Question

Using Sonos without Wifi


I have my sonos currently setup on my wireless internet network and it's working fine but the signal drops when too many devices connect to the internet. I am thinking of connecting the sonos systems to a router that doesn't have any internet connection running but will be able to create a network for sonos exclusively. I am wondering if this will be possible if that router does not have any internet connection?

Please note: I am aware of Sonos Boost and what it can do to solve my problem but what I am trying to achieve is a dedicated sonos wireless network running with the help of a router without internet connection.

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

11 replies

Userlevel 1
Badge +1
Yes, it's possible. I am doing this currently and there's no dropouts, however, you're limited to the music that you own only.
As @Lyzheng implies, this seems a very limiting solution. A Boost setup would achieve virtually the same thing (although not strictly a separate network). You would benefit from the mesh network nature of SonosNet. If you have a phone controller then under your plan you would have to keep switching it between networks.

You can test how it would be by wiring one of your existing speakers to your router for an experimental period. Come back on here for a few tips on that if you decide to try it.

If it doesn't work well then it may be that you have other network issues that need to be investigated.
ishrak.imroze,

Yours is precisely a situation for which Sonos recommends 'BOOST Setup' (aka SonosNet mode):
Use a BOOST Setup if your home WiFi network is slow, unreliable or does not reach all the rooms where you want Sonos.
If you consciously want to break your network into multiple subnets then by all means use a secondary router. However attaching a BOOST to your main router would achieve what you want in terms of shifting Sonos traffic onto a different wireless channel.
Userlevel 3
Badge
Configure the secondary router in bridge mode, so it extends the existing network. Put it on a separate radio channel from your main WiFi. Then you've basically created what getting a Sonos Bridge/Boost would give you if you only have a single Sonos device. Because the AP is bridging, you still get connectivity to your Internet connection to use streaming services.
The OP talks of "sonos systems" (plural). Whilst a secondary router in bridge mode might be similar to a BOOST in the case of a few players close by, multiple players distributed over an extended area would be better off with the redundancy/extensibility of SonosNet.
Thank you so much for the response guys. Initially what I tried doing was connect one of the speakers to the router (the one with internet) and use that as a boost and create a Sonos networks. I live in Bangladesh so our ISPs don't have the best internet necessarily although mine provides a bandwidth of 4mbps. However after doing that what happened was the internet became much slower and I couldn't even stream youtube videos properly. So that wasn't really the best solution.

So I am really wondering how I can set up the system through a separate router without an internet connection. I am okay with playing songs that are only available on my local library because the spotify is not accessible through sonos in Bangladesh so online platforms are not really being used at the moment.
That would work. You don't need an internet connection so long as all the players and controllers are at the same version. The problem you'll eventually encounter is that a controller app on a phone/tablet will automatically update itself in the background when it has internet access. The next time you attach it to your secondary router it will complain that the players are at a mismatched version. It may still work for a time, with reduced features available, until you reconnect the secondary router to the internet and update the firmware for the whole system.
OK. So the answer, as @Lyzheng suggests, is yes you can. Your second router may need to be linked to the internet temporarily for its setup, but once it is producing a LAN that is all you need for local music. Once the second router is working (but not connected to the internet) the easiest way to move your system across to the new router would probably be to temporarily wire one speaker to the internet-connected router, get everything working on SonosNet, then move the wired speaker to the new router (wired again). Then if you want to go completely wireless, go through Wireless Setup in the app, reset (ie delete) the credentials from the original router and enter the new credentials.

BUT. If you are only playing local content through Sonos it can't slow the internet when you attach a Sonos speaker to the router. This is all about what your router's LAN can cope with this side of the router. It may be that it can't cope with too many devices and traffic...but is that because you actually have interference issues or your LAN is underperforming in some other way?

When you wired your speaker, did you keep it at least three feet from the router? Did you make sure that the router and Sonos were on widely separated channels? If not, it might be worth doing the experiment again.

But if need be, Sonos can operate without an internet connection, it just needs a wifi LAN.
Actually, a Sonos doesn't need a persistent WiFi if it's in SonosNet mode. An Android needs WiFi to connect initially but thereafter could attach to SonosNet. WiFi could be turned off. Of course CRx00 controllers can only connect to SonosNet.
ishrak.imroze,

Yours is precisely a situation for which Sonos recommends 'BOOST Setup' (aka SonosNet mode):
Use a BOOST Setup if your home WiFi network is slow, unreliable or does not reach all the rooms where you want Sonos.
If you consciously want to break your network into multiple subnets then by all means use a secondary router. However attaching a BOOST to your main router would achieve what you want in terms of shifting Sonos traffic onto a different wireless channel.


We have limited internet only 2.5 download speed, i want to know if the above solution would mean the sonos would not use the internet but would use the signal produced by the router (non internet) signal only. I realise this would limit our music to saved playlists. Is there a sonos product that we could plug in our music library thus voiding the need for internet based music?
Can you recommend a router for us to use without internet to link 4 play 1s? We are moving to a stone built rural property with no internet and 30 to 50 cm walls.