I have a few Sonos One speakers and a five around my house. Yesterday as I was playing some music I noticed that it started but then stopped. And then when it played there were frequent dropouts.
On the Sonos App I saw the notification: Sonos Playback was Interrupted because your WiFi network is unstable
The message didn’t make any sense as there wasn’t a lot of Wi-Fi activity in my home at the time and in general I’m far enough away from my neighbors that RF interference should not be an issue.
I went online to look for solutions to the problem. Here’s a summary of the solutions. One of them will work in your situation.
Table of Contents
The Basics
If you have Sonos devices that can be connected using an Ethernet cable (for example, the five) instead of Wi-Fi then we suggest plugging it in. In general wired operation gives more reliable performance than wireless/Wi-Fi.
This may not be possible with many Sonos devices. My Sonos One (pictured below) will only work on Wi-Fi.
Check Network Usage
In one particular situation, there was a device that was consuming a large amount of bandwidth due to buggy software. Depending on the speed of your network connection, if a single device places a large load on the Wi-Fi network it can create an unstable situation for the Sonos devices. In this situation turn Off the high bandwidth device and see if that makes a difference.
Reset the Wi-Fi network
Power your Wi-Fi network off by unplugging it from the power source. Wait for a couple of minutes. Then plug it back in. The Sonos system should come back on by itself in a few minutes. This might have resolved the issue. If not, then proceed to the next step.
Change the channel
If you’re living in a dense area like an apartment building, it’s very likely that there are other WiFi access points that could interfere with yours. To rule this out try the following steps.
Get a free Wi-Fi analyzer app for your phone to show what 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi channels are being used around you. Find a channel that’s used the least, and set your 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi to that. Don’t use the Auto setting on your router.
Channels 1, 6 and 11 are non-overlapping so it’s best to pick one of them. Most routers are set to channel 6. Try changing it to 11. The picture below shows channels in 802.11 networks.
Unplug your device
As a final attempt to resolving the issue try the following steps:
- Unplug the wireless Sonos devices from power.
- Wait for one minute.
- Then plug them back in one at a time.
- Wait for a couple of minutes before attempting to use the Sonos system.
This particular solution worked in our case and the problem was solved. If it recurs I’ll know what to do!
Summary
In this post we have provided solutions in the event that your Sonos Playback is Interrupted.
Here is a quick recap:
- Try connecting over Wired if possible
- Check your network usage
- Reset Wi-Fi Network
- Change the Wi-Fi channel
- Unplug from power and plug it back in
