Answered

network bandwidth insufficient to maintain playback buffer

  • 18 January 2020
  • 27 replies
  • 4532 views

Badge

Hi all,

So sorry for the repeat question but as I have another problem as well I thought it might be best to ask it separately.

Basically, I do get the bandwidth insufficient error but also when I don't get that if I connect more than 2 play:1 speakers to a sonos boost it again goes off. Basically 2 boosts are connected with wire to the sonos system and then each of the boosters are supposed to support 3 speakers on each floor separately. 

My diagnosis number is 799501210. 

Any suggestions are very much appreciated. 

icon

Best answer by buzz 24 January 2020, 18:10

View original

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

27 replies

That’s a good indication of some wifi interference in your local environment. Read through the FAQ, and pay particular attention to the area where they suggest that you change the SonosNet channel, although that may not be the only valid suggestion. 

Badge

Thank you so much for your kind reply. We have already tried the different channels on Sonos network settings, but will go through the whole link. Thanks again! But can I ask you if you think problem with connecting 3 speakers to one booster comes from the same issue or not?

No, I have 18 or so speakers connected to a single BOOST.

If nothing in that FAQ seems to resolve your situation, I would recommend that you submit a system diagnostic within 10 minutes of experiencing this issue, and contact Sonos Support to discuss it.

I usually suggest the phone folks, they have more tools available, but are available Monday through Friday during business hours. Twitter support folks are available 24/7.

There may be information included in the diagnostic that will help Sonos pinpoint the issue and help you find a solution.

 

Badge +20

Hi all,

So sorry for the repeat question but as I have another problem as well I thought it might be best to ask it separately.

Basically, I do get the bandwidth insufficient error but also when I don't get that if I connect more than 2 play:1 speakers to a sonos boost it again goes off. Basically 2 boosts are connected with wire to the sonos system and then each of the boosters are supposed to support 3 speakers on each floor separately. 

My diagnosis number is 799501210. 

Any suggestions are very much appreciated. 


Please explain to what the Boosts are connected to and if any of your Sonos speakers are wired to your router.

Badge

Thanks Airgetlam, you have been very useful :)

Badge

Hello Belly,

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry for late reply I was trying to ask these from manager. 

Boosts are connected with ethernet to internet router and no wired connection with any speakers.

 

 

Badge +20

Hello Belly,

Thanks for your reply.

Sorry for late reply I was trying to ask these from manager. 

Boosts are connected with ethernet to internet router and no wired connection with any speakers.

 

 

Might be worthwhile unplugging one boost to see the effect that has.

Badge

Would it be possible for you to elaborate on that please? What sort of effect? Do you mean to put all the speakers on one boost? The 2 boosts are on two different floors

Badge +20

Would it be possible for you to elaborate on that please? What sort of effect? Do you mean to put all the speakers on one boost? The 2 boosts are on two different floors


unplug one boost from the electricity or even just unplug the network cable.

 

make sure the boost’s are not close to the router, a few feet away is best,

Badge

Thanks, I will try these next week. Just to mention that the router is in lower ground and one boost ground floor and one first floor.

Since your BOOST’s are on different floors, they will not interfere with each other. The basement router and BOOST should be separated. A single BOOST will support 31 players if wireless conditions are reasonable. In your case placing a BOOST on each floor is productive. The SONOS system will work out the details of where to connect. The players can connect to each other or a BOOST.

As a quick system check, go to Settings → System → About My System and make sure that each player is indicating “WM: 0”. “WM: 0” indicates that the player is using SonosNet, not WiFi.

Badge

Thanks buzz.

 

I checked the About My System and all but two speakers were connected on WM: 0. When I added one of those speakers which was on first floor to the music group it got WM: 0, but another speaker from ground floor About My System information disappeared. However, we got so much disconnecting and connecting during this test. Random speakers, which were connected to seperate boosts get connected and disconnected. For a few seconds a random speaker plays nothing and then might or might not start playing.

Badge

I should add that we have restarted all the speakers then the two boosts and then reconnected the speakers to the boosts and it did not help. Still getting a lot of hiccups by speakers and disconnection.

