"network connection speed insufficient to maintain playback buffer"

  • 20 January 2014
  • 75 replies
  • 48095 views

I've been having the same problems with music playlists stop playing and "network connection speed insufficient" messages coming up shortly after every track it try's to play and skips to the next!!!! Really gets annoying when your trying to chill out!!!

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75 replies

I have the same problem and have tried resetting everything in order as advised by others online. This is a painful issue.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hello Dave and Mark,

That error message usually indicates a connection problem between the device that you're trying to play music off of, and your Sonos system. Do you have problems playing from only one source, such as a music service, or a NAS drive? If you're getting this message when playing off of a mobile device, you're likely experiencing stability issues with that connection. 

We'd recommend starting with checking the wireless channel on your Sonos system and that of your router to make sure the two aren't overlapping. It's best to have 5 channels between the router and the Sonos channel. 

If you're seeing this from a network source, it may be an issue with latency on the network. Can you please submit a diagnostic from your system and reply back with the confirmation number? 

Cheers.
same problem here. Spotify works perfectly on SOnos, but playback from my time capsule constantly cuts off. Problem appeared after updating sonos.
Diagnostic number: 3913171
Userlevel 7
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Thanks for that diagnostic. It looks like your CONNECT is getting a lot of wireless interference. Even though it's wired in, enough wireless can cause the unit to fall behind while trying to pares the wireless for information.

Can you please check the wireless channel on your Sonos system? If you can check your router's Wireless Settings, please make sure the channel there is a good 5 or more lengths between them (try using one of 1, 6, or 11 for each).
Thanks Ryan, for your reply. Sonos is on channel 6, BT Home Hub 4 (the broadband router) is on 1, and time capsule and airport express are both on 11. I have a total of 4 wireless sources, plus I also detect other wireless routers from neighbours, BT Open Zone, etc. BTW, I moved a few albums from the time capsule (also wired) to a WD mybookworld NAS, and they play back on SONOS flawlessly. However, this does not really help me because my music is (and always has been) on the time capsule. moving the entire library to WD NAS is not an option for me. What I do not understand is that everything was fine until I upgraded to BT Home Hub 4. Is there any way I can see the diagnostics results which might give me ideas about how to reconfigure the wireless sources?
Userlevel 7
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You can view a local version of the diagnostic by going to http://:1400/support/review, clicking Network Matrix will show you the to view the signal levels between units. Since just have the one CONNECT, the colors will help the most there, worst is red, then orange, yellow, green.

Is the Time Capsule wirelessly connected back to your BT Home Hub or is it wired in? How is it wired? This could be a latency issue with how the Time Capsule is wired. If possible, wire the Time Capsule into the CONNECT.

Thanks
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hello Dave and Mark,

That error message usually indicates a connection problem between the device that you're trying to play music off of, and your Sonos system. Do you have problems playing from only one source, such as a music service, or a NAS drive? If you're getting this message when playing off of a mobile device, you're likely experiencing stability issues with that connection. 

We'd recommend starting with checking the wireless channel on your Sonos system and that of your router to make sure the two aren't overlapping. It's best to have 5 channels between the router and the Sonos channel. 

If you're seeing this from a network source, it may be an issue with latency on the network. Can you please submit a diagnostic from your system and reply back with the confirmation number? 

Cheers.

Thanks for the details and that diagnostic. What format are the tracks from your music library in? It looks like they might be mostly Lossless tracks, is that correct?

I'm seeing a lot of network latency there which could cause issues trying to play high quality streams across multiple rooms.

Can you ungroup your rooms and see if any of those rooms have trouble playing individually?

When you group your players I'd recommend selecting the Group button from the Family Room or Perry's Bedroom if those two are going to be included in the group. The room that was chosen to start the group becomes the coordinator and will be sending the audio to the others. It's best to use a wired player for this in a system with the latency yours has.

Just a few network related questions for your setup there to get a better understanding of where this latency can be coming from:

Where are your Sonos players wired to the network?
What does the network layout look like there?
Is your computer wired to the router directly or another point on the network?

Thanks 
Hello Dave and Mark,

That error message usually indicates a connection problem between the device that you're trying to play music off of, and your Sonos system. Do you have problems playing from only one source, such as a music service, or a NAS drive? If you're getting this message when playing off of a mobile device, you're likely experiencing stability issues with that connection. 

We'd recommend starting with checking the wireless channel on your Sonos system and that of your router to make sure the two aren't overlapping. It's best to have 5 channels between the router and the Sonos channel. 

If you're seeing this from a network source, it may be an issue with latency on the network. Can you please submit a diagnostic from your system and reply back with the confirmation number? 

Cheers.

Oh yes, Spotify and Internet radio streamed flawlessly - but they are heavily compressed, right? I want CD quality. If we can get this to work, want to install in 2 more homes! Your interface makes my wife very happy. Happy wife= Happy life!
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Hello Dave and Mark,

That error message usually indicates a connection problem between the device that you're trying to play music off of, and your Sonos system. Do you have problems playing from only one source, such as a music service, or a NAS drive? If you're getting this message when playing off of a mobile device, you're likely experiencing stability issues with that connection. 

We'd recommend starting with checking the wireless channel on your Sonos system and that of your router to make sure the two aren't overlapping. It's best to have 5 channels between the router and the Sonos channel. 

If you're seeing this from a network source, it may be an issue with latency on the network. Can you please submit a diagnostic from your system and reply back with the confirmation number? 

