unable to connect to Sonos


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I’ve had Sonos products for a number of years now and my system contains the following;

 

2 x Sonos Ones

Playbase

and now a roam.

 

However over the last few months it has been very flaky with frequent “unable to connect” messages. It seemed to settle down for a while but again the past two mornings when trying to play music it has dropped off. Using one of the Sonos ones it played for around 2-3 minutes before dropping off, then coming back on, and now not able to connect at all. Very frustrating.

 

Both myself and wife work from home and are able to work away on calls and using files but Sonos just appears to affected.


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12 replies

Userlevel 7
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I see from your profile that you started similar threads 11 months ago and 8 months ago. I’m not going to read back through them just yet, but did you get any advice for you to try out previously? What steps have you tried? Fixed ip addresses? SonosNet? Router fixed wifi channel? Different wifi/SonosNet channels?Anything else? What were the results of those changes?

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Hi Nik, thanks for coming back to me. I think the steps that have been carried out before are doing some resets on the speakers. Deleting and reinstalling the app and getting them up and running again by connecting with Ethernet. 

Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi Nik, thanks for coming back to me. I think the steps that have been carried out before are doing some resets on the speakers. Deleting and reinstalling the app and getting them up and running again by connecting with Ethernet. 

And have you tried that? Your original post gives very few clues. 

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I haven’t done any of those actions this time but have done so previously. In the meantime there has been no change to my broadband supplier, the main iPhone used to control Sonos is on version 14.4.2 and I have checked the privacy setting for any restrictions. 

Userlevel 6
Badge +15

Hi @FraserR,

I’d like to start by mentioning that performing a Factory Reset on the system as a troubleshooting step is not something we would recommend. In the majority of cases, issues such as these are related to the network, and while Factory Resetting may get the system working for a short while, the underlying issue of network configuration will still be present, and likely cause further issues down the line.

So that we’ve got some more information to work with, mind letting us know how the network is set up? What make/model of router are you using, and are there any mesh systems, access points, or extenders? When you’re not able to connect to the system, does music continue to play? Or if there’s music playing, does that stop?

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Hi Xander,

 

I have a Vodafone broadband router THG3000 and from that I have an Ethernet cable which connects to a TP-Link TL-WR841N 300 Mbps Wireless N Cable Router to give me access in a building 25m away in the garden.

 

When I’m not able to connect it stops playing, it might sometimes comes back on but eventually stops altogether. So I have this period where it’s stopping and starting before eventually stopping altogether.

 

Appreciate any help. 

Userlevel 6
Badge +15

Understood - just to confirm, all of the Sonos devices are in the main house? And there are no issues with other devices accessing the internet when this happens?

If the music is stopping on its own when this happens then it does sound like the system is losing the connection completely, rather than your phone being unable to find them on the network. When this does occur, does it resolve itself after some time without having to reboot any devices?

If so, then the best thing may be to wait until this repeats, don’t reboot anything, and then when the system does come back online, submit a diagnostic, and take a note of the confirmation number. You can either paste that number in a reply to this thread and I’ll be happy to take a look, or get in touch with our Support Team who will be able to go through some live troubleshooting with you :)


(Anecdotally, I did discover that a TP-Link device was causing issues for a friends network lately, and while it’s unlikely if your other devices are able to continue to connect to the internet, it may be worth testing with this disconnected to see if there’s any improvement)

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Yes all of the devices are in the main house, and no issues with other devices eg. Phones, TV’s are connected and working at that point.

 

And yes typically the system has fixed itself, tonight for example after I’ve finished work it has worked fine whilst in the kitchen, no interruptions. 

Very frustrating as it’s never consistent but 

appreciate the help and I’ll look to submit some diagnostics the next time it happens. 

 

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Hi Xander,

 

further to the above I’ve just encountered the same problem, unable to connect and certain speakers which were playing music through the house have become unavailable. I’ve submitted a diagnostics, number 1221531304.

 

appreciate any help on this thanks

Userlevel 6
Badge +15

Hi @FraserR, thanks for sending that over. You mention that “certain speakers became unavailable" - was it by chance, only the Roam that you were able to see when you submitted those diagnostics?

It looks like both the Roam and your iPhone are on the 5GHz wireless, and I’m thinking that your router may not be properly sharing data between the 2.4 and 5GHz connections.

A possible workaround would be to “split" the 2.4 and 5GHz wireless on your router (I’d recommend just adding “-5G" to the end of the 5GHz wireless name), so that you can ensure both Sonos and your iPhone are always on the 2.4GHz connection, you can find some information on how to make this change here

Another option would be to connect one of the other Sonos speakers to your router via Ethernet cable (the Playbase looks to be the closest), however I can’t say for sure that you wouldn’t then have the Roam periodically disappearing from the system if your iPhone connects to the 2.4GHz, while Roam is on the 5GHz.

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Hi Xander,

 

it was actually all my speakers except for the playbase that weren’t available. I had them grouped at that point listening to some music. I find that the playbase is pretty stable, never seems to have any connectivity issues with it, although typically the issue occurs playing music and I’m usually playing them through the other rooms in the house.

 

fraser

Userlevel 6
Badge +15

Understood, that does somewhat knock my 2.4/5GHz theory out unfortunately.

In any case, having a wired Sonos device should help to keep the connection stable across the system, would this be possible?

If not, then as mentioned by nik9669a, rebooting your router, and then setting a fixed IP address for each of your Sonos speakers, as well as a fixed WiFI channel should help (I’d recommend 6 based on the latest scans from the diagnostic).

It may also be worth reaching out to the Support Team directly, via live chat or phone call for further investigation however, they have more tools available for investigating, and will be able to perform some live troubleshooting with you.

*please note that the EU lines are closed today, 13/05/21, however live chat is still available :)