Issues with Sonos since the latest update

[remsta]

Hi All

It seems that I and some others online are having major issues with our Sonos gear since the latest update. It seems to specifically target the Arc, Era 300's and Sub Gen 3 which are in a Home Theatre setup.

Devices:
RT-AX88U Pro (Issue affects both Official and Merlin 3006.102.5)
1x AiMesh ZenWifi Mini XD4 in the apartment
3x AiMesh ZenWifi Mini XD 4 in the building (no signal in the apartment)

Sonos Devices
1x Arc
2x Era 300's
1x Gen 3 Sub
2x OneSL (not important here as they are in another room and work perfectly)

Config
Online suggestions such as Airtime Fairness etc are already switched off
2.4GHz set to channel 1
5GHz set to channel 56 (Sonos seems to use 44)

Status
The Arc seems to connect to the Asus router correctly over 2.4GHz and then it creates its own 5GHz network to connect the surrounds and sub to the Arc.

Symptoms (they are totally random)

• If I reboot the router, all the speakers (Arc, Left Era 300, Right Era 300 and Sub) show up in the network list connected via 5GHz to the router. Then as they connect directly to the Sonos Arc, they disappear from the router network list and appear as connected to the Arc (in the Sonos app). Then over the course of 1 minute, they drop off one by one from the Arc (in the app)
• Sometimes, if I switch of 5Ghz, all the devices connect to the Sonos without issue but then over the course of 1 minutes start to disconnect, other times this does not work
• The AiMesh nodes also somehow seem to mess with it - no idea why since the Sonos is 1m from the Asus RT-AX88U Pro and the Sonos wouldn't even connect to those.
• The Sonos One SL's which I have in my study setup in Stereo mode, seem to individually connect to Wifi, not each other (I assume this is correct). They connect via the AiMesh node and that works perfectly.
• I have done a channel scan and have manually set the 5Ghz channel to something different to what the Sonos is using when it sets up its own, that made no difference

Posts:
My post with images
Someone else's post with the same setup
More Issues

I have been playing with this for 4 days now and cannot get them to connect anymore
Full factory resets done etc... nothing has helped

Thank you!

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Hi All

It seems that I and some others online are having major issues with our Sonos gear since the latest update. It seems to specifically target the Arc, Era 300's and Sub Gen 3 which are in a Home Theatre setup.

Devices:
RT-AX88U Pro (Issue affects both Official and Merlin 3006.102.5)
1x AiMesh ZenWifi Mini XD4 in the apartment
3x AiMesh ZenWifi Mini XD 4 in the building (no signal in the apartment)

Sonos Devices
1x Arc
2x Era 300's
1x Gen 3 Sub
2x OneSL (not important here as they are in another room and work perfectly)

Config
Online suggestions such as Airtime Fairness etc are already switched off
2.4GHz set to channel 1
5GHz set to channel 56 (Sonos seems to use 44)

Status
The Arc seems to connect to the Asus router correctly over 2.4GHz and then it creates its own 5GHz network to connect the surrounds and sub to the Arc.

Symptoms (they are totally random)

• If I reboot the router, all the speakers (Arc, Left Era 300, Right Era 300 and Sub) show up in the network list connected via 5GHz to the router. Then as they connect directly to the Sonos Arc, they disappear from the router network list and appear as connected to the Arc (in the Sonos app). Then over the course of 1 minute, they drop off one by one from the Arc (in the app)
• Sometimes, if I switch of 5Ghz, all the devices connect to the Sonos without issue but then over the course of 1 minutes start to disconnect, other times this does not work
• The AiMesh nodes also somehow seem to mess with it - no idea why since the Sonos is 1m from the Asus RT-AX88U Pro and the Sonos wouldn't even connect to those.
• The Sonos One SL's which I have in my study setup in Stereo mode, seem to individually connect to Wifi, not each other (I assume this is correct). They connect via the AiMesh node and that works perfectly.
• I have done a channel scan and have manually set the 5Ghz channel to something different to what the Sonos is using when it sets up its own, that made no difference

Posts:
My post with images
Someone else's post with the same setup
More Issues

I have been playing with this for 4 days now and cannot get them to connect anymore
Full factory resets done etc... nothing has helped

Thank you!

Sonos never behaved well on Mesh networks. Even on my Google Nest Wifi Pro's, it was hit or miss. The only time it truly worked well was when it was connected to an older standalone router just running 2.4Ghz. Since the whole app debacle back in the summer of 2024 and it losing most of its functionality, I ended up ditching my system like others and experimented with some other streaming audio hardware, like Bose, Bluesound and WiiM. I ended up really liking WiiM and expanded on that throughout the house without any issues on my Mesh network. It seems to work so much better than Sonos.

The other alternative on your end is to try to cut out WiFi altogether, and physically wire everything with ethernet cable. I heard others doing that as well as a last ditch effort to get around this constant wireless connectivity issue.

 

[remsta]

Ok, it is official, it is either a problem with the Asus Merlin 3006.102.5 firmware or the latest Sonos speaker update.

