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Frequent issues connecting iPhone or Pixel via Sonos app to first gen Sonos system

  • 29 October 2021
  • 2 replies
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I’m hoping someone can solve an issue I’ve had for years.

 

I have a Sonos Play5 and a 1 --both first gen.  I like the sound, but the connectivity has always been buggy.  Half the time I open the S1 app from my iphone (or wife’s pixel phone) it says it’s unavailable or it just won’t play music. Half the time it works fine.  Sometimes it works fine and then stops working.   It’s buggy.   

I wonder if it has to do with my Eero mesh wifi system.  I have the main eero hub and two satellites.   Could it be that the sonos (which are both in the same room, living room) connect to the main Eeero and the phones may switch if I go to a different room?   Could that cause connectivity issues?  

Or could it be something else?

Any pointer on getting this to work more reliably would be great.  I’ve called sonos many times over the years and they’ve helped trouble shoot the issue -- sometimes they help, sometimes not, but regardless, a few days later it’s aways back to buggy.

I’m considering getting a different home music streaming set up, but I hate to junk the Sonos since, sound wise, they work.  And they’re not THAT old! 

 

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Best answer by Airgetlam 29 October 2021, 22:05

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2 replies

Yes, your suggestion has a lot of potential, IMHO. One way to test that is to actually wire one of the two speakers to your router/base eero device with an ethernet cable. Then the Sonos system will use (after a minute or two of adjustment) it’s own wifi, frequently called SonosNet. That would help identify if it’s really a “this device is connected to one “network”, the other is connected to another “network”, which is the way that eero usually works. 

If that “fixes” the issue, you may want to consider a BOOST, which would be wired to the base eero puck, and free your speaker to be placed back and not need the wire. I’ve run this sort of setup for years. Before, it was mostly because I didn’t have a speaker close enough to wire directly, although now in my new home it’s jus habit. 

In general, Sonos doesn’t particularly play well with other mesh networks, due to the fact that the speakers themselves talk to each other semi-frequently to maintain synchronization, and that requires them to be on the same subnet. Many “mesh” networks actually break up each puck in to separate subnets, which makes it hard for the Sonos to talk to each other, and the controller device. 

My considered opinion is that if you go to a ‘wired’ system, using the Sonos BOOST, and just make sure that the eero and the BOOST aren’t using the same wifi channel, you’ll be much happier. 

 

Thanks!! I’ll give that a shot!