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dwhite4245
Contributor I
Sep 16, 2023 10:44 AM UTC
Answered

poor wifi signal on playbar

Hi, I have a sonos home theatre system using a playbar, sub ans two play:1’s. It has been working fine for several years until last week when the playbar suddenly reports a weak connection to wifi causing the system to drop out.

I know the the wifi signal in my lounge is great everywhere and especially where the playar is as the tv, blueray and sky boxes have strong wifi connections. I’m suspicious that the playbar wifi receiver is failing so I have obtained a wifi repeater to make sure the platbar is getting a very strong signal. The playbar seems to prefer to connect to my router’s wifi rather than the repeater’s though. I find the sonos app really poor for configuration as it decides for itself what to connect to not giving the user any control. Any suggestion?

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Ken_Griffiths
Ken_GriffithsAnswer
Sep 16, 2023 1:37 PM UTC

@dwhite4245 

As I said earlier, once you test these things, if you do still encounter issues, then go onto submit a diagnostic report and contact Sonos Support who may be able to say if there is an issue with the Playbar WiFi adapter. (Edit: The Playbar will need to be showing in the App when submitting the diagnostic - even cable it, if necessary).

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dwhite4245Author
Contributor I
Sep 16, 2023 1:16 PM UTC

10db at the moment and the connection is weak.

I’ll report back when I can turn off the sky and bluray boxes.

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dwhite4245Author
Contributor I
Sep 16, 2023 1:18 PM UTC

Just dropped to 8db with no change to anything.

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Ken_Griffiths
Ken_Griffiths
Sep 16, 2023 1:20 PM UTC

10db at the moment and the connection is weak.

I’ll report back when I can turn off the sky and bluray boxes.

Maybe reboot the Orbi Hub it’s connected to aswell, particularly if it’s not the nearest AP.

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Ken_Griffiths
Ken_Griffiths
Sep 16, 2023 1:28 PM UTC

Just dropped to 8db with no change to anything.

It may fluctuate due to wireless interference - ideally you’re looking for a reading of 45dB, or above. As a rough example the Sonos Arc here is one metre away from a Mesh WiFi AP and gives a reading of 87dB but most things around it are wired or set on the 5Ghz band to avoid any interference.

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Ken_Griffiths
Ken_Griffiths
Sep 16, 2023 1:33 PM UTC

Note that any zigbee and/or bluetooth devices nearby, may also interfere, so perhaps keep those in mind too.

 

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dwhite4245Author
Contributor I
Sep 16, 2023 1:36 PM UTC

No zigbee or bluetooth nearby. Right now there is no connection at all.

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Ken_Griffiths
Ken_GriffithsAnswer
Sep 16, 2023 1:37 PM UTC

@dwhite4245 

As I said earlier, once you test these things, if you do still encounter issues, then go onto submit a diagnostic report and contact Sonos Support who may be able to say if there is an issue with the Playbar WiFi adapter. (Edit: The Playbar will need to be showing in the App when submitting the diagnostic - even cable it, if necessary).

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dwhite4245Author
Contributor I
Sep 16, 2023 2:51 PM UTC

Ok, with everything else off it’s showin 13db so I’ll raise a problem with sonos suppoert. Thanks for all the help and advice.

I may have to replace the playbar with an arc!

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    dwhite4245Author
    Contributor I
    Sep 20, 2023 8:39 PM UTC

    OK, I spent an hour and three quarters on the phone with Sonos Support after sending in a diagnostic report. To cut a long story short it seems that my playbar’s wifi card is working fine but with the latest updates it is now unable to be the master device of my home theater system. It is 8 years old and the support guy, Gabriel, tried everything to get it working on wifi but no go. It works connected by ethernet but I can’t do that when it’s attached to my TV. The work-around is that I now have Play:1 that we don’t use connected by ethernet to my router and this seems to allow the playbar to connect over sonosnet and the rear speakers and sub.

    Don’t ask me how or why.but I now have a working setup again.

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      Ken_Griffiths
      Ken_Griffiths
      Sep 20, 2023 8:56 PM UTC

      OK, I spent an hour and three quarters on the phone with Sonos Support after sending in a diagnostic report. To cut a long story short it seems that my playbar’s wifi card is working fine but with the latest updates it is now unable to be the master device of my home theater system. It is 8 years old and the support guy, Gabriel, tried everything to get it working on wifi but no go. It works connected by ethernet but I can’t do that when it’s attached to my TV. The work-around is that I now have Play:1 that we don’t use connected by ethernet to my router and this seems to allow the playbar to connect over sonosnet and the rear speakers and sub.

      Don’t ask me how or why.but I now have a working setup again.

      These three links below may help explain why it’s now working, as the setup is likely now operating on the internal SonosNet signal, often referred to by Sonos as ‘wired mode’:

      Hope the above assists and thanks kindly for popping back to let us know the outcome.👍

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