Yesterday, I plugged in new router (Zyxel AX7501-B1), set the Wifi name to the same as what was on my Asus. Switched my Asus wifi off and the Zyxel one on and the Sonos speakers immediately connected to the Arc with the full home theatre system working flawlessly.

There has not been a single drop out since then.

Tonight, I switched it back to my Asus RT-AX88U Pro and once again, all the speakers are disconnected from the Arc.

 

[MDM]

Make sure WPA2 only, and forget network on devices - reconnect, then report.

 

[Viktor Jaep]

Ok, it is official, it is either a problem with the Asus Merlin 3006.102.5 firmware or the latest Sonos speaker update.

Yesterday, I plugged in new router (Zyxel AX7501-B1), set the Wifi name to the same as what was on my Asus. Switched my Asus wifi off and the Zyxel one on and the Sonos speakers immediately connected to the Arc with the full home theatre system working flawlessly.

There has not been a single drop out since then.

Tonight, I switched it back to my Asus RT-AX88U Pro and once again, all the speakers are disconnected from the Arc.

Also, wondering if you tried to see if things worked with the latest stock firmware? I didn't see any mention when I skimmed down your issues list?

 

[Tech9]

Also, wondering if you tried to see if things worked with the latest stock firmware?

Seems like coming from Asuswrt base, as usual.

RT-AX88U Pro (Issue affects both Official and Merlin 3006.102.5)

 

[remsta]

I tried the earliest official Asus firmware I could get, which is 3006.102.33320. There it did not work.

I went back to Merlin 3004.388.8_4 and it has been working for 24 hours without any issues

I tried to find the official Asus RT-AX88U Pro 3.0.0.4 build but it is no longer on their website

It seems there is a bug somewhere in the 3.0.0.6x builds onwards.

 

[remsta]

Ok, I have gone back to basics - I completely wiped everything to factory defaults and started over.

This was my approach

1. Merlin 3004.388.8_4 = Works
2. ASUS RT-AX88U Pro Firmware version 3.0.0.6.102_33352 = Works
3. Merlin 3006.102.5 = Works

Used Merlin 3006.102.5 as a base and stayed on that - proceeded with configuration

1. Updated SSID and Password = Stable
2. Updated LAN Range = Stable
3. Set Static DHCP clients = Stable
4. Added AiMesh Nodes (ZenWifi Mini XD4 - 4 of them) = Stable
5. Enabled Guest Network Pro, created guest network and enabled on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz = Sonos Offline - Devices Unavailable
6. Disabled Guest Network 5GHz Channel and only kept 2.4Ghz active = Sonos Offline - Devices Unavailablee
7. Disabled Guest Network 2.4GHz Channel and only kept 5GHz channel active = Sonos Offline - Devices Unavailable
8. Guest Network Enabled and set Wifi Band to ’None’ = Sonos Offline - Devices Unavailable
9. Switched off the Guest Network using slider under Guest Network Pro but don’t delete it = Sonos system stable

So, it turns out that the culprit is Guest Network Pro - as soon as you create a guest network and enable it even with no bands active, the Sonos system goes offline and is no longer available.

Not sure what the next steps are now?

 

[bennor]

1. Enabled Guest Network Pro, created guest network and enabled on 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz = Crashes - Sonos Devices Unavailable
2. Disabled Guest Network 5GHz Channel and only kept 2.4Ghz active = Crashes - Sonos Devices Unavailable
3. Disabled Guest Network 2.4GHz Channel and only kept 5GHz channel active = Crashes - Sonos Devices Unavailable

So, it turns out that the culprit is Guest Network Pro - As soon as you create a guest network the Sonos devices all become unavailable. Without a Guest Network, everything works fine.

Not sure what the next steps are now?

It may help if you provide more specific detail on how exactly you created the Guest Network Pro profiles. What Guest Network Profile did you test with? What specific Guest Network Pro Profile settings did you use and or change? Are you enabling the Guest Network Pro Profile for AiMesh client(s)? Are any other WiFi devices beyond Sonos devices affected?

 

[remsta]

It may help if you provide more specific detail on how exactly you created the Guest Network Pro profiles. What Guest Network Profile did you test with? What specific Guest Network Pro Profile settings did you use and or change? Are you enabling the Guest Network Pro Profile for AiMesh client(s)? Are any other WiFi devices beyond Sonos devices affected?

1. I created the Guest Network Pro profile by clicking 'Guest Network Pro' in the right hand menu > selecting Guest Network > Providing a Name 'Waldhof 7' and entering a password. I set Wifi Schedule to enabled and to 7 days a week from 0700 - 23.45 active. I hit save
2. I did not change any of the other standard settings anywhere on the router. It assigns VLAN 52 is all I can see
3. The Guest Network Pro profile is also enabled across the AiMesh clients - it actually is primarily for the AiMesh clients, I do not need it on the main router or the first AiMesh Node. It is used to provide Wifi through our small apartment building.
4. No other devices apart from Sonos are affected
5. I have two further Sonos One SL speakers set up in Stereo mode - they are not affected as they both connect to Wifi individually rather than creating their own mesh
6. I turned the Guest Network off for the main router - it sits right next to the Sonos system - this made no difference

So in essence -

• Guest Network Active = Sonos goes offline
• Guest Network Inactive = Sonos works fine
• Not tied to bands or nodes

 

[bennor]

1. I created the Guest Network Pro profile by clicking 'Guest Network Pro' in the right hand menu > selecting Guest Network > Providing a Name 'Waldhof 7' and entering a password. I set Wifi Schedule to enabled and to 7 days a week from 0700 - 23.45 active. I hit save

Does the issue persist if you use a different Guest Network Pro Profile like IoT Network or Custom Profile?
May have missed it but are the Sono's devices connecting to the AiMesh node or to the main router?

