Sonos Net on new app (July 2024), how do I switch? Please chime in with solutions, geeks et al.

Hi Bruce ( @Airgetlam ) and thanks much for taking the time.

Having bookmarked this post I will certainly give your guidance a shot. I certainly meant Sonos One in fast-typing mode ;)

A Move One (stationed in kitchen unless we are in the backyard) is mostly what I am having trouble with, but then also a Sonos One (based in a centrally located bathroom). It is an old one level house so for the most not an open space, yet straight lines three halls without other obstructions than walls. 

If SonosNet does not improve connectivity for those two after the suggested reboot, I may switch Sonos system from AT&T fiber-optic wi-fi to an Eero mesh wi-fi, Eero riding on AT&T obviously ...for the wi-fi mesh extenders spread throughout the property.

Just FYI, speed tests at 2.15 pm

• from distant corner to gateway: 202 dl, 74.2 ul
• in room where gateway is: 367 dl, 373 ul
• in bathroom (sonos one): 212 dl, 117 ul
• in kitchen (sonos move 1st gent, stationed): *350 dl, 252 ul 
• in backyard (sonos move 1st gent, sample distant point): *117 dl, 18.5 ul
  • * signal drops at both points, more so at distant point.
    
     

The Move won’t ever connect to SonosNet, it isn’t built to do so. It will only connect to your standard WiFi signal, so I’d definitely be looking at a duplicate IP issue resolving by that powering off / rebooting the router process.

In the past, I’ve not been pleased with the DSL modem/router combo that AT&T provided, I ended up using it as just the modem, and attached my own router to it. That was years ago, but I’ve had similar issues with Spectrum supplied devices. I guess I’m always a bit nervous about the bean counters cutting to the bone in these devices to save a penny on each, I tend to prefer my own WiFi device that I’ve sourced. Your mileage may vary, I can’t speak to AT&T’s current equipment. 

Note that SonosNet is a relatively ‘slow’ 2.4Ghz signal, there just isn’t that much bandwidth necessary to support streaming music. And you’d need several rooms of high def playing simultaneously to flood it. And Sonos is moving away from SonosNet, as modern routers are much more capable of handling the signal in general, than when the BRIDGE/ BOOST were originally released. 

In any case, I suspect you have the info you need to move forward, but remember, you can always call Sonos Support directly to discuss any further issues. All of the reps I’ve dealt with have been knowledgeable and responsive, although they might have been challenged by my issues if they ran into me on day one. I just remember that not everyone has the same experience I do, and figure things out as needed. 

Thanks again @Airgetlam 

I sure have a useful reference with your input and as you indicate, there is also Sonos tech support; I just hear that current waits are 30 min +. Alos, the last time I talked to them I was told to discard my -back then- recently acquired T-Mobile Wireless 5G gateway, which was upsetting, yet AT&T fiber optic got a new and happier client. 

Adding to your point, the gateway (modem/router) supplied by AT&T almost two years ago is:
https://www.att.com/support/article/u-verse-high-speed-internet/000092497

https://www.manualslib.com/manual/3154842/Nokia-Ont-Bgw320-505.html

In my house it has worked fine 95%+ of the time so far. I do run a soft reboot from SmartHome app-just about-once a week/end. 

As you can see, others do -as you did- disable router and plug in their own, for, where there is a video tutorial there is an audience.  

Additional insight request: I may disconnect one beam from router and go ‘all wi-fi’ as soon as I update an Eero mesh system (while running both wi-fi networks, as that has not caused trouble so far). I do wonder, if I was to keep the beam plugged to router, if before recycling our two boosts, I could use them connecting a seldom-used old laptop that finds it difficult to jump on our wi-fi 🙃 to one of their ethernet ports ...I know it is not intended to be used that way, but it’s a two-adult household so other than one TV stream and one audio stream, plus mobiles, there’s not much competition for wi-fi internally. Sad to recycle those “as new”-old-boosts without giving them further use
...it puts a little stain on the $ono$ brand personally, and I have been a fan and organic brand ambassador for long.

The challenge that you may run in to if using a Sonos Ethernet port for any thing other than Sonos is that it is a 10/100 port, and not a gigabit port. So extremely slow.

The Sonos BOOSTs are not designed as a network extender. You could (very likely, I’d expect) see difficulties in use as such. I’d much rather get a real Ethernet cable to use, and extend that back to either a mesh puck, or the router device itself. 

Good reasoning @Airgetlam . Sold! 

Actually, we have an extra old Eero unit for that, thanks for ‘unstucking’ my mind on that task. 

Those boosts look brand new I hate having to recycle them, however, most of the current discourse in this community points at that. Sonos could throw in a lil’ gift certificate or additional upgrade discount for recycled boosts. 

Hard sell, I’d think, to the accountants / investors. A lot of the original BRIDGEs were bundled for free in the early days, and then used to get discounts on the replacement BOOST. At least I’m guessing. There just isn’t enough value in doing so, especially as many folks are still using them for their intended purpose. But who knows, I don’t make decisions for Sonos, maybe at some point they’ll change their current stance. I have a couple myself. 

A month later.  Hi @Airgetlam 
It all works better now, using an Eero Pro 6E. I disabled wi-fi from AT&T gateway and terminated SonosNet -the two old Boosts are still looking like new and sadly at the top of the pre-recycle pile (what a waste). The worst SNR two speakers get is 49 dB (most others, 55, 79, 84 dB). 

New thoughts:

Sonos won’t work on wi-fi 6 ha?

...and no benefits to Thread and Zigbee in terms of Sonos ha? Eero Pro 6E works as a smart home hub.

Since Eero used a single SSID, I assume the only way to assure Sonos devices are getting 5 GHz instead of 2.4 GHz is placement of each speaker in the “narrower range” of 5 GHz?  

 

I had to recycle a perfectly functional older cellphone because the towers stopped supporting it.

Back in the days before consumer mesh networks became common I would use SonosNet to support devices such as wired printers and thermostats. At that time my SONOS system was small. Actual throughput was on the order of 10Mbps, sometimes a little higher. Today, even cheap, consumer grade mesh networks will perform much better than that.

Most Sonos devices were designed and manufactured long before WiFi 6 was a gleam in an engineer’s eye. No, they won’t ‘work’ with WiFi 6, unless you have backwards compatibility turned on on the router.