Contributor I

Sonos ruined my experience forever

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I’m incredibly disappointed and frustrated with how Sonos has completely ruined what used to be a great product experience. Despite the constant reassurances that things would improve, it’s just not working. I recently spent another $3,000 on Sonos speakers, and I deeply regret it. The app is constantly crashing, forcing me to update back and forth, and even then, nothing works properly. When I travel between my homes, the system simply doesn’t function as expected, which is incredibly frustrating.

I wanted to relax, and now, instead of music playing seamlessly, my phone shows it’s playing on the Move, but the sound is coming from my iPad. This is beyond unacceptable. The CEO of Sonos should resign immediately, and honestly, Apple should buy the company and fix it.

Sonos used to be an amazing product, but now, despite all the promises, the software is trash, and nothing works. Starting with the decision to make things not backwards compatible, it has been a disaster ever since. Please stop ruining my after-work music experience with your terrible software and connectivity issues!

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jsound

Lyricist II

true. basically overdue.

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Kierants

Trending Lyricist I

The update is a disaster. I have been with Sonos from the very beginning only moved away from S1 so I could use airplay and some other “features”. S2 worked fine from the start but then in May…..

Now the system stops playing because of “lost connection” on a regular basis. My network is fine and I am quite adept at managing my home network as me and 3com go way back (PARC).

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jsound

Lyricist II

Tom Conrad, the interim CEO, is a great next step for Sonos. Tom and I overlapped at Apple and he was the early CTO at Pandora for a decade. He will bring a welcome technical understanding *and* a passion for music to the job.

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Kierants

Trending Lyricist I

Tom Conrad, the interim CEO, is a great next step for Sonos. Tom and I overlapped at Apple and he was the early CTO at Pandora for a decade. He will bring a welcome technical understanding *and* a passion for music to the job.

He is now on the clock…..I wish him and Sonos well.

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kassey22000

Enthusiast II

Yes, the new Sonos app/software is more prone to faults because it uses more data connections that go outside your home. This does not go away however, so it is not going to help if you do not take a look at your network. “It should work now because it worked before and I did not change anything” wil not get you a functioning system.

Then Sonos should have been forthright and detailed about the NEW home/business network REQUIREMENTS the very day they foisted this junk on millions of users. NO instead they lied about features and benefits, hid behind the generally well rated S2 -WHY? because they full well knew that calling this pile S3 would have produced 1 star ratings across the board - alerting users/buyers NOT to be tricked into downloading an over-hyped pre-alpha level app so they could boost the Ace revenue and get their FAT quarterly bonuses.

They did NOT level with users and used us as Guinea Pigs to help sort out this horrible excuse for an app that pushes most of the functions (and our use information) out to their servers!

YES this new sucky app requires most of us to dig deep into our networks, placements, ++++ Putting extreme and onerous effort on the user/customer NOT Sonos (who decided a few years back to junk their once great support departments).

This Gold Standard MBA lesson book on how NOT to run a company will be taught for years to come.

P.Spence got his Golden Parachute and gets to stay on till June with even more $$ incentives, while over 100 of his employees lost their jobs. He had to go but so should the next tier down on the so-called leadership team. Clean house Sonos!

The board was lame and did not do their job because that’s how tech companies roll now with complaint buddy-positioned board members.

I fear the potential for this company is adrift and until they clean house thoroughly from the board down to the c-suite, it’s the same old perverse incentives driving their goals.

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KurtPatrick

Lyricist I

Strange as the new Sonos App is working absolutely fine at our Home & Holiday Home and not seen a crash.. it works with our mobile router too when we go travelling in the camper van. Some screen capture examples are attached.

Maybe you have some networking issues. Have you spoken to Sonos Support? If not here’s the link to contact them…

https://support.sonos.com/s/contact

Meanwhile here’s some info. and suggestions you might want to consider…

Checkout this document on WiFi interference…

https://support.sonos.com/en-gb/article/reduce-wireless-interference

Don’t use wired SonosNet connection (except as a last resort), use your Router/Mesh WiFi signal instead, it’s usually much quicker.

