonos with better sound and more use options. For example he is nuts over the option of attaching a battery pack so he can use the speaker on the deck without looking for a chord outlet. I personally bought Bluesounds' Min 2i speakers and their soundbar for my cottage and again.. works great! I don't have internet at my cottage but the speakers connect and sync via bluetooth with no problems.

They are spendy (like Sonos) but the sound quality and ease of use is tremendous). At some point I'm sure they will do goofy updates too but the bluetooth connection option takes the pain out of having to completely reconfigure your WiFi setup ever time Sonos decides to update the app with a new font.

PS I don't work for Bluesound. I'm just a long time customer whos spent 1000s and am fed-up with Sonos. I have one last sonos setup remaining in my Seattle home and its going to good will when we move. I used to have 22 of these buggers....and it was a ROYAL pain to keep them working wth the constant bs updates.

Speak with your wallets my friend.... its great to complain on message boards but you'll need to speak with your wallets and then Sonos will listen. Otherwise brace yourself for another messy update in 6-8 weeks.