Sonos android lost connection

  • 20 July 2021
  • 7 replies
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I don’t know when it happened or why, but my Google Pixel 5 lost connectivity with my SONOS ONE (gen2) configuration.  It was working fine for literally MONTHS.  My new Kindle Fire 10 is absolutely fine and connects with no issue.

This is what my “rant” is really about.  Once upon a time this product was simple and easy to use ...  and easy to connect.  Now, in order to connect the Android app to the system I need to turn on Bluetooth on my phone.  Why?   And I need to turn on Location Services on my phone.  Again, why?  And I need to turn on the microphone.  Why, why, why?  Why did you developers at Sonos take a perfectly good application and complicate the living hell out of it.  I am getting really tired of taking 20 minutes out of my life to reconnect your app to your speakers and watch your symbol spin around for 5 minutes each time it asks for more permissions and STILL NOT CONNECT.

You really need to re-evaluate what it is that you are trying to accomplish here because from a customer satisfaction perspective you are overly complicating the use of the device and raising the frustration level immensely.  Keep it up and you will start losing your customer base as the product will be too complicated for the average person.

For now I will control it with my Kindle.  Once my blood pressure comes back down I will take another shot at Android.  Maybe.

 

 


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7 replies

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Before I wrote the above rant I did go through all of the directions in the app to “connect to an existing system”.  Nothing.  I don’t recall the error as I was seeing red at the time but the message was basically that the app could not find my Sonos network after turning on bluetooth, location services, my microphone, and listening to it beep at itself.  I re-entered the wifi information as requested and the speaker beeped and the app heard it.  I pressed the back button on the speaker and … nothing.  Just clocking.  After 5 minutes I closed the phone and went back to work, made phone calls, sent texts, etc.  A few hours went by and I answered another phone call and this time noticed the Sonos icon in the Android status bar.   It reconnected on its own.  I have been working on my home wifi network for hours and days and have not had a single problem. 

 

Your app can’t find the speakers when on they’re on the same wifi network (2 of 5 are even hard wired).  It can’t find them via bluetooth.  It can’t find them even when it hears its own beep.  It’s not my network.  It’s your app.

Userlevel 7
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The Sonos app just uses normal network APIs, same as any other app. What makes it different to most apps is it needs to communicate with other devices on the same network.

If it can’t find all of your devices, chances are 95% that it is your router. As I don’t see you describe which router you have, I have to guess wildly that it is a BT Smart Hub, an Asus, or a SkyQ, but there are other routers that do not behave correctly for device-to-device communications.

Please, just tell us which router you are using, then we can probably help.

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For the past year and a half I have been using a Netgear Nighthawk Wifi-6 Mesh router (MR60) and satellite (MS60).  There have been no firmware updates to the router or satellite.  Two of five Sonos One (gen2) speakers are wired, the others are using wifi (or the Sonos net?).  No speakers or wifi components have been moved from their current positions for over a year.

Curious, as I’ve been considering that router, having an older non-mesh Nighthawk. How does Netgear notify you about an update? On my current router, it just happens, and I get zero notification. Interested in how they’ve changed that process. 

Interestingly, same thing on my WD MyCloud, although the system does send me an email after successfully updating it, but it doesn’t check with me before hand.

Similarly. DirecTV never notifies me, they just update their software in the background, and the same on my Vizio TV sets. In fact, the only places I have control/knowledge/approval is on my computer and iOS devices. 

Have you submitted a system diagnostic , and called Sonos Support to discuss it? There is limited hard data we can assume from your post, since we don’t have access to any logs.

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

When you speak directly to the phone folks, they have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and network.

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Of all the wifi routers I have tried in my home over the past 30 years this one has worked the best.  Actually it was too much coverage for my square footage (900 sq ft on 1st floor, 700 sq ft on 2nd floor) and Netgear support told me to turn off one of the satellites which fixed the problem of dropping connections when I first connected all (3) devices (1 router, 2 satellites).  They said it was oversaturated.

I have the router in the rear bedroom/office and one satellite near the front of the at the top of the bedroom stairs.  My house was built in 1930 with plaster walls and a lovingly refer to it is my personal Faraday cage.  The satellite is powerful enough to handle the 2nd floor and make it through the walls and across the driveway (30’?) and into the living room of the next door neighbor.  Note: To be clear, I did hardwire the backhaul port on the satellite to my network switch.

I just looked at the firmware on the MR60 and MS60 they show that they are both running version V1.06.102 displaying the message that “no new firmware available”.  According to the Netgear website versions 1.06.110 and 1.0.6.112 “hot fix” are available for downloading so I don’t think they snuck a fast one past me recently.   Unfortunately their release notes are obscure on the dates they published these versions so I don’t know how old they are.

But given the fact that my new Kindle Fire HD10 has had absolutely no problem connecting with the Sonos app since I installed the app (2 months ago?) and through until last night, I don’t see how this is a router problem.

Then again … reading the 1.0.6.110 release notes I just stumbled across the “New features and Enhancements:” that say this:

  1. Fixed WiFi connectivity issue
  2. Fixed internet connectivity issue – one wifi client couldn’t go to internet but others are ok at same time.

LOL.  Maybe something there.  OK, In all fairness I will apply these updates later today (wheres the Emoji for banging your head against the wall?) then fight the fight to get the Android phone reconnected.

 

Sure, but the Kindle Fire has a completely separate kind of operation than a Sonos system. That’s basically a single point to an outside server. The Sonos system is each speaker communicating with each other frequently, an outside connection frequently, and a connection to the controller device whenever that’s on. 

I’d consider you’re comparing Apples to Oranges. Both fruit, to be sure, but very different. :)

Let us know after you’ve applied those updates. Hopefully, they’ll fix your issues. But I’m still a fan of actually submitting that diagnostic to Sonos. Even if the CS folks are reading from scripts, at least they have hard data to look at from your system. 

Oh, I know somewhere around there is a head-bang emoji. I’ve avoided using it, as it’s something I would likely be doing every ten minutes. :)