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Frequent connection problems to speaker recently

  • 4 February 2023
  • 3 replies
  • 57 views

Hello,

When I play from the sonos app on either iOS or OSX I frequently experience “Unable to play…” problems AND syncing issue between multiple speakers that are physically located in either the same room or different room. It appears to be less problematic if I play streams directly from the Tidal app on iOS and connect to speaker in that manner. This has become progressively more of an issue over the last 3-6 months. All the apps are up to date as are the speaker firmware.

Any ideas?

Thank you in advance.

Sam

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3 replies

Ken_Griffiths

Hi Sam,

It maybe worthwhile first trying a simple reboot of the local network router, or if that does not solve things for you, to perhaps optimise a few things to reduce interference, such as trying each of the three different non-overlapping router WiFi channels (try ‘fixed’ channel 1, 6, or 11) for the local routers 2.4ghz WiFi band and perhaps set the chosen channel-width to 20Mhz only (if the router allows that option). Just see which channel perhaps works best for you.

If that also doesn’t solve the issue, and/or you’re using a WiFi mesh setup, then perhaps consider running the Sonos system in wired SonosNet mode, as outlined in these two links:

Note: If choosing to switch your setup over to a SonosNet connection, or you are already using SonosNet, then ensure any device wired to the main router/hub is positioned at least one metre away from that router, or any other wireless access point. Set the SonosNet channel in the Sonos App network settings so it is different to the chosen router channel mentioned earlier.

Do not wire a HT surround, or Sub, to the router/hub and if using a mesh WiFi system, do not wire the Sonos products to a ‘satellite’ WiFi hub.

If grouping your speakers together, try setting up the group starting with the wired device as the group co-ordinator.

If using wireless extenders, there are two options to try, either setup those to precisely match the router WiFi settings, including channels-in-use/channel-width/SSID/credentials and if that doesn’t work, try the alternative of removing them from access/use by the Sonos devices by using different channels-in-use/channel-width/SSID/credentials, or simply blacklisting the Sonos products to ensure all can only use the central router/hub WiFi AP only.

These things are always worth exploring anyway when you have the time and just see if it helps to stop the audio/speaker dropouts. 

Hope those few suggestions assist and that you’re able to resolve the device/audio dropouts.

U
Badge

Hi Ken,

Thank you so very much for your detailed and thoughtful input. I have tried rebooting the router/mesh system and that fixes things for a while but the issues start up again.  I will investigate the details you provided on SonosNet since I am using a Mesh system for wifi. Will your suggestion still be relevant regarding Mesh since I also have a Boost directly connected to a wired port of the home internet system. I have to admit my understanding is a bit fuzzy if the distant speakers are benefiting from the Boost or the Mesh for connection?

As mentioned, these connection dropout almost never occur whilst using an app other than the Sonos app to stream (I’ve tried mostly Tidal but Apple Music produces the same non-dropout behavior.)

Again many thanks for your patient input. Best, Sam

Sam Levy
Ken_Griffiths

Is the router that you mention operating in ‘bridge’ or ‘modem’ mode with your WiFi mesh setup taking control over the network (ie with your primary mesh hub acting as your LAN router), or do you have the mesh system operating in ‘bridged’ access point mode, where all the mesh hubs are just WiFi access points only and none of them are performing the function of a network router?

If it’s the first type of setup mentioned above, then the Sonos Boost needs to be wired to your mesh primary hub router and not the initial (ISP provided🤔?) router, which should have its WiFi adapters and it’s DHCP server (ideally) switched off to prevent interference and double NAT - so it acts just as a ‘bridge’ to the WAN only.

If it’s the second type of setup, then the Boost should be wired to the (ISP provided?) router as you mention, but again I would still disable that routers WiFi adapters and let the mesh system handle the wireless network segment, but note my previous post about keeping the Boost well away from the router/other ‘wireless’ enabled AP’s.

I suspect the dropouts are being caused by the network configuration, but really need to know more about the setup to be sure that is ‘perhaps’ the case. However with the details provided in my last post and this one, you maybe able to now try a few things and resolve the issues yourself anyway.

As you are using a mesh WiFi system you might also find this thread from Sonos Staff a helpful read…

https://en.community.sonos.com/speakers-229128/troubleshooting-sonos-on-wifi-6856334?postid=16520976#post16520976

Hope those things help too. 👍

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