google nest speaker groups stopped working again

[martinix]

As of yesterday all speaker groups stopped working again. System had been stable for a few weeks. No changes to system or network. Tried powering down and powering up speakers. Groups still not working. Tried deleting and re-establishing speaker groups again. Still not working.

The NEST Speaker Group functionality is very weak and unreliable. Urgent attention is needed to improve this important functionality.

[Azarco]

Hey martinix,

Thanks for doing all those steps. I know how it feels when something isn’t working the way it should, let’s get this resolved! 

Since you've done rebooting your speakers, could you please also reboot your router to refresh the connection? Make sure your speakers are within 15-20 feet of your router. Resetting your speakers will also help refresh your device.

Let us know if those steps help.

Thanks,

Alex

[martinix]

Yes. I did do that but the problem remained. In the end the fix I found was to create a new group, with a new name, containing the speakers. That worked correctly. I then deleted the old group. I'll see how this new speaker group performs. One possible factor causing the problem of speaker group corruption is changing from initiating streaming by voice as against initiating streaming from a handset app. If you always use voice commands everything seems ok. If once you use and App (eg. BBC Sounds) to start streaming to the speaker group. The next time you try an voice command it may not work. Overall, speaker group functionality seems very fragile.

[Azarco]

Hey martinix,

We hear you! If the issue persists after you created a new speaker group, please send a feedback report on your Google Home app or speakers with a brief description of what's happening. To ensure it will be captured, please verify that "Send device usage data and crash reports to Google" is turned on before you submit the feedback.

Kind regards,

Alex

[Azarco]

Hey martinix,

As we got our resolution here, I'm going to mark this thread as resolved. I'll be locking this thread if we won't hear back from you again in 24 hrs. Should that happen, feel free to create a new one if you have more questions or have other concerns in the future.

Best,
Alex

[svenners]

Hi,

Can Google please let us know if this is due to the Sonos ruling, as there seems to be no other reason that this functionality no longer works.

If there is no alternative solution, we will have to look at alternative products.

Thanks.

Svenners

[Azarco]

Hey svenners,

There's a few changes on how to control the speaker group however, it's more on controlling the volume of the group speakers when playing music. Speaker groups containing non-Google speakers or Cast-based devices may not work properly in speaker groups if they don’t receive a software update. You may notice that those devices don’t play audio in a speaker group. Third-party Cast devices like soundbars with Chromecast built-in will need to be updated to Cast firmware 1.52.272222 and above.

Best,

Alex