My mini nest radio reception keeps cutting out

[REvans6659]

My mini nest speaker keeps cutting out. (I have 3 in different rooms) I have rebooted all and turned router off and on. What should I do next?

[TimCull]

Exactly the same issue. Started a few days ago out of the blue, no changes from me - so must be some update or something behind the scenes.

[Rusky66]

Exactly the same for me here, was looking to buy Alexa speakers as it's so frustrating, will hold fire a little longer now I've read this thread and hopefully BBC will get it sorted quickly 

[MMMac]

I'm having the exact same issues too, it's so frustrating.

[Rhiannon94]

We’ve had the same issue! Any idea on how to resolve it? We listen to 5 Live religiously in the mornings and this has been incredibly frustrating 

[Oxworks]

Same here 😭

[Nesticle]

Started yesterday for us. As other have said stream from BBC radio starts and plays for 30 seconds, stops then after another 30 seconds or so plays another 5 seconds, stops then the same 5 seconds snippet gets played every 20 seconds or so until I stop it. 

[GJECBVP]

Interestingly, I got a good response from my Google Nest when I said "Hey Google, tell me why BBC Sounds is not playing on my Google Nest".

[chrislenny]

Why has this comment been flagged as the answer? Nothing happens when you ask it that question or variations of it! Please unflag this as the solution when the problem clearly hasn't gone away

[VivienC]

The reply I got was ‘Sorry, I don’t understand’

[Mallen1972]

I have the same problem. Radio two with nest speakers. Amazon dot is fine.

[Eddiemundo]

Same problem as well. Very irritating 

[RichardJW]

Same issue here, since early last week

[VivienC]

Same problem, in France. Radio 4, which I am addicted to.  Last few days. Have done all the switch on and off, factory reset stuff and resorted to listening on my phone. Local French stations ok.  

[VivienC]

A new symptom - Nest Mini ignores ‘Switch off the radio’ and keeps playing repeated 30 seconds bursts. 

[rbanksy82]

Yes VivienC, my Nest Mini is doing that as well. I used to be able to say "Hey Google, Stop" and the radio would cease playing. But now it goes quiet for 10 to 15 seconds before starting playing again. I have to say "Hey Google stop BBC Sounds" and even then it doesn't always stop. 

I think there is something very strange going on and I wonder if the faults are part BBC, part Google...

[Gammo]

I agree, complicated by the fact that speaker groups or stereo speaker pairs are not impacted

[Jaycee56]

Just to add, same problem with BBC.  Did all of the recommended even though I knew it wasn't a problem my end.  Clue being both google speakers started to misbehave simultaneously.  Waitng (and hoping) for a fix.

[anotherbob100]

My two nest minis are behaving just as others have reported. Cutting out, repeating short sound loop, not responding to "turn off" command. Only BBC stations affected. If I use BBC Sounds on my Xiaomi tablet and connect to my nests by Bluetooth all BBC stations work okay.

[EgStanton]

Same problem just started when speakers linked to Gemini, incredibly annoying.

[Phil-]

I see everyone is having problems with BBC Sounds on your Google Nest. I'm having the same problem. Contacted Google who were able to check both my smart speakers & they are working fine. I have been told by Google it's a BBC problem & to get in contact with them. I have sent the BBC e-mails, message via Instagram & even contacted Radio 2, & they don't reply.

[Phil-]

Hi Everyone.

Part two of my problem with the BBC. I still haven't heard from them, and I'm still waiting. I think it could be a long wait! I will keep you updated. Thank you for all your messages telling me that you are having the same problems. Somehow, I will get to the bottom of this.

Phil

[Skully666]

Yes bbc radio 2 here.

Plays fine on my phone

When played through nest mini it cuts out, repeats the same 5/10 secs when it does pop back in

I have tried unplugging. Switching speakers, but its the same on all 4 nest mini gen 2.

Really annoying as having to resort to listening via my sky TV atm, which means finding the remote.. being disabled its an extra pain, we have VC speakers to avoid needing to do that.

[AnnaV]

Hi There!

Thanks for posting in the community! I understand that your Nest Mini speakers are having trouble maintaining a stable radio stream, leading to frequent audio cutouts. I also see that you've already tried troubleshooting the issue, but nothing seems to be working. I know how frustrating this situation must be, especially since your Nest Mini speakers have been working properly for years. I appreciate all the effort you’ve put into this; no worries, help is here.

To better understand the situation, I would like to ask the following questions:

1. Aside from the Nest Mini, are there other Nest speakers/displays affected?
2. What are the firmware versions of your speakers?
3. Are you able to stream from other radio stations without issues?
4. When exactly did the issue start?
5. Were there any changes made around when the issue started?
6. Is the issue happening just when streaming is done via voice command or is it also happening with manual casting from a radio services app or similar?

Keep me posted.

Regards,

Anna

[REvans6659]

Hi Anna! Lovely to hear from you.

1. I have 2 Mini Nest speakers and one ‘mother speaker’ they are all affected.

2. Forgive me but I am not sure what you mean. The 2 mini speakers are second generation and the mother speaker is same vintage but a larger stand alone speaker (about 6 X 4 inches with no markings on it)

3. I can stream all non BBC stations and ask questions as normal without problems.

4. The problem started about a week ago. (There were a couple of postings on the Community site with the same problem starting around the same time.)

5. No changes that I have made. My son reckons that BBC Sounds might have done something or ‘updated’(!) something technical.

6. Again, the ‘nests’ are working fine except for BBC programmes!

I am sorry that I am not very tech savvy and I am very grateful for your help. 

