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For well over a year I was a fairly happy Sono’s owner.  11 speakers, 4 rooms and a Move - everything usually worked and all was well.  About a month ago that all changed.  During a storm we had our power flicker a few times (every device plugged into a surge and my media room is on its own surge - nothing damaged) - long enough to clear the clocks on a few things but not long enough to start the generator.  From that day I have spent 30+ hours trouble shooting my system to get it back.

Let me confirm every speaker can connect and play but not at the same time - 9 out of 11 is the best i’ve gotten so far.  Beginning to think this is part of the iOS issues recently listed but not corrected?

I have read just about every forum and help file but have reached the end of the line.  You might ask “have you contacted support?” and the answer is I have not.  I have had only one support experience with Sono's but it is scared in my brain as being one of the worst support experiences I have ever had. Is there anyone out there that has had a positive support experience in the recent past?  I need a glimmer of hope because I have reached my limit with my system.  Nothing makes sense - none of its behaviors are consistent and the stability seems non-existent.  

I had upgraded the app with no issues.  Since this issue has arrived I have unplugged, replugged, reset, rebooted, hardwired, changed devices, updated, checked speeds, checked connection probably well over a hundred times.  My wife thinks I am nut and thinks I should sell the system.  I am beginning to think she is right.  Anything this hard to support - doesn't make sense in today's world.  

Is this a me thing or is there quietly a bigger problem out there?

Frustrated beyond belief...

 

Smash_Patinkin,

There are a few of the ‘usual troubleshooting’ aspects of your home-setup which you haven’t mentioned in your post?

  • Type of WiFi Router - is it a central-based router only, or is it a mesh based system?
  • Any switches (managed/unmanaged)?
  • Any other WiFi access points, repeaters, extenders or hubs and if they are using same/different subnets/SSID’s etc?
  • Wifi Channels/Channel-widths in use, on each band?
  • If you are running the devices on WiFi or SonosNet and the SonosNet channel in use?
  • If using SonosNet where your device(s) are wired to and if the device is set away from router? … how far away?
  • If you have already reserved Sonos Addresses in the local DHCP reservation table?

It would just be nice to know some basic detail about your setup and what troubleshooting you have done already, particularly in relation to the local network setup, channels etc.

Happy to provide some answers here.  

  1. Cable Modem and Router with eeros system - hardwired the system runs at about 500 Mbps - about 375 Mbps on wifi.  House is fairly small but has extreme coverage throughout.
  2. No
  3. I have a seperate repeaters for my 2.4 signal but the Sonos rides on the 5.0 signal via the eeros system
  4. i am not sure i know the answer to this
  5. i am using wifi (though have connected some devices to get them to connect as a pair)
  6. i get what your asking but appreciate this is a small house with tons of coverage (no dead spots) and not that long ago everything worked great. i would say the farthest distance from the router is 40 ft but the the farthest any of the speakers are from an eeros hub is 15 ft
  7. i have not yet done this - again going off of this all once working, I have not gone down this road.

As far as the trouble shooting I did all that I listed above, over and over.  

As it’s an eero WiFi mesh system,  I would (respectfully) suggest wiring one Sonos device only to your primary eero router, but keep the device at least 3 feet away from the primary hub or any other wireless device. It’s best to use a modern standalone Sonos device or a Sonos Boost. If using a stereo pair then use the left speaker.

 

Ensure your ISP provided router is in modem mode with its WiFi switched off. Also switch off any guest networks on your eero system (if applicable).


You can discover the eero’s 2.4Ghz channel by ‘pausing’ its 5ghz channel (see the link below for how to do that). Ensure the 2.4Ghz band is running on either channel 1, 6 or 11.

https://www.podfeet.com/blog/2020/09/eero-pause-5ghz/

 

When that’s done, goto the Sonos App "Settings/System/Network” and set the SonosNet channel at least 5 channels away from your routers 2.4Ghz channel.

Obviously re-enable the 5ghz band again afterwards.

 

I would also reserve (make static) all your Sonos IP addresses in your eero’s DHCP Reservation table, which is available by going to network settings/advanced settings in the eero App. You may find some YouTube video’s that touch on this topic too.

 

It’s important to not wire other Sonos devices to your secondary eero hubs.


I hope that helps to improve the stability of your system.

I appreciate the info.  I made great progress and had 10 of 11 devices connected and happy.  That blew apart when I added the Move which seemed to delete everything. I will spend some time later to try it all again.  I while I understand what you have shared as a means to resolve it is really dumbfounding to have everything work and then not.  While I love the concept of Sonos there is something to be said for ease of use.  I literally could have hardwired my house for a system in the time I have spent trying to fix this mess.  To add insult to injury I got billed for premium radio that I have not even been able to use let alone the free trial.  I will update you when I can find another block of time to pursue making this crap function again.

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