SONOS and STARLINK Mesh Challenges - Anyone figure it out?

T

Hi there, I’ve seen a thread that covers off my challenge - but it was started years ago, and regardless, never seems to have been resolved.   Given the adoption of Starlink as an ISP, it might be time to revisit.

SITUATION:  I’m using the Starlink Mesh - 2 nodes - router and mesh (yes I’ve seen some challenges using Starlink with SONOS, but I’ve run into no problem- and generally it works ‘great’), but when I try to tie SONOS units together ‘play everywhere’ or attempt to join in units in other parts of the house - being serviced but the mesh node - I'm presented with the “Wireless range extender” error.   Those units connected to the mesh node do not play.  

I live in a large house, with plaster and lathe walls, and NO consumer router can provide enough coverage - hence the mesh.  I did previously use the Google Mesh - but with the change in ISP, would prefer just to use the OEM router and mesh system.  

QUESTION: Does anyone know if there’s a workaround/solution to this (other than using cables to all units - why would I buy SONOS if I had to do that)?  

I’d take any suggestions - and if I need to buy a new Mesh - irks me, as it’s silly,  but I will.   

 

 

 

 

24 replies

Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

Hi @Tmsmith 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

Ultimately, Starlink is unsupported by Sonos as it relies upon a wireless source of internet connection.

However, that doesn’t describe the issue you and people in other threads seem to have with the system - it seems to be more about compatibility with the router functionality. Therefore, in principle, you could connect a second router (or a Mesh system) to the Starlink router and run the entire network off that second router. This solution would still rely on a wireless internet connection, and as such, is still unsupported by Sonos, but in theory at least, it should work. Hopefully, the internet connection will be reliable enough for operation.

In this case, it would be important not to put the secondary router/mesh into Bridge mode, though you’d probably want to disable the DHCP server on the Starlink router and manually set an IP for the secondary router in the secondary router’s “Internet” settings.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Airgetlam

The challenge there, unfortunately, is that the StarLink ‘router’ doesn’t offer an Ethernet cable connection. 

I have limited knowledge here, though. The system I deal with is all connected to a single ‘node’, and not their mesh / extender system, which is why I’ve not replied. This system does work reliably while connected via Wi-Fi to the main ‘node’, however.

One of the things I’ve not yet gotten is access to the ‘network’ to see if there is any way to assign reserved IP addresses, but all my googling suggests not. Fortunately, around the same time as I was asked to investigate, the entire island where this system is lost power, so everything got a new IP address automatically.

The only thing I can think of, to connect a secondary router to their system, is to run a travel router, which would connect to the StarLink’s signal, and provide a connection that could be fed to a secondary network on which the Sonos resides. 

Not a terribly satisfactory solution. I am somewhat constantly frustrated by Elon Musk’s continual control issues, and not providing an Ethernet port on the StarLink system, and also not allowing CarPlay on my car. The assumption that ‘they know better’ is irritating. May be great for some percentage of users, but just doesn’t work well for my needs. 

Bruce
Corry P
Userlevel 7
Badge +18

The challenge there, unfortunately, is that the StarLink ‘router’ doesn’t offer an Ethernet cable connection.  

Ouch!

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Many years ago I built a cobbled together setup for some folks that used a WiFi router as a wireless client onto a restricted WiFi LAN device. That connected to a normal WiFi router over Ethernet that serviced his local computers both wired and WiFi connections..

I’d sure try a travel router as my first option but with a bit of creativity and third party firmware you can accomplish stuff the manufacturer of the restricted device is hoping to prevent.

T

I’ve had the same problem as Tmsmith.  Always had issues with Sonos but the more speakers you have the harder it is to get away from the system. 
The biggest issue is when you add Starlink mesh nodes. Everything shuts down, constant restarts and speakers no longer recognizing the network. So frustrating. 
I am thinking of trying the Ethernet adapter for Starlink and plug it into my old Sonos bridge. 

Has anybody tried something like this?

Airgetlam

I haven’t, but would think that putting all Sonos units on the same SonosNet sub-mesh should work. Assuming that adapter they sell is connecting to the base sub mesh of the StarLink. 

Bruce
T

I haven’t, but would think that putting all Sonos units on the same SonosNet sub-mesh should work. Assuming that adapter they sell is connecting to the base sub mesh of the StarLink. 


Exactly. 

Clearly there is an issue with the mesh nodes talking back and forth.  

Airgetlam

It’s not entirely ‘clear’ to me, I’ve not looked or had access to a system with repeaters to see if they do indeed use differing subnets, but it seems a very likely explanation. I’ll be interested to hear how it works for you. 

