"network connection speed insufficient to maintain playback buffer"

Hello -- I am having roughly the same problem as everybody else. Playing music from streaming services works flawlessly every time but having trouble with stuff stored locally I am not even remotely IT-savvy so please go easy on me.

All music is stored on a cheap laptop or a small USB hard-drive. Up to this point my local library has consisted almost entirely entirely of 320 kbps (or less) mp3s and I have had intermittent issues with "problems adding music to queue" (or something like that) which I attribute mainly to the computer going to sleep and/or lots of gunk on the machine. Changing power/sleep settings and running a cleaner/optimizer has largely solved those problems.

But, what's the point of having local files if they are not higher quality than streaming? So,I ripped a bunch of CDs to FLAC last night and added them to the library. Trying to play them this morning, I have this problem. I understand of course that I am trying to stream three times the data but from reading this thread I see that that may not be the only problem. My kids are watching TV so I am not going to mess with the router right now and I am not sure how to change channels anyway (I'll have to google that...) But I am willing to take any steps you suggest. Thanks!

Hello -- I am having roughly the same problem as everybody else. Playing music from streaming services works flawlessly every time but having trouble with stuff stored locally I am not even remotely IT-savvy so please go easy on me.

All music is stored on a cheap laptop or a small USB hard-drive. Up to this point my local library has consisted almost entirely entirely of 320 kbps (or less) mp3s and I have had intermittent issues with "problems adding music to queue" (or something like that) which I attribute mainly to the computer going to sleep and/or lots of gunk on the machine. Changing power/sleep settings and running a cleaner/optimizer has largely solved those problems.

But, what's the point of having local files if they are not higher quality than streaming? So,I ripped a bunch of CDs to FLAC last night and added them to the library. Trying to play them this morning, I have this problem. I understand of course that I am trying to stream three times the data but from reading this thread I see that that may not be the only problem. My kids are watching TV so I am not going to mess with the router right now and I am not sure how to change channels anyway (I'll have to google that...) But I am willing to take any steps you suggest. Thanks!

Hi DMahlin,

Please submit a diagnostic report from your system after you see the error message. Then, reply with the confirmation number and I'll look into it for you.

Thank you. I have avoided playing FLACs because of this but will give it a try and submit the diagnostic when this happens again.

I also have the same issue... it started after the most recent update. Has problems on every channel 1, 6, 11, did not resolve when I removed groups and tried playing from each zone individually, and also happens from any streaming music service, library, or from device. I turned the router, modem, as well each sonos device on off. The diagnostic is 7065144.

Hello -- I am having roughly the same problem as everybody else. Playing music from streaming services works flawlessly every time but having trouble with stuff stored locally I am not even remotely IT-savvy so please go easy on me.

All music is stored on a cheap laptop or a small USB hard-drive. Up to this point my local library has consisted almost entirely entirely of 320 kbps (or less) mp3s and I have had intermittent issues with "problems adding music to queue" (or something like that) which I attribute mainly to the computer going to sleep and/or lots of gunk on the machine. Changing power/sleep settings and running a cleaner/optimizer has largely solved those problems.

But, what's the point of having local files if they are not higher quality than streaming? So,I ripped a bunch of CDs to FLAC last night and added them to the library. Trying to play them this morning, I have this problem. I understand of course that I am trying to stream three times the data but from reading this thread I see that that may not be the only problem. My kids are watching TV so I am not going to mess with the router right now and I am not sure how to change channels anyway (I'll have to google that...) But I am willing to take any steps you suggest. Thanks!

Hi DMahlin,

Please submit a diagnostic report from your system after you see the error message. Then, reply with the confirmation number and I'll look into it for you.

After a few days without incident -- I almost thought it had somehow fixed itself -- I just had the same problem. I then switched from playing the album from local FLAC files (which sounded great!) to streaming the same album from Apple Music and I could definitely tell the difference! Diagnostic submitted, confirmation # 7068955. Thanks!

Reset the sonos hub and now everything works

Having the same issue with playback. thought internet speed may be an issue but not sure. Diagnostic # is 7113557.

Everything was working fine for me until yesterday or the day before, my Apple Music started breaking up, losing connection and getting insufficient network bandwidth errors. Diagnostic # is 7123335

While you're waiting for a Sonos person to drop by, can I suggest that you try changing the channel that your Sonos devices are on? It seems like most often, the folks from Sonos say something about wifi interference when someone posts the "insufficient bandwidth error" issue. So if you're using Sonosnet, change it in the app to either 1, 6 or 11 (non-overlapping bandwidths). If you're not using SonosNet, you might be getting interference from the neighbor's wifi, so try changing your wifi channel on your router.

And if you've recently placed a device that is electrical within a meter and a half from one of your speakers, try moving it further away, it might be generating some interference.

I'm sure someone from Sonos will be along shortly to look at your Diagnostics. For which I do thank you for posting, it saves time with the whole back and forth thing 🙂