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Is there a way to increase buffering on my Play:5?

  • January 11, 2026
  • 2 replies
  • 73 views

My Play:5 Gen 2 was flawless for years, then suddenly started to drop streaming music a couple of years ago.  It’s frustrating as I see lots of others experiencing the same thing.  This is happening regardless of of the streaming music service; except when I use shuffle on my Pandora Stations!?  When a single station is selected (Pandora or otherwise), then it starts cutting out again.  Is that a clue? What’s different?  We have a 1Gbps internet, and Wifi mesh system to extend coverage.  I can’t believe it’s solely due to my network as Sonos keeps saying. Maybe Sonos reduced buffering a couple of years ago? Is there a way to increase buffering?

Best answer by Stanley_4

It is almost always an interaction  between your Sonos and your network. Connection speed to the Internet or the Wi-Fi speed is rarely tne issue.

You can follow the wifi suggestions in the support section here, that often helps. Less convenient is submitting a diagnostic when the issue surfaces and calling support when you can, lets Sonos folks see your Ineternal data and usually identify the issue. Several good articles here.

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/search?q=Wifi

 

On changes, haven't noticed any and my Wi-Fi connected Play 5 gen 2 works flawlessly for hours on end streaming CD quality from my music library or whatever Amazon sends as their HD, UHD version.

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2 replies

Stanley_4
  • Grand Maestro
  • Answer
  • January 11, 2026

It is almost always an interaction  between your Sonos and your network. Connection speed to the Internet or the Wi-Fi speed is rarely tne issue.

You can follow the wifi suggestions in the support section here, that often helps. Less convenient is submitting a diagnostic when the issue surfaces and calling support when you can, lets Sonos folks see your Ineternal data and usually identify the issue. Several good articles here.

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/search?q=Wifi

 

On changes, haven't noticed any and my Wi-Fi connected Play 5 gen 2 works flawlessly for hours on end streaming CD quality from my music library or whatever Amazon sends as their HD, UHD version.


106rallye
Forum|alt.badge.img+18
  • January 12, 2026

Are you using S1 with a Sonos Bridge, perhaps? The Bridge’s power supply is prone to failing intermittently. If so you could switch over to WiFi.