Is Sonos Move a $400 paperweight? When did Sonos give up making products that work?

@John B ,

Thanks for the suggestions, your experiment did work. First, to address your questions:

Do your router and APs all use the same SSID?

No - just to clarify the network setup and create some standard nomenclature:

• The high level config is 1) Cable modem, wired directly to 2) ASUS RT86U (in basement, with it’s own wireless SSID (let’s call this SSID “TeganWifi”), wired directly to 3) ASUS RT-AC3200 (upstairs, with it’s own wireless SSID (let’s call this SSID “ASUS”).
• Each band (2.4 and 5 GHz) on each respective router has the same SSID, in other words I have not assigned different SSIDs to both the 2.4 and 5 GHz on the RT86U, nor the AC3200.
• Both routers have factory default settings (with the exception of debugging the Move issue).
• No Sonos devices are wired, all are wireless.
• The Sonos network configuration is only aware of SSID “ASUS”; I have never connected them to SSID “TeganWifi” (with the exception of debugging the Move issue). After any particular test I remove SSID “TeganWifi” from the Sonos network list such that it is only aware of SSID “TWO”.

If you go into the Sonos app Settings, System, Network, Manage Networks, what does it show (maybe post a screenshot?)

Just for the record, one known working configuration (with default router settings, i.e. SmartConnect enabled) was if I used SSID “TeganWifi” off the “primary AP/router” for all devices and connect to that with the Sonos app it works fine. A known working condition pre-Move was everything (less the Move) working on “ASUS” with all default router settings.

So I’ll leave this current configuration you provided up for now as I have had previous issues with the Sonos network behaving differently over the course of a day during the other tests. For the record the current configuration is:

• One Play1 wired to the AC3200.
• The (only) wireless network configured in the app is ASUS
• SmartConnect on both APs is disabled. (Not sure if I needed to disable it on the RT86U but I did anyways).
• Advanced Settings/Wireless/Professional tab: Enable IGMP Snooping on the RT86U (left over from @Xander P ‘s suggestion).

I still don’t buy your argument that because the Move has everything the Play:1 has and more, it should inevitably do at least as well as a Play:1

Keep in mind:

1. If the Move simply disabled it’s 5 GHz band (automatically because the Sonos app detected problems, as a diagnostic tool, manual intervention, etc.) and used the 2.4 GHz band it, Sonos could make it indistinguishable from a Play1. I am familiar enough with Broadcom, Qualcom and Intel wifi silicon to know that a 2.4/5GHz wifi chip is a proper superset of a 2.4 GHz chip. That’s a very simple baseline and fallback position.
2. I registered this brand new Move using my original ASUS network. Although it was convoluted and somewhat trial and error because the Move has issues, at some point the Move and the Sonos App communicated enough on the original network either directly and/or over the wifi network with the original router settings to register the device before breaking. This says the App and the the Move are capable of coordinating and providing move diagnostics during setup (or other times) instead of the user getting random results.
3. With respect to crossing APs and crossing frequency bands, my current devices on this very network have done this for years. My 5GHz Windows laptop, on AP #1, DISCOVERS AND CONNECTS TO my 2.4 GHz wireless printer on AP #2 all the time. If two devices from two different companies, one of them even dependent on Microsoft Windows can discover and connect on this network setup (with SmartConnect enabled) then I find it astonishing and disappointing that Sonos -- presumably Wifi experts -- fails in this very situation, hence the title of this thread.
4. In no case should a 5-year old Play1 with batteries and an invertor duct-taped to it making it portable outperform a $400 Move….period!

If this config is still stable into tomorrow I will try unwinding these changes one at a time, one day at a time starting with:

• Moving the wired Play1 back to wireless.
• Enabling SmartConnect on the RT86U
• Disabling the “IGMP Snooping”

If all that works then I suppose the conclusion is that the Sonos Move is incompatible with ASUS’ SmartConnect feature, my first and only  wifi device that I have with this issue (which includes an array of devices like connected garage door openers, pool cleaning robot, wireless printers, etc.) unless @Xander P or @Corry P from Sonos have other suggestions.

Thanks for your help and expertise.

Sorry, I did not read all of the recs, but, simply send it back and get a new one.

OK.  Sonos is indeed a wireless system but it was originally designed to use SonosNet, which requires a single Sonos component to be wired (to bridge between SonosNet and WiFi).  There are still many situations in which SonosNet is the best option, and I see this additional option as a strength of Sonos, not a weakness.

I strongly suspect that the configuration will survive the unwiring of the Play;1 and the return to fully WiFi.  If it doesn’t, then the Sonos Boost is designed for just such a scenario, as I have already said.