About to give up on Sonos!!

[neil-c]

I'm beginning to lose the will with zone drop outs on my Sonos (wired bridge and 3 zones). I was operating my wifi network with a TPlink extender which I always thought was the weak link in the system and the cause of my Sonos issues. After much difficulty with my wifi I decided to switch the extender off and live with limited wifi to see if it improved matters.

I expected this to also improve the reliability of my Sonos network as I have a wired bridge and my first zone in the same room but was disappointed to find as many drop outs as ever. If it was the most remote zone I could understand it but it seems to vary every day (though it does regularly seem to be the zone I want to play at that time!!)

The only fix I have found is to switch every zone and router off and switch on working away from the router.

Now there seems to be a relatively realistic competitor in Omni I am seriously considering ditching and trying something else.

Has anyone else had similar issues

[Du1point8]

Drop VEX an email and see if he can help, he's the resident expert.

[ross-co]

Have you got your wifi working on a fixed channel or is it left to auto channel, if the later i would recommend locking the wifi signal to a set channel, any wireless signal is susceptible to interference where possibly its always better to have a good wired connection, i appreciate wireless operation is part of the appeal of sonos.

relatively small movements of the players may also have a effect on there coverage, (again dont know is this is possible).

I believe you can also send sonos logs from the players that can help identify the issues etc.

[VEX]

Agree, this is usually a wifi interference problem and moving either the wifi channel or the sonos channel usually fixes these sort of issues.

I have had two sites with multiple routers in that caused spanning tree issues, but that doesnt sound like your problem.

Where are you based, because I may be able to pop in, you shouldnt be having these sort of problems.

V.

[neil-c]

Thanks for the response guys, greatly appreciate it, especially your offer of popping in VEX but unfortunately I'm in Scotland!! I'm sure I did lock the wifi channel but I'll check again. Is this done in router settings? Also out of interest do wifi extenders and homeplugs etc introduce other issues?

[VEX]

Yes they can do, because they will also use another wifi channel.

If you can set the Sonos to channel 11 and the router down at 1.

Sonos is done via the app settings.
Router will be via its webserver settings.

Have you spoken to Sonos tech support, they are brilliant and if needed will actually dial in and make changes on your system for you.

V.

[neil-c]

Ok so sonos was on channel 11 (for some reason I thought you couldn't set this with Apple devices!!) but no change required. Router was on 6 so now on 1. Can't see any options for auto channel select as previously suggested. Anyway so far so good but will still need to extend wifi at some point. Was thinking of replacing tplink extender with Devolo wifi kits

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devolo-dLAN-500-Wi-Fi-Netw...

any experience of these kits with sonos? I presume on homeplugs systems these additional wifi access points are on the same channel as the main router?

[anonymous-user]

For some reason i had issue with WPA security and Apple kit.

Plus definitely check the Channels.

My only problem now is the world's slowest internet connection.

[sjn2004]

Neighbours wifi interfering with your set up?

[ASK1974]

neil-c said:

Ok so sonos was on channel 11 (for some reason I thought you couldn't set this with Apple devices!!) but no change required. Router was on 6 so now on 1. Can't see any options for auto channel select as previously suggested. Anyway so far so good but will still need to extend wifi at some point. Was thinking of replacing tplink extender with Devolo wifi kits

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Devolo-dLAN-500-Wi-Fi-Netw...

any experience of these kits with sonos?

Develo products are fine however dedicated Access points are always better, I assume you've no network wiring within the property hence the need for Powerline? If this is the case Develo are a good choice and as long as they operate away from Sonos's channel you'll be fine.

neil-c said:

I presume on homeplugs systems these additional wifi access points are on the same channel as the main router?

No, each Powerline access point is set with it's own channel. When deploying a multi-access point (Wi-Fi) system it's important that each access point is set to a channel that isolates it from neighbouring access points - in the UK the channels to use are 1, 6 & 11. Depending on the layout of your home you can use a combination of two or three of these, long thin properties are usually fine with two but tall/wide properties need all three. Make sure each has the same SSID and password as you set on your router and mobile devices should roam the property connecting to the the strongest signal, sometimes devices will stubbornly hold on to a weak signal, if they do so all you need to do is turn off/on your devices Wi-Fi and it'll pick the strongest broadcast.

This is where Sonos's proprietary mesh can become a problem due to interference, it's rare but when it hits it's a PITA so I feel your pain. A recent Sonos update allows you to setup your system using it's own mesh network or the existing Wi-Fi network; note you can't use both. To use the Wi-Fi config it goes without saying you need to have good coverage for all music zones.

I'd suggest the following. You're currently using the mesh so as already advised the first thing to do is make sure your Wi-Fi network is not interfering. Secondly if the mesh signal is low due to distance or thick walls then maybe purchase a couple of Sonos 'bridges' or a 'Boost' to strengthen the mesh. Also, remember there's a two port switch on the back of each Sonos device, once you have a strong and dependable mesh there's no reason why you can't connect a Wi-Fi access point and use the Sonos Net to extend your Wireless network rather than Powerline, just keep an eye on Channels as discussed above.

[neil-c]

That's a very comprehensive answer thanks. As I said I am trialling the system with the wifi extender unplugged and seems more reliable. Previously I was having to reboot my router every day. Sonos seems more stable too but will monitor things for a few days to see. New issue obviously is that my more remote sonos zones are up but have to control them from another room where I have a wifi signal!! Limitations of Apple I believe.

I like the idea of using the players to create access points, I presume all that would mean is configuring routers plugged into them? Out of interest what sort of wifi speeds would you expect from these access points?

[rat840771]

i had such a laugh with Sonos on NYE....was at a party and i connected to his system as he gave me his wifi passcode. For some reason he lost all of his music Library on his macbook and my phone appeared to take control.

After a few Tequilas i set the Alarm to go of at 7.00am, i also start up the system when i drive past his house and pick really terrible songs!

He is currently resetting his wifi pass-codes!

[sparkyhx]

rat840771 said:

i had such a laugh with Sonos on NYE....was at a party and i connected to his system as he gave me his wifi passcode. For some reason he lost all of his music Library on his macbook and my phone appeared to take control.

After a few Tequilas i set the Alarm to go of at 7.00am, i also start up the system when i drive past his house and pick really terrible songs!

He is currently resetting his wifi pass-codes!

I know there's been a recent update to Sonos - can you tap into the 'Sonos mesh' now?