I did setup multiple WiFi networks (connected to same LAN) in my house but

  • 22 January 2021
  • 4 replies
  • 908 views

H all, 

I have read several threads on this. I did manage to have 2 wifi SSID setup in the sonos app. However i wanted to share my experience and ask a question:

 

Setup : i have 2 wifi networks, both in the same Lan. 

Room 1 : Arc + 2 surround Symfonik , connected to wifi 1 (main internet  box by Nowtv)

Room 2: symfonik connected  to wifi 2 (TPLink powerline)

 

I mention wifi1 and wifi2 because I managed to have both wifi SSID (name) showing up in the app under System \ Network  \ Networks. This would mean that Sonos app allowed me to register 2 different wifi credentials on the local network. They dont have to have the same SSID as I read in many post.

I though i managed to do this by changing the wifi network on the mobile phone used for the setup.

 

Worth noting: both network are visible in each room, with various strength, this is why i wanted to have both available so each speaker would use the most appropriate network. i dont actually know which networks is connected to which speakers since we cant check this in the app or on the lan network. But if both networks are visible in the apps setting (under Network), i reckon at least some  devices are plugged on each network.

 

Then : I wanted to test the connection strength of a different router. So i disable wifi2, and setup wifi3 which is 3rd router.  WIFi2 disapered from the list of network visible in the app under setting\network.

But this time i struggle to force a speaker to connect to wif3, it would always look to setup the speaker to wifi1. to fix this, i did the below.

  1. i disable wifi1 and connected my phone to wifi3. the app complained that it couldn’t find any existing sonos speaker under wifi3 so the setup of a new speaker failed.
  2. i enabled wifi1 access point again, i kept the phone on wifi3. and this time the apps set up the device on wifi3.

 

Conclusion:

  • we can have multiple wifi access points  in the same LAN network , with different SSID:  at least 2 in my example. and this is visible in the app
  • to do so, the process doesn't seem to be very clear to me.
  • i will see if the connection stays stable with this setup or if having same SSID  would do better
  • Has anyone done a similar setup ? are your connection stable ? 

thank you 

 

 


This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

4 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Sonos really wasn’t designed to be handling both networks in the same house.

Sonos is setup to auto switch between networks assuming you go from one house to the next and want it to connect to the next house your go to.

The only way your going to successfully use Sonos with 2 networks in the same house is to utilize 2 different devices to control the 2 different networks.   Like on the 2nd network setup an old phone or tablet just to connect to that network and not the other in the house.

What you would ultmately want is for the controller to ask you which to connect to - but that isn’t going to happen.

I won’t go into reason why you would want them separated … that is your determination I guess.

 

There’s perhaps a spot of confusion here. Where the OP is referring to different ‘networks’ they’re in fact different SSIDs onto the same network.

Sonos can store up to 16 SSIDs.

Userlevel 7
Badge +22

sorry I was under impression it was 2 networks… My fault.

To me then sonos is working no matter what SSID you connect to.   Seems its more of an issue with device and what network it wants to connect to (and may hold on to a weaker one too long).  Doesn’t seem to be a Sonos issue it just goes along with whatever network your hooked to.

You device would be the one trying to go to Wifi1 vs. 3 … I don’t see how Sonos could try and force to switch to different wifi.

 

sorry I was under impression it was 2 networks… My fault.

To me then sonos is working no matter what SSID you connect to.   Seems its more of an issue with device and what network it wants to connect to (and may hold on to a weaker one too long).  Doesn’t seem to be a Sonos issue it just goes along with whatever network your hooked to.

You device would be the one trying to go to Wifi1 vs. 3 … I don’t see how Sonos could try and force to switch to different wifi.

 

 

Thanks all for the comments.

Sonos app seems to be designed to have multiple SSID. But the setup is not really as transparent.

I have noticed that some speakers in the house do not pick the stronger network by default as we experienced some connection issues.

I had to disable one WiFi SSID to ensure that the relevant speakers connect to the relevant WiFi SSID .