Set the routers 2.4Ghz WiFi Band to use a non-overlapping ‘fixed’ channel (1, 6, or 11) with a channel-width of 20Mhz only.

The routers 5Ghz band is usually fine so leave that as it is, but for stability fix its channels (rather than have them auto-select on startup). Try to steer compatible Sonos players onto the 5Ghz band and ensure they have an SNR level of 45dB, or above, where practicable, see this link…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/understanding-the-network-details-section-in-the-sonos-app

If such connections are not achievable, then consider trying the more penetrating/longer reaching 2.4Ghz band instead, or wiring a ‘standalone’ product, but always disable its WiFi adapter when not using SonosNet, but do not disable the WiFi adapter on a standalone Home Theatre device if you plan to later use it with surrounds/Sub . In fact I don’t recommend wiring a HT product at all, as it will create a SonosNet ‘root bridge’ in some instances, unless you are using SonosNet, as the last resort.

It’s true to say that some routers/mesh setups may work better with Sonos in SonosNet mode - Google WiFi is an example where SonosNet sometimes works better than wireless mode.

If using SonosNet, wire a device to the router, or to a "switch" linked directly off the router only. Keep any wired/or wireless devices one metre away (minimum) from any router, WiFi AP or other wireless device where practicable.

Never wire anything ‘Sonos’ to a WiFi mesh satellite Hub

Do not use wireless range extenders, or power-line (EoP) adapters.

Set all Sonos IP addresses static, high up in the LAN subnet out the way, in the routers DHCP reservation table - all routers are different, so maybe read the user manual if you do not know already how to make a device network address static.

Now onto the Sonos controller device…

Disable MAC spoofing (Private Address) it can cause issues with some routers. It’s often unnecessary to use that feature on a Home WiFi network.

Disable WiFi calling

Disable Mobile Data Access use for the Sonos App

Enable the following 5 things for the Sonos App to run smoothly…

LAN Access
Bluetooth
Location (precise)
Microphone
Notifications

Ensure the mobile controller is not using…

VPN Client
Firewall
Anti-virus
Other security software

Ensure LAN firewalls, or products like Pi-Hole, are not blocking Sonos cloud access

Some routers may have multicasting over the LAN set as ‘disabled’ - check the router configuration pages and enable it where necessary - (it may say IGMP Snooping or IGM Proxy etc.)

Whilst in the router settings, disable QoS and/or any Airtime Fairness features.

Remember too that the Sonos App now only sees local library folders that are shared using SMBv2 or higher - (SMBv1/HTTP shares are no longer supported since the May 7th update)

Hope those things assist.

In other words, get your IT degree and some wifi equipment and good luck…..

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buzz

Grand Maestro

Before the Internet caught fire I was involved with minicomputers, mainframes, and personal computers. Many people thought that I was weird. They would never use a personal computer. It was a case of not wanting to make an effort to learn something. Now these same people have computers on their desks, kitchen counters, and in pockets — all to keep track of their kids and grandkids — and to order things. It was just a case of motivation. As we add more gadgets in the home maybe it’s time to learn a few things about networking.

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ExhaustedRhetoric

Lyricist I

Before the Internet caught fire I was involved with minicomputers, mainframes, and personal computers. Many people thought that I was weird. They would never use a personal computer. It was a case of not wanting to make an effort to learn something. Now these same people have computers on their desks, kitchen counters, and in pockets — all to keep track of their kids and grandkids — and to order things. It was just a case of motivation. As we add more gadgets in the home maybe it’s time to learn a few things about networking.

I guess I disagree with this premise. Your average, day-to-day end user isn't doing extensive research to make things work. I understand that, even in tech related fields, the skill floor can be shockingly low. However, it is a company’s job to identify the needs of their customers. Not the other way around.

There is a lot of frustration and anger for a reason. If the majority demograph who buys the Sonos product can't or is unwilling to go the extra mile, then they won't stay customers if the company doesn't bridge the gap.

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