 

[remsta]

Does the issue persist if you use a different Guest Network Pro Profile like IoT Network or Custom Profile?
May have missed it but are the Sono's devices connecting to the AiMesh node or to the main router?

Just tried that as well - Customized Network - everything left standard. No change - still the same symptoms.

Sonos connects to the main router - sits right next to it.

From ChatGPT - not sure if it helps

1. Guest Network Pro Isn’t Just an Extra SSID

On ASUS routers, Guest Network Pro enables:

• MBSSID / VLAN tagging across all bands
• Client isolation enforced at the bridge level
• Broadcom’s internal virtual interface driver (wlX.Y) for each guest network

Even if you disable 5 GHz for the guest network, the router:

• Still spawns the virtual interface for both radios
• Forces the chipset into multi-BSSID mode (more beaconing, different TIM intervals)
• Sometimes tweaks IGMP/Multicast isolation rules globally (affecting broadcast discovery)

This changes how the 5 GHz radio behaves for all networks, including hidden SSIDs — like the Arc’s private link.


2. Why This Kills Sonos
Sonos Arc’s HT setup uses:

• A hidden SSID (peer-to-peer style) on 5 GHz
• Low beacon interval and low latency, not expecting VLAN/bridge isolation rules to suddenly apply

When Guest Network Pro is active:

• Multicast/IGMP filtering is applied globally — this can block discovery packets the Arc uses to maintain the surround bond
• Beacon congestion from the new BSSID can throw off timing for the Arc’s private channel
• In some cases, the router silently enables Airtime Fairness or changes QoS queues, delaying the Arc’s keep-alives

This is why the entire surround group drops until Guest Network Pro is disabled.

Note: Airtime fairness etc is disabled on the main Wifi - so none of that is involved. I’ve already tried seeing what bands the Arc is using and then setting manual bands for the router but none of that made a difference. It’s literally the Guest Network Pro feature - ASUS must do a bunch of stuff that just breaks it.

 

[FernandoF]

@remsta, as a temporary troubleshooting step, just to rule these out, please check your Guest Network Pro configuration and confirm that:

• Access Intranet is enabled
• Set AP Isolated (if this parameter is available) is disabled

 

[bennor]

@remsta additional information like what the router's system log is indicating when the Sonos client cannot connect may also be helpful.

 

[MDM]

Also try to separate 2.4 and 5 GHz

 

[remsta]

@remsta, as a temporary troubleshooting step, just to rule these out, please check your Guest Network Pro configuration and confirm that:

• Access Intranet is enabled
• Set AP Isolated (if this parameter is available) is disabled

I tried this in various combinations and it did not make a difference unfortunately

 

[remsta]

Also try to separate 2.4 and 5 GHz

I tried this - this had no impact.

 

[remsta]

@remsta additional information like what the router's system log is indicating when the Sonos client cannot connect may also be helpful.

@remsta additional information like what the router's system log is indicating when the Sonos client cannot connect may also be helpful.

What am I looking for? I am not sure it will show up because the process for Sonos is:

- Arc connects to Asus via 2.4GHz (this always works no matter if Guest Network Pro is enabled or not)
- Arc creates private 5GHz network (hidden SSID)
- Era 300's and Sub Gen 3 connect to Arc private 5GHz network

If I enable Guest Network Pro, they simply drop from the hidden Sonos network and sit there pinging. They never re-join the main Asus wifi because they are tied to the private Arc network. As soon as Guest Network Pro is off, they immediately re-join the Arc.

 

[bennor]

What am I looking for?

Don't bother looking for anything specific, just post the few minutes before and few minutes after of the system log for others to review to see if they notice anything unusual is happening. Helps to repeat the test several times to see if anything repeatable shows up in the system log around the same time.

Edit to add: Presumably have posted to a Sonos support forum and or contacted Sonos directly to enquire about your issue. Perhaps Sonos can provide more details about their Sonos Arc hardware/software setup and it's interaction with existing WiFi networks/routers and what may be causing your specific issue. Maybe there is a specific protocol that Sonos needs enabled, altered or that cannot be blocked by the router's firewall or iptables to keep the Sonos clients from dropping off the Sonos hidden WiFi network. Maybe it's some sort of VLAN/SDN conflict since that is what Guest Network Pro is typically enabling when a Guest Network Pro Profile is created.

 

[RMerlin]

Not sure what the next steps are now?

Contact Asus' tech support. Make sure you do test and report results with the stock firmware, so they can better assist/troubleshoot with you.