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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!
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? 🙂
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.
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.
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.
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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.