Considering leaving Sonos entirely?!

F
  • Ftk
  • Contributor I
  • 2 replies

After two and a half years of owning the five I’m considering leaving Sonos entirely. I’ve found the app and the five speaker both to be problematic. The five speaker regularly disconnects, every 3-5 weeks it will disconnect (no internet change, no physical change in the environment where the speaker is) and it will not work for about a week and then it will suddenly work again. Resetting, factory reset, sometimes not always, works. Then go to the app - which is the first step in diagnosing why the speaker isn’t working. The app itself I have a tonne of qualms with. Every time I open it a new section is greyed out or simply unusable. Every time I have this issue I have to look online and I see numerous other people having issues with Sonos functionality as well but its all over the place - archived answers from years ago etc. We’re looking to outfit our house with a complete audio solution in 2 years, I bought the five to “test drive” sonos as a company and tbh I have been defending sonos to my partner on this topic but this week has been the final straw. Please anyone, can you answer why I should stay with this company? 
 

p.s. the in app trouble shooting for this is awful. All it does it ask if your devices are online / on the same network - then the support ends. I respect this is like 90% of tech issues to begin with. But after I answer yes to all those the support can’t simply end at “more information” which leads to 1. Repeat question already answered in trouble shooting steps prior, and 2. Are you logged in? Which I’d love to know but since the app shows me as greyed out with no support on that topic well, who’s to say if its reading me as logged in or not - says I am but the grey must imply something. Finally, the support ends at the more info screen - so if those 3 questions didn’t lead you to a resolve the user is just SOL. 

 

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108 replies

Ken_Griffiths

@ratty The router called ‘’House2’’ serves to create a network entirely and exclusively dedicated to Sonos devices as Ken Grifftins explained to me.

Just to try to put the record straight here… That’s not what I was saying @Thewizard2000 - it seems like you’re now using double NAT in your case for your Sonos setup. I merely suggested that you follow the Staff advice in the link I gave you and to perhaps switch and run the Orbi system in ‘bridged AP’ mode, rather than ‘router’ mode, meaning that you do not use an Orbi ‘primary’ Hub as your main router, but use a 3rd party router instead, with its WiFi disabled and switch the Orbi to become the local subnets wireless access points - I suggested it would be ideal aswell to wire the Orbi AP’s back to the router, or an adjacent switch, if practicable. I did not mention setting up a second router and begin using double NAT, if that is indeed what you’re currently doing 🤔? - that would be entirely different to what I was suggesting earlier in the thread, if you perhaps look back at my posts.

ratty

It was Sonos Support -- who actually have access to the diagnostic data -- who said you have a wireless interference issue. They in fact suggested wiring as many devices as possible.

I’ve certainly not recommended setting up a separate AP. If it’s in the same location as the Orbi primary node it’s likely to do more harm than good. 

T
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Its been 2 years now you non stop told me that i have network interference issue. Then isolate them to an entirely new network is not a good idea?

ratty

To be frank I don’t understand the rationale for installing a separate AP. What model is it? What channels is it using? How is it better than the Orbi? 

T
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Ok then if both ssid will be on the same ip subnet then there are not need to rename it to the same ssid and same password like explained earlier?

ratty

Well, to be honest I don’t really understand why there’s a dedicated AP for Sonos. Sonos ought to work on ‘HOUSE1’, i.e. the Orbi mesh. Moving on...

On the assumption that ‘HOUSE2’ is the only SSID stored in the Sonos system then returning to your question here I’d suggest you connect new Sonos devices to ‘HOUSE2’ and anything else to the Orbi’s ‘HOUSE1’. Both SSIDs will be on the same IP subnet.

T
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@ratty I haven't had time to take the test yet, it will be done this week because I have a little more free time. But I like to find out what to do beforehand.

ratty

@ratty The router called ‘’House2’’ serves to create a network entirely and exclusively dedicated to Sonos devices as Ken Grifftins explained to me.

Does Sonos work okay with it then? 

 

T
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@ratty The router called ‘’House2’’ serves to create a network entirely and exclusively dedicated to Sonos devices as Ken Grifftins explained to me.

ratty

Thanks for that. This is probably going over old ground but…

Why is there a router ‘HOUSE2’ (in AP mode), assuming it’s in the same computer room as the Orbi primary node? What exactly is it? 

