Bose Home Portable Speaker - Google Assistant/Bose Music App error

[anduyen.ncf]

Product: Bose Home Portable Speaker

Location: US

Hello,

I've had my speaker for a few months now. The sound quality is undeniably amazing and I'm enjoying every aspect of the speaker. Unfortunately, Google Assistant no longer works after the Wifi system in my apartment is updated. After the Wifi system is updated, I had to connect to a Wifi channel (2.4GHz) other than the regular wifi my apartment complex initially provides in order for the Hue lights and security camera to work, in which I had to reconnect the speaker's wifi (Play/pause + Volume down button) several times before it could find that hidden wifi. I removed the speaker from my Google Home's device list and managed to add it back in, but I was asked to use the Bose Music App to set up my Google Assistant. So I went to the app, the speaker is shown on the main page, but it says "Not Available" right underneath the speaker's name. I couldn't get access to the speaker's Settings and as a results, Google Assistant can't be connected. The Product Help option didn't help much, all it said was to provide enough power, connect same network, make sure Sharing is turned on, etc. So, I tried to remove the speaker from "Manage Products", signed out, reinstalled the app, signed in, added product, named it like new, still got the "Not Available" message. Apparently, the Google Assistant button on the speaker is not working either. 

The issue above has caused me to forget all devices, unlink speaker from all apps, hard reset the speaker (Volume up + Bluetooth button) and connect it to everything from the beginning like the speaker is new, but so far only the Wifi speaker option is working. The Bose Music App and speaker is up-to-date (yes, I forced updated the speaker). Any solution/help would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

Drew.

[Vicky_W]

Hello anduyen.ncf, 

Welcome to the forums! 

I am so glad that you chose Bose as your new speaker and that you are loving it. Let's see what we can do about your Google Assistant. Can I please ask which region you are in and if you have any other assistants in the house? Also, are you using a VPN at all?

[anduyen.ncf]

I live in Florida. Google Assistant is the only assistant I'm using at the moment. My phone has Lookout VPN. I have tried to disconnect it and pair up my speaker again, but the message on the app switched from "Not Available" to "Something happened. Please try again. Product activation failed" and a red exclamation mark in a red circle.

[Vicky_W]

@anduyen.ncf, thanks for getting back to me. The use of a VPN is not supported and will cause issues, resulting in the speaker being unavailable or setup not possible. Can you please try it without the VPN and let me know how you get on?

[anduyen.ncf]

Hi @Vicky_W , I disconnected VPN and tried to redo the set up. It's still not working as the message "Production activation failed" kept showing on the app.

Right now the only function that works on the speaker is Bluetooth. The Wifi-connected speaker option has stopped working for the last few days. I'm really stuck on figuring out what to do with the speaker at the moment.

[Keith_L · Accepted solution]

Hi anduyen.ncf,

Thanks for the update and for trying that for us.

As you mentioned this all started when the Wi-Fi for your apartment was changed, it does sound like there is a firewall or setting in the new network that is stopping this activation from going through and causing the issues communicating with the app as well.

Is the Wi-Fi in your apartment a private network that only you have access to or a shared network within the apartment building? 

If it is your own private network, this will be nice and simple to get fixed as it will just require logging in to your router and optimizing it to allow the speaker to get back up and running. To do this I would always recommend reaching out to your local support team as they will be able to go through this with you, in real-time and in a one-on-one session, and it is much easier to troubleshoot a network in that environment. For the US, the contact information can be found HERE.

If it is a shared network, it does become a bit trickier, as you will most likely need to get the owner of the network to make these changes for you. I'll post a list of the recommended router settings below that you can use but shared networks can often be more complicated than private ones and there may be more that would need looking at. Again, reaching out to your support team is a good idea, if the owner of the network can grant you access, or be one the call as well to go through this with you.

I hope this helps!

Recommended router settings.

UPnP - Enable

Multicast - Enable

IGMP - Enable

Wireless Isolation - Disable

IGMP Proxy - Disable

Wi-Fi Radio or Radio Mode - Mixed or B/G/N

Stealth mode - Disable

MAC Filtering/Access Control - Disable, or add the system’s MAC address to the allowed devices list

WPS - Disable

Wireless channel - Fixed (select a specific channel); Auto-Channel selection is not recommended.

Security type – WPA-2(PSK) with AES Encryption.

WMM – Disable.

[Dkitendaugh11]

My Bose Portable Home Google Assistant is struggling. I can ask simple question but it keeps repeating the answer. Also when playing music or the radio it would respond to voice commands. It will lower the volume for an instant but it would do anything else. 

it was working 2 weeks ago and now nothing. 

[Vicky_W]

Hello Dkitendaugh11, 

Welcome to the forums. 

I would love to help you get this resolved. I would suggest removing the Google Assistant and then re-adding it. This will be the best way to refresh the assistant and should resolve your issue. If it does not, please try the steps in this thread and let me know how you get on! 

I would also love to know if you have any other Google Assistant devices and if they do the same thing?