google assistant on beam does not function

Hi @Admaster, welcome to the Sonos Community!

I do sometimes find that Google Assistant on my system can start to stumble a little bit, generally a reboot of my router and speakers will resolve that however - have you tried this?

If you’ve already tried that and you’re still having issues, then another possibility is that of wireless interference, and you can find here some tips on Reducing Wireless Interference.

Let us know how you get on :)

Thanks xander. I had reached out to support who recommended the same thing. I unplugged power to the beam and plugged back in. I removed google assistant from the sonos app and re established it. I power cycled by wifi router. The first time, things seemed promising. I could voice command to start playing music, and control the volume. However, when I asked to skip a track it said something went wrong. So I repeated the steps, this time trying to skip a song first. This worked, but when I asked to change the volume I received the same "something went wrong error".

So, resetting the beam and wifi adapter worked briefly, but didn't stick very long.

Understood @Admaster  - network layout can also affect the performance of Voice Services sometimes - do you have a mesh system or any wireless extenders in use? Mind giving us a quick overview of how the network is set up, and how the Beam is connected?

I have gigabit internet running through a wireless router (Zyxel C1000Z), and one mesh extender on the next floor up (Netgear EX7300) that is hardwired to the router (so it's more on an access point, not a repeater). I'm broadcasting a 2.4 and 5 gHz signal, with different names. The beam is connected to the wireless, looks like the 2.4 band. 

If there are more stats from the app that are helpful just let me know which ones. Also I know that strength of signal is a factor, but without going into detail of my house layout, I've spent enough time placing the router and extender to maximize my coverage pretty well. The beam is in the next room over from the primary router and gets good coverage from both bands.

Got it, thanks for that @Admaster.

I took a quick look at a recent diagnostic from your system, and it looks like the wireless latency on the Beam is spiking, most likely causing you to receive the “Something went wrong" message.

I can also see that both the Beam and the Bookshelf are connecting via the Netgear extender - would it be possible to temporarily power the Netgear extender off, reboot the Beam, and then test to see if Google Assistant remains responsive?

That is interesting that the beam is going to the extender, I would expect that to have a reduced signal at that location. I will do what you said and try to get the beam onto the other router.

I did as you said, I unplugged the extender, and actually did a factory reset on the beam. I'm still getting the same result though. I've re-uploaded my diagnostics with the extender unplugged. 1463522857

Thanks for trying that - seems that the levels of interference actually got worse after taking those steps, and we’re still seeing the same issues with wireless latency. 

I did notice that there are quite a lot of networks in the area using the same wireless channel as your router, and it may be worth setting the channel on your router to 1, rather than 6. Aside from that, would it be possible to test the Beam in a different location? If there are any other wireless devices in close proximity to the Beam, then moving the Beam a bit further from them should help.

If there are no other devices close by, mind describing the general environment around the Beam? What kind of surface is it sitting on? Feel free to share a picture showing the Beams location if you’re unsure, and we’ll be happy to take a look for any possible offenders :)

Dear All,

Since last month I have also been facing the same issue as Admaster. I bought Sonon Beam in March2020 and I have never faced such a difficulties to “talk” to Google Assistant through Sonos till now.

Almost 80% of my “request” give Nothing or else “something went wrong with Sonos”.

I did the reset of everything: router (Fastweb), Google Assistant, Sonos App (Unistalled & Installed back), unpluged&pluged Beam. 

Not sure what happend but I am thinking to replace the Beam with Google Home Mini which is working perfectly.

On top to the above I have also noticed a reduction of the volume. I used to listen Beam at volume “40” …. now to get the same volume I have to increase it to “60” (volume 60 was almost “Disco mode” but now I listen to the News with volume set at “60”)….

Pls let me know if you have the chance to look at the error message My Beam is giving

Some hints for you:

• WiFi 2.4 gHz
• router distance from Beam → 2mt
• no signal extender 
• no other wifi around
•  

thank you for you kind support

Hi @Lorenzo.V, thanks for reaching out :)

I took a quick look at a recent diagnostic and I wasn’t seeing any particular issues to explain the poor performance I’m afraid, so we’ll need to look a little deeper.

If you open the Google Home app, tap the profile icon in the top right, and then go to My Activity - is Google Assistant on the Beam hearing the commands correctly?