Answered

IP Addresses & their effect on SONOS reliability

  • 28 May 2018
  • 7 replies
  • 2569 views
W
I have the following setup.
Boost - wired to ASUS router
2x play 1 Living
2x play 3 Living
1x play 5 Living
2x play 3 Pool balcony
2x play 1 with SUB - Whiskey Room
Soundbar + 2x play1 surrounds - Balcony
1x play 1 Bathroom
1x play 1 Bedroom

Recently the system has been dropping out. Symtom 1 is speakers cycling off room by room then cycling back on room by room.

Symptom 2 is skipping (especially when using spotify)

I have been through a lot of troubleshooting with SONOS support and have tried various channel configurations. I have removed the WIFI settings from SONOS but the issue persists.

I have come to wonder whether DCHP may be a cause (noting that the BOOST itself has a DCHP (auto assigned) IP address. So do TWO other speakers which are close enough to plug in to the router.

To try to help with the issue I have just gone and assigned static IP addresses to all the SONOS units that are currently DCHP.
Have any of you tried this? and, does anyone have any other suggestions?
icon

Best answer by UKMedia 28 May 2018, 10:53

View original
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.

7 replies

UKMedia
Userlevel 7
Badge +20
Hi

Personally, I use reserved IP addresses for all of my Sonos devices at the upper end of my DCHP range. (192.168.0.200 upwards) This reduces the possibility of duplicate IP addresses causing issues with Sonos devices.
Remember: Sometimes Red Wine helps :)
MikeV
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
I also use reserved IP addresses for my Sonos devices.
The S in IOT stands for Security.
controlav
Userlevel 7
Badge +23
I have never had to use a fixed or reserved IP address for my Sonos gear in the last decade. However I did need to upgrade my original Frontier router, as once the total number of devices got over around 40 everything got very unreliable (revealed with net packet monitoring). Turns out the NAT table was not large enough, so I upgraded to a newer Frontier router, with a much larger NAT table, and its been rock solid ever since.

It also helps if your router keeps giving the same IP address across router reboots. Older routers with insufficient storage used to give new addresses on every reboot, but storage is cheap nowadays so if your router can't do this, get another one.

TL;DR - router quality is very important. And quality means more than just "strong signal" and "tcp port 80" which is what some posters seem to think.
Author of the leading independent Sonos app for Windows, the only Sonos app for Xbox, and a Sonos app for iOS
Ken_Griffiths
I have reserved all my Sonos products IP addresses in my main routers DHCP Reservation Table. I personally chose to set them high-up in the subnet out the way of any assigned addresses starting at 192.xx.xx.200

I have removed/reset the WiFi credentials from the Sonos App 'Advanced Settings/Wireless Setup', as I choose run all my products on SonosNet.

I use a Sonos Boost that is cabled to my router, but have positioned it about 2 meters away from the router and it is located reasonably central to my Sonos Rooms.

I do not use any WiFi extenders, repeaters or powerline adapters.

Most of my neighbours have their routers on WiFi Channel 6. My own router 2.4ghz band is set to Channel 11 and so I have set my SonosNet to use Channel 1.

U.K. Dect home cordless phones do not use the 2.4ghz band, like they do in the U.S; but instead they use the 1.88ghz to 1.9ghz frequency, however I still choose to keep them well away from my speakers.

I haven’t had a WiFi signal problem for some years ... (touch wood !). I've never had a problem with the Sonos (frequent) updates either.

My current chosen setup decisions, is mostly through receiving the 'sound advice' from many of the long term-members of this community, but I also appreciate that every home is entirely different and some users have other issues like thick stone walls and huge beams etc. I guess the best thing there is to simply 'cable it'... that’s once you have exhausted everything else that you can think of.
MikeV
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
Off-topic for a moment...
U.K. Dect home cordless phones do not use the 2.4ghz band, like they do in the U.S; but instead they use the 1.88ghz to 1.9ghz frequency, however I still choose to keep them well away from my speakers.
US DECT phones don't use 2.4 GHz either. There are some older cordless phones that do use 2.4 GHz, but they're not DECT. This Wikipedia Article on DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) includes the frequency ranges for DECT devices in various countries.

And back on-topic... another thing about using reserved IP addresses is that if you can pre-set up a new router (connect one computer to the router), you can set up the same IP address range and DHCP reservations... then you can change routers and your Sonos system would be none the wiser (except maybe if you use WiFi to connect your Sonos system to the internet).
The S in IOT stands for Security.
ratty
another thing about using reserved IP addresses is that if you can pre-set up a new router (connect one computer to the router), you can set up the same IP address range and DHCP reservations... then you can change routers and your Sonos system would be none the wiser
Or simply run a separate DHCP (and possibly also DNS) server. Then you can swap routers to your heart's content, obviously ensuring that the gateway address is set consistently.
Ken_Griffiths
Thanks for that Mike V. I was perhaps misled by this website then over the U.S. Dect frequencies. I use Panasonic for my home phones.

http://eng.faq.panasonic.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/11025/~/dect-phone-frequency-information.

Anyhow good advice from both you and Ratty and I will do something about those things in the coming months to ensure that swapping my router is as easy as it can get.

Thanks very much indeed.
Terms & ConditionsCookie settings