If all the Sonos devices are connected to ‘HOUSE2’ wirelessly do they show good signal strength in the Sonos app?

T
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@123456789abcd Instead of innovating in new products every year, era, soundbars and soon headphones, it would be better to improve those that already exist and make things easier for existing customers.

jgatie

I bought a sonos 100 era 3 weeks ago. I contacted the company  because after 2 weeks it stopped connecting to my phone and the company led me to hours of calls to India where they tried to get me to adjust and service my modem at my cost for the speaker, while not considering all of my other electronics in the house that may get affected by this, emails to sales department and chats to no avail. My time had no value to them, but a measly $249 product was, which I’m sure cost them a LOT LESS to make. In the end, they thought it would be best not to reimburse me and rather to have a dissatisfied costumer with the ability to use social media to tell his story to the world. NOT SMART. So keep in mind I bought their defective product in a store and not directly from them and so, I’m done, the money is gone. The worst costumer service with their nice meaningless words, bar none. They talk about how concerned they are, but do nothing.

 

I’ve read this three times and I still have no idea what happened or even what your complaint is,

1

I bought a sonos 100 era 3 weeks ago. I contacted the company  because after 2 weeks it stopped connecting to my phone and the company led me to hours of calls to India where they tried to get me to adjust and service my modem at my cost for the speaker, while not considering all of my other electronics in the house that may get affected by this, emails to sales department and chats to no avail. My time had no value to them, but a measly $249 product was, which I’m sure cost them a LOT LESS to make. In the end, they thought it would be best not to reimburse me and rather to have a dissatisfied costumer with the ability to use social media to tell his story to the world. NOT SMART. So keep in mind I bought their defective product in a store and not directly from them and so, I’m done, the money is gone. The worst costumer service with their nice meaningless words, bar none. They talk about how concerned they are, but do nothing.

T
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ratty

@Ken_Griffiths Just use the exact same IP subnet on the chosen router. The wireless network will be the same SSID/password too, so your WiFi devices will connect as they do now .. The wired devices need to connect back to the router, or to an unmanaged ‘primary’ switch off that router.. All will just continue to use the same LAN subnet as you have presently with your Orbi router.

I understand the idea of ​​using the same SSID and password for the two routers to communicate with each other. However how do I decide on which router I want to install a possible new device since they have the same name and are combined together.

I confess I don’t understand where this is going. Two routers? I thought you had an Orbi mesh system. Could you please refresh our memories of what you currently have in place network-wise? (I tried looking for details but the search facility on this board is simply dreadful.)

T
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@Ken_Griffiths Just use the exact same IP subnet on the chosen router. The wireless network will be the same SSID/password too, so your WiFi devices will connect as they do now .. The wired devices need to connect back to the router, or to an unmanaged ‘primary’ switch off that router.. All will just continue to use the same LAN subnet as you have presently with your Orbi router.

I understand the idea of ​​using the same SSID and password for the two routers to communicate with each other. However how do I decide on which router I want to install a possible new device since they have the same name and are combined together.

Ken_Griffiths

Thewizard2000,

Just to say, without any doubt, @ratty knows more about networking and the issues with Sonos, than myself. The answers though (after two years of various unsuccessful troubleshooting) is to perhaps try some things that you have not explored before, rather than simply going around in circles and see if you can find a permanent solution to the issues you are encountering.

You may of course have to look at changing some networking hardware along the way too, such as the router, or even the WiFi mesh setup and ensure that you have sufficient bandwidth for your needs. 

I think though, it’s worth taking things one step at a time to try to find the answers. 

ratty

@ratty

I understand what you are telling me, however to say that all my problems are wireless related is really vague. Unless you have a more specific solution, I will continue to follow Ken's recommendations.

Vague? You apparently have wireless bandwidth issues. Back in this post, @Airgetlam already referred you to the Sonos article on dealing with wireless interference.

