Trending Lyricist I

Problems finding Sonos system when using powerlink adaptor to extend home network

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My kitchen is a wifi blackspot and so I have used a TP-LINK AV200 power-line adaptor to extend the range of my wifi to that room. So I in effect have two wifi access points (for present purposes, lets call them HomeNet and HomeNet-TPL). My kitchen is the room we use the most and the Sonos Play 5 we have there connects to HomeNet-TPL. At least, I assume it does since they are next to each other and HomeNet doesn’t normally reach the kitchen. The Sonos Bridge connects by Ethernet cable to the Homenet Router. The problem is that my iPhone App doesn’t always find my Sonos Network when it connects to HomeNet-TPL (as it normally does when I am in the kitchen) and so I cannot control Sonos. I normally fix this by walking towards the HomeNet Router and then when my iPhone connects to that part of my network it then finds Sonos. However, this is an intermitted problem. Sometimes, my iPhone app does succeed in finding Sonos when it connects to HomeNet-TPL. Any ideas to avoid this annoying problem? It is embarrassing when I have friends around and show off my Sonos system and then my controller app can’t connect! They aren’t impressed.

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User127480

Lyricist II

Just to reiterate a previous entry, we get around this by switching the device (iPad) wifi off and back on, then clicking "renew lease" each day. It's a clunky solution but at least it works (for as long as you keep the device in range). Fully agree with the comments above however, some of us find a power line adaptor is the best/only solution to extend the wifi range in our houses, so it would be good if Sonos took a little time to sort this out.

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Graham_37

Lyricist II

Thank you all for the input. I am reluctant to replace the extender as it works so well for everything apart from Sonos.

User127.. Your solution might the one i use for now and hope that Sonos make an effort to solve the issue in future, so thanks!

The problem is we're all invested now. If i had know this up front i might have thought twice about sinking almost £1000 into the system. It should be written very clearly on the box/website etc that Sonos does not work with powerline extenders, which i am sure is a common setup.

I think Sonos need to to be more proactive or they will see their market share dwindle as new contenders come into the multi room streaming space, Panasonic, Denon etc...

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Graham_37

Lyricist II

Hi everyone,

Further to User127..'s suggestion to renew the lease, it transpires that turning aeroplane mode on then off does the same thing as the steps mentioned above. I have tried this a few times and it has worked every time.

Whilst still not perfect, it makes connecting much less clunky.

Hope thats helpful, let me know how you get on with this.

PS a SONOS technician pointed this out to me..

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User127480

Lyricist II

Cheers Graham, seems to work for us too.

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TheManOnTheBusAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Is it possible to connect the iOS controller to the SonosNet? Which would be a neat way of possibly getting it to work. I assume not since its not been mentioned, but if SonosNet is a separate mesh network, shouldn't it be possible to leverage its coverage for non Sonos devices?

Another solution I am thinking off is to hire wire an Ethernet cable into the location I currently have a PowerLine adaptor. I assume that will work (ie the iOS device can connect to Sonos through an appropriate ACcess Point). Anyone any experience of tat?

Thanks

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Graham_37

Lyricist II

I'm afraid I don't know anything about connecting to sonosnet. Sonos support recommended I set up a wireless access point, which would involve hardwiring an Ethernet cable from the primary router to the access point. Whilst I'm pretty sure this would solve the issue, I am not 100% so i would seek further clarification from sonos. I thought about doing this myself but I'm happy with the workaround discussed above for now. In fact, my girlfriend found an even slicker way of doing it if you re using an iPhone or iPad. Once you are in sonos app and it doesn't find your system, instead of hitting home and then going into settings to toggle aeroplane mode, simply swipe up at the bottom of the screen to bring up the shortcut menu thing. Don't know the official name for this menu but it has options to turn wi fi on and off and also aeroplane mode on and off. Toggling either of these makes the sonos app connect in the background without even leaving the sonos app. Nice one Chloe! Hope it's helpful

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TheManOnTheBusAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

Thanks, Graham and Chloe. The aeroplane mode thing is indeed neat. Crap of Sonos not to fix it in their software though. (Not sure who set this problem to SOLVED either! Its not solved, we are all making do with a crap "feature".)

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Graham_7

Lyricist II

I've just bought a TP-Link Powerline Wi-Fi extender and stumbled into this issue. 1 year on from the original thread being started and still Sonos has not resolved the issue.

Nevermind, they have at least changed the controller app a few times and made it less user friendly instead. Go Sonos, you have your priorities just right! 😉

ratty

I've just bought a TP-Link Powerline Wi-Fi extender and stumbled into this issue. 1 year on from the original thread being started and still Sonos has not resolved the issue.

Resolved what issue? Sonos has always been clear that Powerline connections aren't officially supported, though some people get good results nevertheless.

For streaming purposes Powerline has highly variable available bandwidth, and some models block broadcast traffic making it impossible for a controller to discover the Players. Neither are Sonos' fault.

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Graham_7

Lyricist II

It may not be the fault of Sonos, however updated software that allows this configuration to work would be greatly appreciated. The more configurations supported would allow more units to be sold. That should be the carrot for Sonos to add this "feature".

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