Sonos advanced information

  • 18 December 2020
  • 7 replies
  • 117 views
D

Where can I learn about how Sonos operates?

I mean, in a more technical situation…

I have carried out a few installations in different commercial environments, but each one seems to present issues, especially on corporate networks.

I’m after more information on when Sonos uses its own “Sonos-net” and when it uses the building WiFi.

 

Let’s say I have a wireless Sonos unit, but a cabled Sonos unit that is a long way away, but on the same network…. will it still work? Will it work if it connects wirelessly to the network - via a cabled access point?

These are things that I can’t seem to find answers to, so wish to spend some time reading up on more technical details rather than the very basic instruction manuals that are online.

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7 replies

ratty

Where can I learn about how Sonos operates?

There are articles at http://support.sonos.com. Search for “wired” mode (SonosNet) and “wireless” mode (WiFi).

To look under the hood of the local system there are a few user-accessible diagnostics at http://IP_address_of_a_player:1400/support/review, perhaps the easiest to grasp being the Network Matrix depicting the SonosNet mesh connections.

 

I’m after more information on when Sonos uses its own “Sonos-net” and when it uses the building WiFi.

 

Let’s say I have a wireless Sonos unit, but a cabled Sonos unit that is a long way away, but on the same network…. will it still work? Will it work if it connects wirelessly to the network - via a cabled access point?

A unit will try and connect to SonosNet where there’s a wired component. If the unit can’t see a SonosNet signal, and WiFi credentials are stored in the system, it could revert to WiFi. This is “Mixed mode” operation. Assuming the wired and WiFi segments are on the same IP subnet the system should work. 

By the way, the Move only connects to WiFi. In that respect a wired system with a Move is always in “Mixed mode".

D

Ok, so by having one device “wired” doesn’t actually disable other wireless Sonos units from using the building’s WiFi and only sonosnet?

In one install, I’m having issues where Spotify keeps failing, and assumed it was because some play:1’s were too far from a wired connect, and am considering putting a stand alone boost between the connect and the play:1’s.

But could it be that they are still attempting to connect to the building WiFi rather than sonosnet?

is there a way to force a Sonos unit to ONLY use either sonosnet OR building WiFi?

ratty

Ok, so by having one device “wired” doesn’t actually disable other wireless Sonos units from using the building’s WiFi and only sonosnet?

No. What I said was “If the unit can’t see a SonosNet signal, and WiFi credentials are stored in the system, it could revert to WiFi.”

Assuming there's a viable SonosNet mesh signal a unit should always use it. 

 

In one install, I’m having issues where Spotify keeps failing, and assumed it was because some play:1’s were too far from a wired connect, and am considering putting a stand alone boost between the connect and the play:1’s.

But could it be that they are still attempting to connect to the building WiFi rather than sonosnet?

Look in About My System. If the units say WM:0 they’re on SonosNet or wired. (This is explained in the support articles I referred you to.)

 

is there a way to force a Sonos unit to ONLY use either sonosnet OR building WiFi?

If there are no WiFi credentials stored in the system it can only use SonosNet.

To force wireless units onto the building WiFi you must either not wire any units, or if some are wired you must individually disable their radios (the confusingly named “disable WiFi” controller option).

D

Ok, thanks for your help, I’ll have a good read of all the support articles.

 

One last question, does the “disable WiFi” still leave Sonosnet operative?

ratty

One last question, does the “disable WiFi” still leave Sonosnet operative?

Not in the unit in question. It disables its wireless entirely. In that sense it should have been labelled “disable connection to SonosNet”.

(Clearly one would never want to disable the wireless in a WiFi connected device.)

D

Sorry… another question… if sonosnet is used, and the devices are all relieved of the WiFi information, does each Sonos unit still require an ip address from the building network? Or is only one IP required for the one wired device?

ratty

All have individual IP addresses, issued by whatever DHCP server is on the network.

The wired Sonos devices operate as layer 2 bridges between wired and SonosNet, not as routers.

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