T
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@ratty 

I understand what you are telling me, however to say that all my problems are wireless related is really vague. Unless you have a more specific solution, I will continue to follow Ken's recommendations.

ratty

@ratty

Not a lot of tweaking necessary really. I run on a standard ASUS ZenWiFi mesh. 2 nodes. Bands split onto separate SSIDs.

The Sonos system knows about both SSIDs, but I make sure only the home theatre units (Beams) can connect to the 2.4GHz SSID, by using a whitelist. The latter is really the only bit that counts as ‘tweaking’.

 

So if i believe what you say, you don't need to put your network in AP mode with all others things like Ken-Griffiths needs to do.

My ASUS setup is in bridge/AP mode, as I already have a gateway router (and separate DHCP server) for that subnet.

As I remarked before, TBH this question of AP-vs-router modes looks like a red herring in your case. You evidently have wireless issues. The wireless segment is the same, whether a mesh is in AP or router mode.

Ken_Griffiths

@Thewizard2000, 

Okay. Yes, sadly, some ISP provided routers can be very poor in some cases. If yours is as poor as you say, then it’s best just left as a modem. I would perhaps just stick with SonosNet, with one product wired to your Orbi router and just live that for now. If Orbi allows you to fix its WiFi channels and channel-width, then just use a non-overlapping channel that is different to the SonosNet channel in the App to reduce any interference. 

Maybe at some future date you could look to change your WiFi mesh system instead to perhaps something like the one that @ratty uses, which is an Asus ZenWifi mesh setup as apparently that is very configurable and I understand that it works well with Sonos.

T
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@Ken_Griffiths Thanks for the answer. Yes you true. My technicolor is bridged. 

It's difficult for me to give back the privilege to my technicolor to become the main router again since this router is of poor quality, and since I use orbi as a router my others devices have no problem. Comcast are cheap products and they are not stable with multiple devices to manage. In fact the one that have is design for 12 devices maximum if i remember. This is the main reason why I was using technicolor only as a modem.

 

In this case i think that i need to buy a second router but this is costly.

Ken_Griffiths

My orbi is already in bridge mode with my technicolor. If i want an acess point i beleive that i need to buy another router

I don’t think that’s the case, as your Orbi was clearly acting as the router on your network - didn’t you reserve the Sonos IP addresses in the DHCP reservation table in the Orbi’s configuration pages earlier in the thread? I am assuming of course that you’re not running two routers on the network and have ‘Double NAT’ in place? I’m guessing you mean you have ‘bridged’ your Technicolor modem/router previously instead, perhaps🤔?

Ken_Griffiths

@Ken_Griffiths

So if i understand well then my orbi satellite will be use for the new acess point?

There are something that i don't understand. My isp already sold me a technicolor that make modem&router in the same unit. So i'm already in bridge mode between my technicolor (as a modem) to my orbi. 

So now i need to set a second bridge mode acess point?

Your technicolour modem/router all-in-one device will become the main router - operating on the same network subnet as currently in use by the Orbi router - you may have to change that subnet in your router settings so that it is the same subnet/gateway. You can initially leave its WiFi adapters setup and have them broadcasting the same SSID/Password as your Orbi WiFi and ensure the routers DHCP server is running. Set the Orbi hubs up next in ‘bridged AP’ mode (as outlined in the earlier document-link) - you need to wire one, or more, Orbi hubs to the router, or nearby switch… these hubs, in bridged AP mode, will be taking over from your routers WiFi adapters, so when they are bridged successfully the routers WiFi adapters can then be switched off. 

After a successful setup, the technicolour device will be in charge as the main router in the network and the wired Orbi Hubs will simply become its WiFi adapters, which you can move out and extend the Wifi signal around your home, but one hub needs to remain wired - it is better if you can wire all/both (however many hubs you have) back to the main router/switch.

So, as nothing will have changed (same subnet/gateway/SSID’s etc.)  - all your products will simply connect back to this setup, as it quite literally mirrors your previous Orbi setup.

Hope the above outline helps you to sort out what you need to do… and just see if that works for you. There are other steps you will need to take, but that should give you a basic setup to get you started.

T
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My orbi is already in bridge mode with my technicolor. If i want an acess point i beleive that i need to buy another router

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