Update on the Sonos App from Patrick Spence

Point a web browser at one of your Sonos speakers using:

http://192.168.xx.xx:1400/support/review

And you should get a simple list of speakers in your Sonos system. Then click one of them followed by 

/proc/ath_rincon/status

And you’ll get a list of network configuration. IF any speakers are on Sonosnet, you’ll see sonosnet on the Mode line… if they all say INFRA (station) then they are all on your WiFi… 

I expect all the wired devices will say Sonosnet. In the app (if you can) go into each speaker settings for the wired ones and turn off the Wifi… Then power them all down. Power up the ethernet connected ones first and do the above check again to make sure they’re not on Sonosnet, if they aren’t the section will be mostly empty. 

Wow - that’s a heck of an answer and arcane process that I’m guessing only a few would know.  I’ll try it, but if that’s the solution for my suddenly spotty system, what the heck! Sonos must have trashed something in the firmware as badly as they did the app.

Don’t mean to shoot the messenger at all - thank you for the help.  I just find if shocking that this is “the thing to do” as implied by the posts that prompted me to ask “how to do it?”.  How would a normal customer - someone just interested in playing their music ever discover this?

Thanks again.

You’re correct. You really shouldn’t have to, or need to know, it should just work, and certainly should have continued working if you had no issues previous to the new app being shoved out. 

In my view it’s a bit of a bug in the Sonos system (that goes back to the old app as well) as if you initially asked for  it to be on your WiFi and not Sonosnet, then it should remember that and stick with it. It certainly shouldn’t just silently switch you over just because you plugged in an ethernet cable somewhere…

However if it helps anyone while Sonos try and get their act together it might just reduce some of the misery a little. 

There seem to be some Sonos positive guys hanging around this thread and some not so positive. I’m interested in both sides as I’ve got a decision to make as I’m in the process of upgrading my system.

I’ve been a Sonos user almost since the beginning and generally happy enough. I know it will never be as good as the audiophile stuff I used to have but I made the jump due to the flexibility it offers and because I simply couldn’t afford multi room set ups using Sonos Faber speakers etc...

I use it for multi-room audio - for a large music library not streaming services - and sound bars, surrounds, sub for home cinema etc…

During that time I’ve had to learn more about wifi etc..than I’d like but always been able to figure out issues.  

I’ve never liked the app - I much prefer Apple Music although it has its limitations. 

The new app has wasted endless hours of my time, removed my core functionality and the response from the company has been frustrating to say the least.  I’m one of the majority of users who doesn’t want to play about with wifi networks, learning about SMB etc… - I know actually getting the kit to work is fun for some of you - but not me. I want true plug and play.

Pre-May I bought a new Arc, Era 300, Sub etc.. I’ve had no issue with the home cinema set up and as it’s new it stays.

I’ve got a Move and a Roam and I can bluetooth them which I do most of the time anyway as they’re travel speakers - they stay.

I now have eight rooms that have various stereo two speaker set ups that I need to upgrade - currently Play 1, Play 3.  The original plan was to use Era 300s.

I’m now considering other options simply because this fiasco has highlighted a number of things.

1. A wired SONOSnet is dead - a feature I valued - now like any other system you connect to wifi and as ERA100, 300 don’t work with a wired solution you're forced off any legacy setup instantly rendering my Boost redundant - although this wasn’t exactly communicated clearly. So with the exception of playing different music in multiple rooms, (without getting Apple Music), Airplay 2 now does everything I need as well as SONOS does.  
2. The company refuses to follow basic UAT procedures and will always be prone to periodically killing the system. This is a mentality thing - you're either a shop that gambles or cynically releases kit you know isn’t ready or you are not.  SONOS will do this again, it’s a strategic approach that will only change with a wholesale revision of their culture.  Always happens when the voice of the shareholder drowns out the voice of the customer.
3. The company has not invested enough in its support and communication has been very poor.  As they are likely to take an almighty financial hit on this I can’t see this being rectified.
4. SONOS no longer has an identity and it has burned its goodwill - it’s alienated its loyal affluent user base owning multiple products, chasing short term revenue - it simply cannot be considered premium now.  Owning the speakers is an embarrassment not something to boast about.
5. So given an Airplay set up, using Music as a controller works pretty much the same as SONOS, having gone from a company that provides solutions, it is now a maker of decent speakers with lousy software and support.

So the question is now rather than blindly remaining loyal to SONOS - and forfeiting different music in multiple rooms - is there any reason not to simply shop around for Airplay speakers, of which SONOS speakers are one option?  I can’t see any and there are some decent looking bits of kit out there now.  Views appreciated - genuinely - can someone more tech savvy sell it to me?

I’m not sure why we don't like Sonosnet anymore and why about my system no longer indicates what you are using?  It seems to work fine for me and I don't understand why they are shifting from it now except that changes for the newer generation of speakers make it more problematic for Sonos perhaps.

I have the TP-Link M5 wifi mesh (3 nodes around the house) with various Sonos speakers connected to different nodes.