Networking isn’t just ‘internet speed’ (which most often describes the bandwidth sent to your router, not the speed of the network between your router and your devices), but includes a lot of other things. In your case, I’d guess either relatively simple wifi interference , or less likely, an issue with duplicate IP addresses. Beyond the potential solutions in the linked FAQ, I’d also perform a ‘network refresh’ for your Sonos, by powering off/unplugging all Sonos devices, then rebooting your router. Give the router a couple of minutes to come up, then plug back in your Sonos devices, and let them reload their OS and reconnect before testing. 

If the led is showing a solid Green that indicates the speaker has been muted. You can unmute by clicking on the icon to the very left of the slider volume bar in the app.

Thank you for responding.  The suggested “fixes” of rebooting router, unplugging and rebooting devices have all been tried to little or no improvement.  I am a networking engineer who fixes fuel center/grocery store wired and wireless networks.  I am to the point of thinking of adding some sort of wi-fi signal booster, however, wi-fi extenders are not supported by Sonos.  What devices ARE supported?? Rebooting my router multiple times per day JUST for Sonos is not practical when all other devices are working and there are no IP conflicts.  And, after a complete reboot the ERA 300 is the only one that consistently has issues.. regardless of where it is located (even next to wired SL speaker in same room as router.  If I was having this issue inside a grocery store wireless network, I would be adding access points.  Again, what wireless boosters/ap’s are supported by Sonos?

I'd bet you are looking the wrong direction for the problem.

What does the signal strength show for the problem 300?

Have you tried setting static IPs for all the Sonos, powering them all down, rebooting the router and powering them up? That solved my IP related issues, router hasn't been rebooted since the last OS update.

If you want to throw money at the problem I have excellent results with my Ubiquity gear once it is configured to be compatible with Sonos. It won't fix IP issues though.

Thank you, again for responses.  A scan of all IPs on network shows no IP conflicts, as I suspected since actual IP conflicts are rather rare on a small network.  I had 2,600 grocery stores and 2,200 file centers running a combination of wired, wireless networks (P2P, Avalan , Trango) and true IP conflicts are not a daily problem.    More often the issue was network saturation, device with bad NIC sending bad packs killing entire network or dead zones requiring more APs.  The Sonos devices themselves show strong signal.  The ERA 300 is the speaker with consistent connection issues, even though showing strong signal.  That particular unit will show connected (white light) show connected and streaming in app but no audio.  Using app to power off on will show No Content… then it will connect for awhile.  Ping times good response and no packet loss.  Assigning static IP to a single device is not a good solution to a single device issue as that actually sets up the potential for an up conflict for everyone else on network using DHCP.  So, I am back to a potential for network saturation of the wireless spectrum with multiple devices streaming.  Again,  what Mesh systems  are supported by Sonos? My ISP only supports eeros.

Still looking the wrong direction, the “IP conflicts” that you mention (I didn’t) doesn’t seem to be the issue from the many hours of troubleshooting I’ve done.

“IP issues” is the problem, setting static IPs for Sonos seems to avoid them. Just what the issues are remains a mystery.

As I said above Sonos works nicely with my Ubiquity gear. You could read the WiFi FAQs on the support site to find more info or even read old posts here that discuss mesh systems.

This issues has been resolved by Sonos Technical Support.  As I suspected, the issue is the wi-fi nic in the era 300.  This is why it is the only speaker with connection issues even when it is working from a speaker that has a wired connection.  Setting a static IP will do nothing to troubleshoot or to fix an issue with the physical nic in the speaker.  To be 100% clear … the issue is the nic (wireless network interface card) in the Era 300 speaker.  How to determine this was completed through the troubleshooting steps I completed and have been documented in this thread, along with Sonos support team monitoring the speakers connecting to the network.  Last step was to factory reset the Era 300 only which confirmed hardware malfunction.  To anyone else experiencing this issue, setting a speaker to a static ip;  1) never adviced as DHCP is preferred and static ips are only used by devices controlling a network, 2) devices with a bad nic (wireless/net work interface cards will send bad packets on your network causing other connection issues.  You will find that once the bad device is powered off your network will run fine.  For my case, this device will be returned to Best Buy as a defective unit since it was purchased less than a month ago. If you are a “community support person“ supporting this channel please take note…. as someone who has supported more wireless devices connecting to underpowered wireless systems…. never suggest assigning a static ip as a solution or a troubleshooting tool… static ips are for firewalls, osr (open source router) routers, routers, network switches, servers/controllers only and to be absolutely frank … only shows that the person knows absolutely nothing about setting up or fixing networks.  There is a reason why we use DHCP … and that is for security and to prevent any ip conflicts.

And yet setting static IPs for all Sonos devices has taken so many folks Sonos systems from being problematic to being stable.

Experience in other devices and generic networking is all well and good, in fact that is what I brought to this issue many years ago. Also why I fought the very idea so hard and for so long, it just isn’t logical from a networking perspective.

This appears to be a Sonos specific issue and with no access to the internal logs or other information, even the exact OS level software that is running makes finding the issue difficult. It may not even be able to be seen from monitoring the network. 

I do need a reserved IP Address for a Bryston BDP-2 because for some reason it cannot be found using its device name.  Reserved may not be applicable for Sonos and I don’t do it anymore.  Anyway…Xfinity screws with reserved changing them back to DHCP.  So on occasion I can’t connect to the Bryston.  No biggie.  Easy fix.

I am not on Xfinity/Comcast… although Kroger stores and fuel centers do use Xfinity and other cable:broadband providers to run wireless networks within stores.  With all dues respect to Stanley…. you are clearly mansplaining networks to someone who has 30 years more experience than you do and you clearly were never paid to be the highest level of network support for an enterprise system (I was…. and the person the VPs requested to please work the store or fuel center’s problem… even if that meant waiting while I fixed something else).  Your best response to my advising that this is a hardware issue with a single device should be ….. “good to know it was hardware and not network.”  Sonos tech support has the tools to see into each device and concluded the nic was the issue.  Hardware fails and did… end of story.  Fortunately, it failed during warranty.  

With your vast experience in networking (none Sonos specific) maybe you can explain my issue then?

Situation One:

I buy two new Sonos, follow the Sonos setup procedures and end up stuck in installation loops. Multiple power cycles, Factory Resets and router reboots change where things go wrong a bit but I never get them properly added and working.

I factory Reset them and power them down. I add static DHCP addresses for them to my router. When I power them back up the install proceeds perfectly on the first try and they are working.

Situation Two:

After any power interruption or firmware update my system becomes unusable, speakers not found or refuse to play.

Another power cycle, carefully powering up one at a time and giving it a chance to fully boot and connect usually gets the system stable.

If I add static IPs to the router and do a power cycle, powering them up as quickly as possible (not as fast as they’d see in a real power fail/restore) they all come up and work perfectly. They also recover from a firmware update without issues.

Suggestions?

I’m not the only one here that would love a workable solution outside the static IP one.

Actually, yes, I do.

Biggest issue(s) on networks is the boot up time and sequence.  An old proverb… “haste makes waste.”  On my home network, i know that once I power my ISP modem/router back on after a full 3 minutes of being off; that my wi-fi is not ready to accept any requests for connection for a full 5 to 7 minutes.  Then bring items back on one by one.  Networks need to establish their protocols and aren’t instant off / on.  Any other questions beyond this, you will need to register for my class.

Well darn it, I was hoping you could tell me where the boot-up delay was in my Sonos settings to solve Situation two.

Doesn’t explain Situation One at all though.

No money for classes these days, neither the Army or Computer Sciences Corp. are willing to shell out for more training since I retired from them.