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Granting guest access to Sonos, but not entire network

  • 7 January 2019
  • 9 replies
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Looking to set up guest access to Sonos during parties, without giving up main wifi network info. I understand I could just set it up on a guest network, but I use Sonos daily on my main network (along with other devices) and do not want to have to switch between guest and main network every time I have guests. I have 3 Play ones and a Bridge.

Any insight here?
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Best answer by AjTrek1 7 January 2019, 23:24

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9 replies

Userlevel 7
Hi jsexton

Unfortunately, Sonos does not work on guest networks. See attachment.

You could purchase a Connect, name it as a room, group to other Sonos, then attach a BT transceiver and set the line in to Auto. Also you keep your network credentials secret:8

Cheers!
AJ,
Thanks for the prompt reply. I'm trying to avoid buying more equipment for the relatively rare times I want to let guests have some control over music.

It may also be worth mentioning that I have the bridge (purchased years ago), but do not use it.
Looking to set up guest access to Sonos during parties, without giving up main wifi network info.
What info? If it's simply the SSID/password then set up a separate access point -- with a different SSID/password from the main router obviously -- and only power it on when there are guests round.

If you're worried that a guest might poke around in some storage or other then that's a different matter. Although a NAS could be set up with per-username access rights you'd possibly also want to partition the physical network such that anything Sonos needed was on a 'public' section of the network along with the players, and all your stuff was on a 'private' segment. Link 'public' and 'private' with a switch, and power that off on guest night for the 'private' area to go dark.
Thanks for your reply ratty.

It is the former (SSID/password, giving network access) -- no NAS involved.

"If it's simply the SSID/password then set up a separate access point -- with a different SSID/password from the main router obviously -- and only power it on when there are guests round."

Would this allow access when there are no guest, and when I turn the 2nd network on, it'd switch? If so, would that be automatically? As I mentioned, what I'm trying to avoid is switching between networks every time we gave guests access, and I was under the impression that there was a way to 'carve out' access using the bridge.
Personally, I would just get a spare tablet or an old used phone you can hand over to guests when needed. It's going to be cheaper and easier to manage then a separate access point, and possibly useful even when guest aren't around. You can specifically give it to a guest you trust (some have horrible taste in music) You also will not have to have your guests download the Sonos app onto their phones.
Melvimbe -- best suggestion yet. Think that's what I am going to do.
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I think Costco still has a sale on Samsung Galaxy Tab A tablets, I use a couple of them as Sonos controllers. I stand them in an inexpensive tablet stand and hook a magnetic power cable to them so you can easily pick them up and carry them around.

Like this: https://smile.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Multi-Angle-Portable-Tablets-readers/dp/B01IJ5A2UA/ref=sr_1_3_acs_sk_pb_2_sl_2

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B071YCQRHM/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Solid suggestion Stanley -- Thanks.
The suggestions above are great and simple to use, but I do want to share something I discovered today. I use Google Wifi, with a guest network set up. Google Wifi allows you to share devices on the main network with your guests, without granting access to the rest of your main network. I tested this today with a friend, and I was able to share my Sonos on a per-device level, i.e. I was able to grant access to the living room, without them able to see the other speakers in my home.
If this is possible on a closed system like Google Wifi, I would imagine this must also be possible on more advanced routers, with some tweaking.
It has been years since I ran my routers with dd-wrt and tinkered with my network on a detailed level, so I would not have any suggestions on how but greater minds than mine should be able to figure this out, no? 🙂