Cheers.

Wiring additional players in your setup there sounds like the best bet for streaming the high quality tracks. Since they're mostly in that central location and can be wired, it's a good practice. We'd usually recommend all to the same switch, but daisy chaining a few can work too. 

Spotify streams at 320kbps which is a pretty high quality stream, radio can be up to 320, but it depends on the station and stream. Your AIFF tracks are likely copied at 1411 kbps which is standard CD quality.

The higher quality takes more bandwidth to transfer and has less opportunity to recover before an error surfaces.

Hope this keeps everyone happy, but let us know if we can help further.
4271021 diagnostics submission, also having same issue
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
4271021 diagnostics submission, also having same issue
Hi Oliver,

Thanks for the diagnostic. The system is registering some interference which could be causing some trouble with the iPhone's connection as well. If your BOOST is on top of your router make sure to separate them by a couple feet.

Also, I'd suggest changing your Sonos wireless channel to see if that will help clear up the environment. You can follow the directions here

Do you have trouble playing any other music or just tracks on your iPhone? 

This page has some great suggestions to follow for troubleshooting this sort of trouble.
Diagnostic number: 4662312

same problem.

jon
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Same problem. 
Thanks for the diagnostic. Your BRIDGE is getting hit with a lot of wireless interference causing this error message to come up when the CONNECT:AMP isn't able to get the data stream fast enough without errors. I'd recommend starting with changing the wireless channel on your system and making sure your BRIDGE is a couple feet away from your router.

If you now what channel your router is on, you'll want to make sure to spread the wireless channels apart. If not, try all the Sonos channels for a good 10-30 minutes and see which one behaves best.

Let us know how it goes.
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Diagnostic number: 4662312

same problem.

jon

Jon, it looks like your players are having trouble contacting the source of your music here. The last cutout seems to have been off of your Macbook. Are you getting this error message when playing from any other source of music? Do radio stations and music services play fine?

How's that Macbook connected to the network? Is it wireless only? Your Apple Network seems to be on the same wireless channel as Sonos, and it might be getting overwhelmed since you have a robust system. Can you try changing the wireless channel on your Apple Network to channel 11 or 1 and see how it goes?
Diagnostic number: 4662312

same problem.

jon

hi Ryan, thanks for your reply. I found the issue in my case - poor broadband speed from my supplier (BT). i was only getting a download speed of 0.5 megs because of some setting somewhere. as soon as it was fixed, my sonos started working properly again. perhaps you could check my current diagnostics as i am open to suggestion as as how to improve performance:

4676168
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
Diagnostic number: 4662312

same problem.

jon

That looks much better Jon. There are a few players that could use a restart, but for the moment you're fine to leave all as is. If anything comes up, let us know and we'll be happy to help.
Same issue, Diag 4702897
Ben your probably best posting a new thread with your issue.  
done: https://ask.sonos.com/sonos/topics/play1-x-10-boost-network-connection-speed-insufficient-to-maintai...
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
as mentioned to previous poster your better off creating a new thread and indicate what your actual issue is (what stations as well).
This is the exact same problem I'm having.  My sonos will play fine for about 10 songs and  then it starts disconnecting with feedback and then skipping to the next song and will then continue to do this.  I have discussed this with your support department on many occasions.  If my Ethernet service provider is the problem how can I direct them in improving the service?
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
I'm having the same problem using Radio by Tunein.

Diagnostic no - 4720262 

Thanks for the diagnostic. The problem you're running into is due to one of your rooms in particular getting absolutely crushed with wireless interference. All of your rooms on that diagnostic are grouped to the Office player, which means they're going to that room for the music. It's wired in which is great, probably the only reason it works some of the time, but it doesn't have the wireless strength to send the music out to the other rooms.

The interference on that room is probably coming from something nearby on the 2.4GHz wireless. It could be a non-Sonos wireless subwoofer or headset, or perhaps a cordless phone base station. If you have a wireless access point or router there, they might have competing channels and you can try changing the channel on your Sonos system. 

Alternatively, you can use a different room to create the grouping. That room would become the "group coordinator" instead of the one with so much interference.

Another test is to drop the Office from the group entirely and see how the system behaves.

If you're still having trouble, we'll need some more information here about what stations your playing, if you have trouble with other services or local music, and more details about your setup.
Userlevel 2
Badge +3
Diagnostic number: 4662312

same problem.

jon

which players could do with a restart as a matter of interest? worth doing this last bit of housekeeping i reckon...
Userlevel 2
same problem but it has only recently started.

Diagnostic No - 4762563
Userlevel 7
Badge +26
same problem but it has only recently started.

Diagnostic No - 4762563

Thanks for that diagnostic. It looks like some communication trouble reaching your computer for the music library. Is that machine only connected to your network wirelessly? It seems all of the wireless networks in your area are on channel 1, so they're conflicting with each other. This will cause the connection to be a little unstable and could cause this error message to come up.

Are you familiar with logging into your wireless router to check settings? If so, you'll want to log in and change your router's wireless channel to channel 11 to see if that clears up the environment.

If you aren't familiar with this, you can try restarting your router instead. If it's on an auto channel scanning mode, it should see channel 1 is crowded and change channels for you. To restart the router you'd want to unplug the power for about 15 seconds, making sure the lights go off, then plug it back in and wait for it to boot up.

Let us know how it goes.