'FRUSTRATION'..........interrupted playback

Usually the router settings for static/reserved IP addresses are on the DHCP Settings page and it often has a Help screen too, It is usually a quick and painless process that doesn’t need any technical skills.

If you get stuck post the brand and model of the router and someone will likely be able to get you going.

fecalirh1,

 In an attempt to help you with the lingo:

As you enter many buildings a receptionist gives you a number. On a LAN this is a router function (“DHCP” server) and each device is given an “IP Address”. This address must be unique, else there will be spats: “I didn’t order that”, “where is my order”, “xxx didn’t receive my message”, and on and on. In a building if someone spills coffee into the little box the receptionist uses to track numbers or she runs off to get married, the box is emptied and the numbering is restarted. Unfortunately, there is no general message issued asking clients to return to the desk and be assigned a new number. A power failure, rebooting, or a SONOS update might (notice I said “might”) result in a device being assigned a duplicate IP address that conflicts with another device. It’s possible that a user gets lucky 100 times in a row, then the phantom strikes and the user incorrectly blames the last added program, update, or new device. An additional complication is that IP addresses are “leased” and the lease must be renewed periodically. Over a period of days duplicate addresses might (notice that I said “might”) be eliminated as devices renew their leases. This incorrectly convinces users that the network is intermittent — again blaming that last modified or introduced device.

The solution to this mess is to “reserve”, make “static”, or “fix” (depending on how your router identifies the function) IP addresses for a device. Essentially this gives SONOS and other regular network clients a VIP status and they will always be assigned the same IP address. The reserved addresses will not be given out to other clients.

I'm sorry if this makes your head spin a bit. You’ll need to check with your router documentation for the reservation instructions and most routers turn this into a somewhat arduous task. Fortunately, this only needs to be done once for each reserved network client. If you replace the router, you’ll need to repeat the process for the new router. 

I appreciate all this information, but with all the possibilities and variables involved with the ‘cutting-out’/interruptions in service that may occur with ones Sonos, is there not a 1, 2 or 3 step solution that the manufacturer can implement to avoid this annoyance?? I forget what I paid but it was in the area of 2G’s for this system and no one even mentioned this.

So what’s this ‘DHCP Settings’ page...”where”, how do I arrive at that page”??

When personal computers first started to become available, they arrived with a thick manual. The helpful manuals were not much fun to read and were filled with unfamiliar terms. Apple earned much of its market traction by omitting these manuals, then claiming that their computers were “easy”, “just look at the skimpy manual”. The Apple computers frustrated me (and still frustrate me) because it is so difficult to find comprehensive documentation. I grew up in the mainframe world and we had a large room with wall to wall manuals. The operators console would throw a numbered error message at us and we could go to the library and discover exactly what was required to fix the issue. (the concept of online ‘help’ had not yet developed) At one point I was struggling to help someone with their Apple computer and it finally threw a numbered message onto the screen. I was elated until I discovered that the number was not covered in any documentation available to the public.

Your Gateway is trying to be “easy” and I’m frustrated. Anyway, this web page might help you to “Reserve” IP addresses. I couldn’t find a router login procedure specific to your Gateway, but here is a relatively generic procedure. The required user name and password are often printed on a label attached to the bottom of the Gateway. A common default user name is “admin” with a password of “admin”. Other combinations might be “admin” “password”, or “admin” “Password”,  “admin” “Password2”. The sign-in web IP address given in the above web page may not be appropriate for your model. I’d be tempted to use 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. If either of these don’t work, you can try 10.0.0.1. If none of these work use your SONOS controller to go to Settings → System → About My System. Here you will see the IP addresses used by each of your SONOS units. They will be of the form xxx.xxx.xxx.yyy. Likely your Gateway configuration page will be at xxx.xxx.xxx.1, but this is only a custom, not a hard requirement. You may need to contact HITRON support. Hopefully they have not locked users out of the administration pages. Once you’ve logged-in, you can reserve IP addresses. You’ll need to step through the process for each SONOS device. I like to reserve addresses for all regular network clients, such as cameras, thermostats, TV’s, etc.