Casting audio from phone has become impossible

[Effyou]

I have a invested a ludicrous amount of money in hubs and minis so that I could have networked speakers throughout my home, an investment that worked just fine for years, letting me cast audio from various apps on my phone to my networked speaker groups.

Over the last year or so, that ability has deteriorated to the point of disappearing. It went from "hiccupping" , where audio would drop and return, to audio fully dropping and not resuming, to LOSING THE CHROMECAST ICON ENTIRELY. 

Sometimes I can restart my phone, restart my network, clear my caches from all my apps, and it will come back, but lately even THAT doesn't work.

Do I need to sacrifice a white calf under a full moon? I just want to listen to audio through the speakers I paid good money for. I chose Google over other options, and you have FAILED tremendously. 

[Dan_A]

Hi Effyou,

We thank you for choosing Google over all other options that are available and we do apologize for the inconvenience this has caused you. Let us help you through this ― a few questions: does your Nest speakers also behave the same way when playing music individually or is the hiccups and drops only occur when your Nest speakers are on a speaker group? What kind of Wi-Fi network do you use? Is it run by a single Modem/Router or with a mesh system? 

Let's start with a sequential reboot:

1. Unplug the power cord of your router followed by your Nest speakers. 
2. Plug them back in after 3 minutes tops. 
3. Restarting your phone might also help.
4. If possible, change the location of your Nest devices closer to your router.

If you have a dual band frequency which has a band steering function, let's focus your devices on the 2.4 GHz and then monitor the behavior of your Nest devices and tell me how it goes.

Thanks,

Dan

[Dan_A]

Hey there,

I wanted to follow up and see if you still need help. Please let me know if you are still having any concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Best,

Dan

[Dan_A]

Hello there Effyou,

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within 24 hours. If you need assistance or want to discuss topics, feel free to start a new thread.

Kind regards,

Dan