Bruce
T

One more question.  
If trying my bridge doesn’t work I would try using my own router with Ethernet adapter. If that’s the case then would I have to switch to the new router wifi every time I wanted to use sonos?

buzz

Attempting to use BRIDGE at this point is risky because the are essentially past end of life. Their wireless performance is at best fair, compared to modern units, and the power supply has a bad history. Wiring a player or BOOST is a better idea. If you can wire a player, it will be as effective as a BOOST at that location.

Yes, SONOS players must be on the same subnet as the controller.

T

I meant boost when I said bridge. Lol. Thanks for the response. 
Wiring up the boost this weekend. 
 

When you say wire up a player?  What do you mean “player”. A speaker?

 

Thanks

Airgetlam

I absolutely would not use a BRIDGE, under any circumstances. As suggested by @buzz , if I had to, on an S1 system, I would use a BOOST. 

Bruce
buzz

“Player”, “Speaker”, they are all the same in this context. Examples of “player” would be ZP80, ZP90, CONNECT, and PORT. A BOOST is simply a SONOS unit with the audio section removed in order to reduce cost.

T

That is good to know. 
So I can just use the speaker I already have in the room and connect it to my Ethernet cable and get the same result correct?

Sorry. Im a lil new to this system. 
 

 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

Right, you can replace a Bridge or Boost by wiring select Sonos devices/speakers to Ethernet.

Airgetlam

The actual challenge isn’t connecting the Ethernet cable to the Sonos, but to StarLink ;)

Bruce
T

Right. 
So the adapter Starlink sells should allow me to do that as I understand. 

Airgetlam

I’d agree…and am anxious for you to be a test case for me :). 

Bruce
T

I’ll report back. 

Airgetlam

Honestly, my temptation would be to run a ‘normal’ router off that connection, and yank all Wi-Fi connection from the StarLink, making it just a ‘modem’. I’ve still not seen a way that I can get in to StarLink and assign reserved IP addresses. While I often agree with ‘simple is better’, it doesn’t always serve my particular needs. 

Bruce
K

Has anybody found a solution for this besides using a Starlink Ethernet adapter to a different brand of mesh network?  I swear that when I first got Starlink mesh, all of my Sonos stuff worked for like 6 months.  But, since one of the two systems (being Sonos or Starlink) ran some update, it’s been unusable.  I feel like if there were a way to lock each Sonos product to a particular Starlink mesh node, it might be stable, but as it sits right now, I really can’t group Sonos units together.  

Back in the day, I had a network extender and I replaced that with a mesh network at the specific recommendation of Sonos just to make their products work more smoothly.  That worked for a while, even when I updated to a Starlink mesh network, but only for a few months.

Since Sonos won’t support my system (because it’s Starlink) and Starlink doesn’t have tech support, I really don’t know what else to do.  Again, I swear all this hardware worked together for months, so I’m hoping there’s some way to configure it to do that again.

 

T

It’s been a few months and I’ve run the boost and a separate speaker or “player” off the Starlink router with an ether net cord. 
I’m not sure if the boost works better or a speaker.  Either way there were still constant issues. Some speakers would play some wouldn’t.  Selecting speakers in the app would say not in range then start playing without selecting them to.  I’m not sure what to do now.  The whole point is to be able to play music through the whole house not just one room. 

I think a separate router is my next move. 

Sometimes everything works flawlessly other times I wanna throw it in the yard.  My wife has pretty much given up on the system through wireless and just uses the Bluetooth on the Move speaker or the Alexa. 

RadioActiveLamb
Badge

I’m running into this problem that you are all describing. My configuration has the ethernet adapter near the router where I run it into a switch for all the devices on my desk. I don’t have it running to any Sonos device, since there aren’t any near the router connected to Dishy. I have another Starlink router in “mesh” mode across the house. As a result, I cannot group these speakers together, even though there’s a single DHCP scope. As mentioned by someone earlier, this configuration used to work great until something got updated. Sonos/app/Starlink - I don’t know what. I still have my old Google Wifi mesh system, which doesn’t exhibit this problem. Question for those of you who have set this up - if I add the Google Wifi with a different SSID just for Sonos speakers, is there any trouble controlling these speakers from the Starlink SSID? I’m concerned with the subnets not having any connectivity with each other, but both having Internet access.

S

The Starlink mesh nodes aren't the best.   I'm using eeros and far fewer issues.  The odd glitch during setup, but otherwise have been a really stable reliable product   They have ethernet ports so you can have a wired backhaul.

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