I've been using Homes and Minis for years. I haven't added one recently, but all my Groups still work. Likewise, the ones I've paired so that they operate in stereo (Google Home 1 as left speaker, Google Home 2 as right speaker) also still work. I believe the result of the lawsuit was they had to change the way you adjusted the volume on them. Prior to the lawsuit, I could adjust the volume of all groups and plus pairs in groups at once. After the lawsuit, you have to adjust the volume of each Google Home or Pair. So long story short, it's a little annoying and user experience has decreased a little, but they're still a pretty good option.
And I feel bad for the people who feel this strongly towards others for something that literally has no effect on them. Congrats on your opinion!
I will be enjoying my speakers in my wonderful patio in the meantime *in stereo*
To help clear up some confusion, there is a difference between Group and Pair in Google home. When you take two of these and pair them as stereo, it will create one Pair. That means when you adjust the volume, it will do so on both. Then there is a group where you can add individual devices as well as a pair. With the sonus lawsuit, to change the volume of group, you will need to do so for each indivual device or pair. Remember, a pair is one entity so it will adjust the volume of the 2 devices in the pair. I have a kitchen Group that has a Google hub and a Nest audio Pair (2 of these audio setup as stereo pair). I can play music on the group or on the hub or on the pair, default is the group. Hope that helps clarify better.
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I have 2 Maxes, 3 Nests and a Mini. Like them but have had a lot of headaches with them not staying connected to the network and needing to be rebooted to reconnect. First it was with my old router (Linksys e3000) + a newer TPLink access point for whole house coverage - the Maxes on main level would disconnect. Got a Deco mesh and the Nests on top floor would disconnect. Disabled the 5GHz band on the mesh and now they're fine, but obviously the WiFi is slower now (no way to force these to connect @2.4GHz on the mesh when 5GHz is enabled, that I can find).
You may need to disable smart connect and separate the bands so each has its own SSID.
Then when you go into your speaker settings, choose the correct band.
Another option is to get WiFi repeaters. These don't use a hell of a lot of bandwidth, but I do find latency of responses is affected quite a bit by having additional routing in place.
The real dream would be having a Google assistant server that can handle things locally instead of needing the internet all the time.
You may need to disable smart connect and separate the bands so each has its own SSID.
Then when you go into your speaker settings, choose the correct band.
Another option is to get WiFi repeaters. These don't use a hell of a lot of bandwidth, but I do find latency of responses is affected quite a bit by having additional routing in place.
The real dream would be having a Google assistant server that can handle things locally instead of needing the internet all the time.
Don't believe it's possible to create an SSID for each band with the Deco. Although…maybe setting up a guest network would do the trick
I hate Sonos and their overpriced speakers now. I will never buy a Sonos product again -- it will just support their next lawsuit to take out everyone else's "infringement". As I posted earlier in their interview with The Verge:
I hadn't heard about all their lawsuits until this point, but as someone who owns 2 JBL Smart Speakers, 2 Sonos Play 1, and a Nest Hub... the sound quality on the Sonos is quite a bit better than the others.
They were also not that expensive since I bought them heavily discounted (Costco had them 2 for like $279 when they MSRP'd for like $250 each which is why I bought them).
That said these don't integrate nicely with Google Home. You can control them with Google Home, but barely. If I had it all over to do again I probably wouldn't have gotten the Sonoses (especially knowing what I know now about the lawsuits) for better Google Home integration, but again...I do have to admit the Sonos Play 1s sound quite good and they're more reliable than the other speakers (they frequently won't link up or not play nicely with Deezer).
Got a pair of these during the new year's sale. Late February my whole google smarthome system started taking issue with my wifi 6 router and I had to migrate most of them over to my old modem+router from my ISP. This took most of a day.
Reconnecting these Nest Audios was the biggest nightmare of it all. One still has no issue with the wifi 6 network and would constantly be looking for the other speaker before eventually seizing up and crashing. Only after doing a factory reset on one and finding the stereo-unpair option that was buried in menus within menus did I get one of them working again.
It was pretty nice before any of that happened, but only if you were standing an equal distance between the two of them. The sound doesn't throw very far and only out of the front of the device, so if your speakers are i.e. on an island between a kitchen and living room the sound will be good in one and pathetic in the other.
Better to give up stereo and have one in each room at that point.
The day the ruling came down I stopped allowing Google Home to auto update just to preserve this feature. Honestly, I was kind of expecting them to have addressed this by now though.
Dang...good call. May I ask you what version of the Home app is the last working one?
You're all suckers if you're going to buy a product that creates a laughable hassle for you, meticulously changing the volume two times instead of one, and then trying to get every single new volume level to match the other one. Get real: Sonos are bitches and they ruined this product by hiring weasel lawyers to exploit a totally broken patent system.
The only way to stop that kind of thing, is obviously to buy the alternatives and steer clear.
my wife would be annoyed but im pretty certain to get 2 of these. i have the oooooold chromecast audio hooked into soundbars, 2 of 3 still work, but this is a cheap way to do upgrade
edit: both colors on backorder now. are they getting replaced with a new model? lots of places have a 2 pack for 130 right now, so 120 isnt super hot but 120-130 still seems like a solid deal for sure.
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I will be enjoying my speakers in my wonderful patio in the meantime *in stereo*
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You may need to disable smart connect and separate the bands so each has its own SSID.
Then when you go into your speaker settings, choose the correct band.
Another option is to get WiFi repeaters. These don't use a hell of a lot of bandwidth, but I do find latency of responses is affected quite a bit by having additional routing in place.
The real dream would be having a Google assistant server that can handle things locally instead of needing the internet all the time.
Groups also still work, but as others have said you do have to change the volume individually now.
Then when you go into your speaker settings, choose the correct band.
Another option is to get WiFi repeaters. These don't use a hell of a lot of bandwidth, but I do find latency of responses is affected quite a bit by having additional routing in place.
The real dream would be having a Google assistant server that can handle things locally instead of needing the internet all the time.
Don't believe it's possible to create an SSID for each band with the Deco. Although…maybe setting up a guest network would do the trick
They were also not that expensive since I bought them heavily discounted (Costco had them 2 for like $279 when they MSRP'd for like $250 each which is why I bought them).
That said these don't integrate nicely with Google Home. You can control them with Google Home, but barely. If I had it all over to do again I probably wouldn't have gotten the Sonoses (especially knowing what I know now about the lawsuits) for better Google Home integration, but again...I do have to admit the Sonos Play 1s sound quite good and they're more reliable than the other speakers (they frequently won't link up or not play nicely with Deezer).
Reconnecting these Nest Audios was the biggest nightmare of it all. One still has no issue with the wifi 6 network and would constantly be looking for the other speaker before eventually seizing up and crashing. Only after doing a factory reset on one and finding the stereo-unpair option that was buried in menus within menus did I get one of them working again.
It was pretty nice before any of that happened, but only if you were standing an equal distance between the two of them. The sound doesn't throw very far and only out of the front of the device, so if your speakers are i.e. on an island between a kitchen and living room the sound will be good in one and pathetic in the other.
Better to give up stereo and have one in each room at that point.
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Dang...good call. May I ask you what version of the Home app is the last working one?
I'm not sure if it is the last, but my app version is 2.47.79.5.
The only way to stop that kind of thing, is obviously to buy the alternatives and steer clear.
So what you mean is to buy these ones... Right?
edit: both colors on backorder now. are they getting replaced with a new model? lots of places have a 2 pack for 130 right now, so 120 isnt super hot but 120-130 still seems like a solid deal for sure.
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