 Many thanks once again and best wishes 

Robin (Evans)

[GJECBVP]

*Update*. 

My nests also now seem to not want to play Absolute 80s which is a favourite radio station of the wife.  Anyone else also getting this now on top of the BBC issues?

[EghamPhil]

Hello Anna, Thank you for your response. Answers as follows:

1. I have 2 Nest Minis, both exhibit the same problem

2. System firmware(both): 531490, cast firmware 20251119_1642_RC07

3. All other stations that I have tried, apart from BBC channels, work as normal

4. Not sure exactly when, sometime in the middle of last week, say 28/29 April

5. No changes going on around the house, technology-wise

6. Happens when streaming both on voice command and also casting from BBC Sounds

Additional Info:

Once the stream cuts out, it repeats the same section of sound last broadcast at apparently random intervals. I have not timed the silent periods.

The above situation continues until you command stop while the sound is playing. Stop does not seem to work during silent periods

[KrazyKiller]

>1. Aside from the Nest Mini, are there other Nest speakers/displays affected?

I have lots of Nest devices collected over time. 6x minis + 2x Displays. Only gen 2 Nest mini's have this problem (see next answer)

>2. What are the firmware versions of your speakers?

• Problem arises with Gen 2 Nest Minis: (3 instances)
  • System Firmware: 531490
  • Cast firmware: 20251119_1643_RC07
• Problem doesn't arise with Gen 1 Nest Minis: (3 instances)  
  • System Firmware: 526062
  • Cast firmware: 3.78.526062
• Problem doesn't arise with 2 different displays:
  • Nest Hub: System firmware: 30.20260121.103.1602 / Cast firmware: 3.78.526200
  • Nest Hub Max: System firmware: 30.20260121.103.1602 / Cast firmware: 3.78.526200

>3. Are you able to stream from other radio stations without issues?

Yes for the few I've tried. Only happens with BBC services

>4. When exactly did the issue start?

Approx 2 weeks ago. 

>5. Were there any changes made around when the issue started?

I opted in to Gemini for Home.

>6. Is the issue happening just when streaming is done via voice command or is it also happening with manual casting from a radio services app or similar?

Casting from BBC sounds results in the same issue. The mobile app shows spinning icon each time while pause/repeated segment loop starts.

I've worked in PayTV/streaming industry for 30 years on lots of streaming content types. Key observations:

• This happens only with Live Streaming. Casting completed programs is fine. This implies some form MPEG-DASH Live manifest issue? Maybe Manifest drift? Falling out of the manifest window? Or asking for a segment before it's in the CDN?

[KrazyKiller]

Same issue all BBC radio channels go into repeating same 30sec segment eventually.

Key data point: only happens with gen 2 home minis.

Does not happen with gen 1 mini, nest hub nor nest hub max.

[chriscross]

Same here. The BBC stations keep dropping out & sometimes it comes back on again & goes into loop mode keep repeating the same bit over & over again. Classic FM is fine. The nest is only about 1 mtr away from the router. I have contacted BBC sounds for help with this matter.

[anotherbob100]

Casting BBC 5 sports extra from my Xiaomi tablet working ok.

[MikeyBrighton]

Curiously this only affects my Google brand speakers (both are Nest mini 2nd generation).  I have Sony and JBL “Google enabled” speakers that work just fine with BBC channels.

[Huffy63]

I have just listened to BBC radio 2 by casting from my iPad and the problem hasn’t occurred in the last hour. Don’t know if that would work for anyone else though.

[AnnaV · Accepted solution]

Hi all,

Thank you for getting back to me and for the follow-up. I appreciate the effort you’ve put into resolving this, and I’m happy to continue assisting you.

We need you to send feedback via voice command by following these instructions:

Turn on device reports:

1. Tap and hold the device tile in the Google Home app.
2. Tap Settings > Recognition & sharing.
3. Turn on Send [device model] device usage and crash reports to Google.

Send feedback via voice command:

1. Say, "Hey Google, send feedback."
2. When prompted, mention the keyword "GHT3 23803 BBC radio playback issues."

This feedback will be essential for our engineering team to investigate the matter and work toward a stable fix.

I hope this helps!

Regards,

Anna

[anotherbob100]

Done. 9.30. 05/05/26.

[EghamPhil]

Done for both speakers in the house

[Phil-]

Hi Anna,

I did this on Monday 4th May, and your support couldn't help. They checked my smart speakers, and they are both working fine. It looks like a BBC problem. I have reported it to the BBC, but have not heard anything yet. Shame really, you would think the BBC would want to help, seeing that in the UK we pay a licence fee to watch and listen to the BBC.  What's even worse is that I used to work for the BBC! And I still haven't heard anything!

Thanks for you help

Phil

[ArtySteve]

If only that worked; even factory reset will not work. clearly Avery bad bug from google and or the BBC

[Hazey-ZA]

Same issue. Works on TuneIn radio, but direct bbc stream has buffering issues for past few weeks now. Can not get it fixed. Definitely an upstream issue that BBC needs to assess and fix. Ruining the experience 

[Bubbatryo]

Same, can't use BBC sounds with nest anymore, cuts out after about 20 seconds

[Dannad]

When I say 'Hey Google, play Radio 4/3/whatever' it plays 20 seconds of radio, then nothing for 10 seconds. Then it plays the same 20 seconds of music 

Yes, I've tried rebooting, factory resets, re-adding to the network. Yes, I know the ecosystem is broken because Google only cares about AI now. Yes I realise none of the product teams talk to each other.

I'm not interested in 'advice' that implies it's my fault, what I want is a timeline for when Google are going to fix it - it's your responsibility.