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blobster
Contributor I
January 11, 2026
Answered

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

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?

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Stanley_4
Stanley_4Answer
Grand Maestro
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.

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2 replies

Stanley_4
Stanley_4Answer
Grand Maestro
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
    106rallye
    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.

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