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Doug Ames
Headliner I
May 19, 2019

Delayed responses from Google Assistant

  • May 19, 2019
  • 14 replies
  • 3556 views
I've only been using Google Assistant on Sonos for a couple of days, but I'm noticing that there's a frequent and variable response delay. Often why I say "Hey Google" plus a command to do something, like turn on a light or play some music, there's a delay of up to 10 seconds before it responds. Other times the same command will respond quickly, similar to the speed I'm accustomed to with my Google Home speakers or with Alexa. This delay is unpredictable but happens quite often. There was no similar delay with Alexa on the Sonos One, and the speaker has a good WiFi connection.

There is one common pattern to the delay: normally the white LED on top of the Sonos One brightens as soon as I say "Hey Google", stays bright while I speak the following command, blinks for a second or two after I finish speaking as the command is being processed, then then action happens while Google Assistant speaks the response. When there is a delay, the white LED stays bright when I finish speaking and doesn't begin to blink. It can stay that way for 5-10 seconds - then it begins to blink and the action happens at normal speed.

So what's going on here? Has GA somehow failed to recognize that I have finished speaking and is waiting to see if I have more to say? That never happens on Google Home. Or is the Sonos One waiting on a Google server to respond?
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    14 replies

    Bigskull
    Enthusiast I
    May 19, 2019
    It's not just you as I get this as well. It happens all of the time when I command it to increase volume, this ends up in me repeating the command several times before the speaker decides to respond to them all at once and blasts the music.
    mebby
    Enthusiast I
    May 19, 2019
    Sam here. I'm seeing it most frequently with requests for volume changes.
    Doug AmesAuthor
    Headliner I
    May 20, 2019
    The problem with volume commands may simply be that it didn't hear you. Does the volume drop to hear you better when you say "Hey Google"? That would indicate that it hears you.

    I wonder if the problem occurs when GA the Sonos thinks that I am still speaking for some reason after I have finished. Maybe in attempting to automatically compensate for my voice volume it locks on to some background noise, but eventually realizes that I have stopped speaking and only then processes the command. That would make sense given the behavior of the indicator LED. But I've tried testing that, and there's no consistency. Even if I speak the command loudly in a quiet environment from close up, the delay still happens sometimes. Even if I deliberately trail off mumbling quietly, GA either attempts to process the command within a second or two after my speech volume drops, or immediately after I stop mumbling, so I don't think it's being misled by low speech volume. It just seems to happen at random.
    ajkhunter
    Lyricist I
    June 26, 2019
    I have this issue as well!
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    June 26, 2019
    Does toggling on/off the “continued conversation” feature in the Google Assistant App help to reduce the delay? GA may work faster perhaps if it’s switched off, but even if you have it switched off already I would toggle it ‘on' and then 'off', just to ensure it is set to off within the Google Home.
    Doug AmesAuthor
    Headliner I
    June 27, 2019
    I don't think it's anything to do with "continued conversation". The delay can happen on the first thing I say to Google Assistant for hours, or the 3rd command I give it after 2 quick responses. Also I have a couple of Google Home Minis, and they don't have any such delay.
    Ken_Griffiths
    Ken_Griffiths
    June 27, 2019
    I don't think it's anything to do with "continued conversation". The delay can happen on the first thing I say to Google Assistant for hours, or the 3rd command I give it after 2 quick responses. Also I have a couple of Google Home Minis, and they don't have any such delay.
    Sounds like an intermittent WiFi signal issue, like the connection is almost drifting in and out with the speaker. Wonder what might happen if you perhaps change the radio channel and/or bring the speaker closer to the main router, or Sonos Root Hub (if using SonosNet)?
    Doug AmesAuthor
    Headliner I
    June 28, 2019
    Sounds like an intermittent WiFi signal issue, like the connection is almost drifting in and out with the speaker. Wonder what might happen if you perhaps change the radio channel and/or bring the speaker closer to the main router, or Sonos Root Hub (if using SonosNet)?

    Good guess, and that occurred to me too, but I don't think that's it.

    My Sonos is close to the router and has an excellent WiFi signal strength. I have lots of other WiFi devices, including several Google Home Mini and Echo Dot speakers, and none of them have a delay problem. The way that it can happen at random on the 2nd or 3rd command in a row argues against the cause being a WiFi connection that dropped somehow while the speaker was idle. And most importantly, the same Sonos One speaker at the same location did not have any such delay problem when it was running Alexa. I'm very sure that it's either a software problem with the Sonos implementation of Google Assistant, or an issue between Sonos and Google - maybe Sonos gets pushed to the bottom of the priority queue sometimes because they didn't pay a priority fee to Google.
    Doug AmesAuthor
    Headliner I
    July 6, 2019
    It seems to me that this problem has gotten better in the last week. I'm not noticing delay any more, though it was quite common previously. Has anyone else noticed this?

    At the same time there is a new problem (separate thread) where I have to repeat a command to run a routine multiple times, getting a wrong response the first couple of times even though the transcript shows that Google Assistant heard the same thing each time.
    whipau
    Lyricist II
    November 22, 2019

    It seems to me that this problem has gotten better in the last week. I'm not noticing delay any more, though it was quite common previously. Has anyone else noticed this?

    At the same time there is a new problem (separate thread) where I have to repeat a command to run a routine multiple times, getting a wrong response the first couple of times even though the transcript shows that Google Assistant heard the same thing each time.

    Used AA on my One without issue for months before GA got released to the Sonos. Switched to GA after everything I read saying GA was a superior voice assistant. Immediately noticed where AA would take around 2 seconds to respond to a command, GA constantly takes up to 10 seconds to respond (it responds to wake word immediately, no issues there).

    Interestingly I am also getting the wrong response issue you’re describing too.

    Basic commands like “play 90s playlist on Spotify” and she says she can’t help me and she’s still learning.

    No idea what’s going on, seriously considering going back to AA

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