features?? lacking basic connection

Story of everyday, every speaker on wifi

Have you tried setting ip addresses for your devices? 

Seems to be a common problem with the new Sonos firmware and app. But you should rule out local network issues.  

Did you mean allocating fixed ip addresses instead of dynamic ones that are set on rebooting?

can you please point me to documentation?

It’s not a Sonos function (Sonos uses DHCP), it is a router function, specifically reserved IP addresses.

Many thanks, I would think that local network issues would appear on at least 50 other devices too… computers, tvs, roomba, nest cameras, cat feeders, lights etc. I don’t see issues there. They work well. Also, all of these challenges started showing up after the new app rolled out. Well, I did have some connection issues intermittently in the past, but they were easily solved by switching the speaker on/off. No longer is that fix applicable and it just happens more frequently.

Single devices do not have the network requirements of a synched multi-room music system in which the individual speakers need to communicate with the others 100s of times a second.  

So, your premise being Sonos requires a more performant network than regular devices I have. If it does, I havent added new devices before or after the App update… , so is it coincidence, am I missing something or have there been firmware and App updates that have screwed up the connections.

What do you recommend I do? 

Im intrigued. You are willing to keep taking the same action in the hope that things will improve, and complain when they don’t. But you’re not willing to try anything different, dismissing it out of hand. Why not at least try something different, and see if it helps?
 

Otherwise, good luck with the continued stair-climbing. 

The new app uses a completely different discovery protocol, so what worked on your old network may not work now, for whatever reason that may be.  I would submit a diagnostic and give Sonos support a call.  Or wait until Sonos issues a fix for whatever problems you are seeing.  Either way, it’s never a bad idea to reserve IP addresses in your router setup.  Consumer grade routers almost never keep track of their IP assignments across a reboot or power failure, which can wreak havoc with systems like Sonos due to IP’s being handed out while they are still in use by other devices.