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SonosNet vs WiFi

  • 5 June 2023
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M
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I’m sure this topic has been covered a number of times. However, everyone’s setup is different….

 

I have several WiFi access points (UniFi) in my home between indoors and outdoors. I also run both S1 and S2. I’m guessing that with the number of AP’s that I have, it may be best to run Sonos on WiFi so that I don’t have 2 additional networks competing for the same 1, 6, and 11 channels…..correct? While the AP’s are physically spread across my home and yard, I can set the AP on one side to channel 1 and the AP on the other side also to channel 1 and they won’t clash. However, with Sonos being meshed across the whole house and yard….I expect it would interfere with any AP that’s always on the same channel.

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Best answer by Corry P 8 June 2023, 15:52

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5 replies

Airgetlam

Why not try, and see?

Sonos does want all devices to be on the same subnet. 

And SonosNet is locked to 1, 6 or 11, there are no other options, if you go that route. 

Bruce
buzz

Experiment with the channel assignments. The S1 players will use 1, 6, or 11. The newer players are more agile and may use 5GHz, if they are configured for WiFi. If you have only a few players, both S1and S2 could probably operate on the same channel.

Conventional wisdom would be separate SonosNet and WiFi channels for S1, S2, and WiFi. If all of your SONOS units are wired, their channel assignments don’t matter much. For a large property with all of the wireless SONOS players inside, I’d be tempted to consider inside and outside as separate coverage areas for the more distant access points. In this case reusing a channel in the distance won’t have much impact in the house. In any case, don’t allow Ubiquiti to automatically assign wireless channels.

You can access the Network Matrix at http://[player IP address]:1400/support/review. Red cells indicate potential issues. Unfortunately, the newest players don’t post data here. Note that this is a static view. Refresh the page to view current data.

M
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I’m not sure how the ‘best answer’ came close to answering my question. I have several wireless AP’s across my property. The 2.4 GHz radios are all using 1, 6, and 11. They are assigned in a way so they don’t interfere with each other. Then I have SonosNet being used by both my S1 and S2 system...also using 1, 6, or 11. I’m trying to minimize interference, so my question is whether I should use WiFi with Sonos so that I don’t have two additional WiFi networks competing with the 1, 6, and 11 channels. 

 

For example, my S2 devices are spread all across the inside and outside of my house. SonosNet will form its own mesh network and I see it competing in some spaces where the wireless AP’s are using the same channels.

 

I ended up switching both the S1 and S2 over to WiFi. From memory, my experience in the past was not always great. Sonos seemed to work well when I was playing music from one device. However, when I had grouped devices it would frequently play part of a song and then skip to the next song….and do this repeatedly. It’s annoying. Hopefully I’ll have a better experience this time.

Corry P
Userlevel 7
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Hi @MichaelBenton 

I’m not sure how the ‘best answer’ came close to answering my question.

That was me - I’ve unmarked it. Ultimately, there’s no universal answer - do what works best for you.

I have several wireless AP’s across my property. The 2.4 GHz radios are all using 1, 6, and 11. They are assigned in a way so they don’t interfere with each other. Then I have SonosNet being used by both my S1 and S2 system...also using 1, 6, or 11. I’m trying to minimize interference, so my question is whether I should use WiFi with Sonos so that I don’t have two additional WiFi networks competing with the 1, 6, and 11 channels.

It makes sense, but only if you get acceptable performance when doing so.

I recommend taking the following steps:

  1. Log into the UniFi controller.

  2. In the Settings tab, click WiFi

  3. Click WiFi under the Settings page

  4. Click on the network SSID. Note: if there are multiple SSIDs that the players and controllers connect to, the same will need to be done for each SSID. image.png

  5. Scroll down to Advanced Configuration and set it to Manual

  6. Scroll down to Multicast Management and click on Show Options image.png

  7. Disable the following options by unchecking the Enable option:

    • Multicast and Broadcast Control (blocks all multicast and broadcast for non-listed devices).

    • Multicast Enhancement (converts multicast to unicast when possible).

    • Client Device Isolation (prevents wireless client on the same AP from communicating with each other).

    • Proxy ARP (converts broadcast to unicast when possible). image.png

  8. Click on the Apply Changes button at the bottom of the page.

  9. Once completed, allow up to a minute for the AP to provision (apply the settings) and restore online connection, then proceed to rebooting or regrouping the Sonos Players.

 

For example, my S2 devices are spread all across the inside and outside of my house. SonosNet will form its own mesh network and I see it competing in some spaces where the wireless AP’s are using the same channels.

I’d certainly recommend only using channels 1, 6 or 11 as they are the only ones that do not overlap. Using overlapping channels is worse than using the same channel, so please avoid all others - if you can get your neighbours to do the same, all the better. Having S1 on one channel, S2 on another and WiFi on the third would certainly make a lot of sense if SonosNet is chosen for both systems.

I ended up switching both the S1 and S2 over to WiFi. From memory, my experience in the past was not always great. Sonos seemed to work well when I was playing music from one device. However, when I had grouped devices it would frequently play part of a song and then skip to the next song….and do this repeatedly. It’s annoying. Hopefully I’ll have a better experience this time.

Following the steps above should ensure that it is indeed better this time - your UniFi system should be more than capable of being the backbone of both systems.

I hope this helps.

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." - Albert Einstein
M
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I had all of these disabled except for ‘Multicast Enhancement’. I just made the change….

Thank you for your feedback.

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