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kettle
kettle
Avid Contributor I
February 25, 2025

BBC sounds flaky playback - unable to connect

  • February 25, 2025
  • 17 replies
  • 320 views

For the last few weeks I have found that the usually robust playback of shows from BBC sounds has become very erratic.

I am using the S1 controller on both android and PC and my system is up to date. When I select a live or recent show to play, more often than not I get one of these error messages:

“Unable to play ‘show name’ - the connection was lost’

‘Unable to connect to BBC Sounds’

‘Unable to add to the queue (error 701)’

‘Unable to play the selected item’

Sometimes the BBC Sounds stations and shows do not come up “Unable to browse music - there was a problem connecting to BBC Sounds’

However after trying a few times it usually starts playing ok, until if I pause or adjust the time position, when again, more often than not one of the above messages stops playback.

 

Nothing has changed in my network configuration, I have tried removing and reauthorising the BBC Sounds service and also different groups and individual speakers but the issue persists and believe it to be an issue with either Sonos or BBC Sounds.

 

I look forward to this being resolved, thanks.

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17 replies

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Airgetlam
Airgetlam
February 28, 2025

Note, there is a report in this thread:

 

that MixCloud has indeed fixed the issue with S1. 

Bruce
    kettle
    kettleAuthor
    Avid Contributor I
    February 28, 2025

    Oh wow! thanks so much for letting me know.

    I’ve just tried it and Mixcloud does indeed now work...no issues at all!

    One down, one to go!

    kettle
    kettleAuthor
    Avid Contributor I
    March 1, 2025

    Well, it looks like my issue has disappeared today without me having to do anything.

    Yesterday, whenever I tried BBC Sounds content, I would have the regular stops and errors.

    This morning, it is behaving itself 100% of the time.

    I removed the temporary LAN cable (which I was trying for one of my devices) a few hours ago, and have continued to test it thoroughly, and there are no issues at all.

    I wondered if my router has reconnected /rebooted in the intervening time, but that has been up for 2+ days.

    So as it stands I no longer have a problem, but I have no idea what caused it or resolved it!

    Airgetlam
    Airgetlam
    March 1, 2025

    One of my problems is I never know when my router receives an update. So the only times I’m sure is when I look at its status, or have a power outage (unfortunately too frequently here). But it gets updated fairly frequently (in my eyes) without my knowledge. I just wish there was some sort of confirmation on it, like ‘hey, is it OK to update’ or ‘Hey, we updated for you’, as I’d rather know. It would make some mysterious changes more understandable. Including the rare settings change, which have occurred to me in the past. 

    Bruce
    kettle
    kettleAuthor
    Avid Contributor I
    March 1, 2025

    It was the same for me, I’ve now turned off its default auto-update and restart functions. But it used to update automatically and once even restored factory settings after updating, without even letting me know!

      kettle
      kettleAuthor
      Avid Contributor I
      March 4, 2025

      Well, unfortunately my BBC Sounds issue returned yesterday and I’ve since had fails and error messages at least 50% of the time when I tell it to do something through the Sonos S1 controller.

      It’s so weird that it was absolutely fine on Sunday all day.

      I have reinstated the LAN cable for the additional device, but I really don’t think that has anything to do with this issue.

      Again, I cannot think of anything at my end that I could put this down to.

      🤔

      kettle
      kettleAuthor
      Avid Contributor I
      March 14, 2025

      I’m still having issues, so I thought I’d test swapping the router for an old one I have and have had partial success:

      My current router is a Huawei H112-370 which accepts a SIM card and connects to the Internet over 5G. I have used this for a couple of years or so and only had issues with BBC Sounds on SONOS for a month or so.

      I swapped it out and tested with my old Huawei B525 4G router using the exact same SIM card and found no issues with BBC Sounds playback at all….suggesting that my issue lies with my current router.

      Being the same make of router, I have found the settings menus almost identical, so I meticulously compared every setting to see if there were any differences, unfortunately there was nothing significant. Aside from the fact that one connects over 4G and the other is 5G (with no options to change mobile network settings) so I have drawn a blank again.

      I’m thinking about factory resetting the 5G router just to see if that does anything, if anyone has any other ideas I’d welcome any input.

      Thanks

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