Badge

I just been informed that in the past, before we used boosts and Sonos system, the Sonos speakers were connected with wifi to the iPad Sonos app, does it seem like the sonos app has problem and speakers hiccups has nothing to do with the setup of system and boosts? 

 

Any suggestions would be appreciated as it is annoying that the speakers get so many disconnection and connection inside the restaurant.

Badge

A new observation, when only two speakers were inside a group music was playing properly, but then I added new speakers to the group and it stopped playing properly. I decided to add all speakers to groups of 2 and then most speakers vanished from the list completely. 

Badge

If anyone tell me where you think the root problem is coming from I will try to check that.

If a unit is flipping between WM: 0 and WM:1 you are operating in “mixed mode”, probably due to difficult wireless conditions. Try temporarily wiring the difficult unit, then remove the WiFi credentials from the system. This will force the system to avoid mixed mode. Mixed mode can be erratic with some routers because the router might switch channels.

Now, go to

http://[IP address of a player]:1400/support/review

At the bottom open “Network Matrix”. Red cells indicate difficult wireless conditions. Note that this is a static view. Refresh the page after making a change. Red cells don’t automatically imply that the player will not work, but your attention should be spent improving conditions for these units. You may discover that conditions will vary by time of day.

Badge

 Thank you so much buzz, I am planning to perform the link check of the speakers as you instructed tomorrow and will get back hopefully soon after, but I should also mention that I have never seen WM:1, therefore I assume there is no flipping issue. 

Badge

Hello buzz,

I have tried to go into:

http://[IP address of a player]:1400/support/review

And when two speakers were playing then some were orange and some were green and grey but no red. I checked again in a few minutes and only one became red but again refreshed the page and it was okay. 

However, when added two more speakers to the playing group it all went on constant hiccups and disconnection and when I tried to check their connection on that link above it gave a page cannot be reached error.

This indicates some sort of wild, intermittent blasts of interference. I am next door to a medical facility and I suspect that they are running something obnoxious because I’ll have mostly red cells in the left column and a few minutes later they will be mostly green. Fortunately, the SONOS system can cope with my situation.

Start keeping a log. You may be able to identify a pattern and track down the interfering device. For example, some microwave ovens cause issues -- only when they are running.

And, of course, we cannot rule out hardware issues.

When in diagnostic mode, never assume that the issue must be [ … ] or cannot be [ … ], else one is likely to be blindsided. However, one should play the percentages and not chase the 0.01% probability before the 90%.

Submit a diagnostic within about 10 minutes of an event and note the confirmation number. Follow up with SONOS Support. They have access to much more detail from the diagnostics.

Badge

Thank you again buzz,

This problem seems to be present always. 2speakers playing is almost always fine and when more added they all go wild. Maybe speakers interfering with each other.

I will connect 4 speakers and when goes wild I will perform the diagnosis after 10 min and contact support. 

Thank you and everyone else for your efforts :)

When a Group is built, the first player is elected as the Group’s “coordinator”. All traffic for the Grouped players flows through this unit. If this unit is on the edge with respect to its wireless connectivity, the Group will suffer. Obviously as the Group grows, problems accelerate. Sometimes building the Group in a different order is helpful. For example if one of the players is wired, make this unit the coordinator.

Badge

That sounds important, I really should try this. Thanks. 

I will let you know the result tomorrow hopefully. 

Badge

Can I just ask a question about the boost? If the main speaker of the group is going to coordinate the rest of speakers, then what does the boost do? Does the boost improve the connections between them or can I make a group with the boost?

Userlevel 7
Badge +22

The boost is basically an Ethernet port and a Radio, no audio functions and also missing a lot of the other stuff from Sonos audio devices. So no Coordinator or Group functions.

The sole function of a Boost is to provide an Ethernet connection to your router and a wireless (not exactly WiFi) SonosNet v2.0 link to your other Sonos devices.

A Boost is not needed if you can connect your Ethernet to one or more other Sonos primary (not Sub/surround) device as that provides the same SonosNet v2 link. An exception would be some of the early ZP devices that only support SonosNet v1.0.

You can use a Boost as a range extender if you have a Sonos device that is out of range of the rest of your system but many folks add another speaker instead.

You can also skip the Ethernet connection(s) and connect Sonos to your home WiFi as long as you configure your WiFi to meet the Sonos requirements.