Verizon FIOS and SONOS interference


I recently installed Verizon FIOS Gigabit Internet service. The FIOS diagnostic app shows that the wifi system is being slowed down by the SONOS network running on an outdated wifi protocol. I tried changing the channel on the 2.4 Gig band to i, 6 or 11 as I had seen on another forum but it did not help.

I have also heard that one can set up the SONOS network on a separate wifi network, but I don’t know how to use the SONOS app since all my devices are on the main home wifi network.

Thanks for any ideas!

 

I am using 2 SONOS Play 5 Gen 1 and 1 Play 5 Gen 1.


19 replies

I wouldn’t personally take the word of one existing owner over that of the Sonos community, who are all here to help. Selling second hand tech is always sold ‘at a loss’ so not sure how that’s relevant.

Boosts work well, on S1 and S2.

it appears to me you have 3 choices.

1. Buy a boost - follow Sonos instructions to set up for your system -  10 minutes tops.

2 wire a speaker to the hub - 2 minutes plus time to move speaker!

3 Ditch Sonos - at a loss. Actually there is a market for secondhand Sonos. Unlike most tech I see abandoned at our local recycling centre. 
I hope that helps.

Then don’t. As previously suggested, wire one speaker to your router. It functions the same as the BOOST. 

I could buy a Boost, but an existing owner selling his said it didn’t work and is trying to sell his for a loss. 

If the real problem is the outdated Gen 1 tech why not say so? An earlier commenter also suggested that Gen 1 was the problem.

Not really interested in throwing more money at this problem. 

Seems too complicated I’m afraid - Wi-Fi interference (which channels vs. which band/ protocol), maybe electrical interference, S1 vs. S2, which network…. 3 ft away from router but not an extender, Boost can support both S1 and S2 or maybe only S1 which is no longer supported and interferes with current WiFi…. 

Verizon is advising I disconnect Sonos - maybe that’s the right answer? 

 

Yes. Get rid of Sonos.  Because otherwise you'll be bugging us with questions, and quite frankly, we'd rather help someone who actually wants help.

Or you could buy a Boost, install it, and go on your merry way.  It's just not as complicated as you seem to wish to make it.

Nope. Nothing I’ve suggested is even remotely difficult, just would take a few minutes to do. I’d hand this over to my nephew to do, or, if my mother was still alive, over to her. Just needs a bit of care. The more you think about it, the more complex it seems, but it really isn’t. 

Seems too complicated I’m afraid - Wi-Fi interference (which channels vs. which band/ protocol), maybe electrical interference, S1 vs. S2, which network…. 3 ft away from router but not an extender, Boost can support both S1 and S2 or maybe only S1 which is no longer supported and interferes with current WiFi…. 

Verizon is advising I disconnect Sonos - maybe that’s the right answer? 

Sorry, I’m trying to understand what you’re trying to do here. 

My understanding was that you were trying to keep the three speakers on S1, yet not use your own wifi signal. Adding a BOOST, removing the wifi information from your controller, and making sure that the BOOST is using a SonosNet channel that is at least 5 channels away from your Verizon router would be the best solution. 

In this solution, the Sonos is no longer connected to your wifi (but still connected to your router, just using the SonosNet from the BOOST), and as long as the two channels are separated by 5 channels, would not interfere. There’s always electrical interference if you put a powered device next to a wifi device, but I kind of assuming that your BOOST would be at least 3 feet from your router. 

If my understanding ins’t correct, please let us know. 

If I downgrade it to S1, doesn’t that defeat the purpose of avoiding the interference with the FIOS system? Sorry if I am slow to understand my options.

At the moment it seems the choices are (a) keep the more modern Gen 2 speaker using the S1 app, and sell the old Gen 1’s; (b)  just sell the whole SONOS setup and move on.

The BOOST can run either S1 or S2, but not both at the same time. When purchased, I think it comes with S2, you just need to “downgrade” it to use S1. 

I just saw somebody selling a new Boost because “it doesn’t work with the S1 system.” 
If that’s true it won’t help me since my Gen 1 Play 5 speakers can only use S1.

In an earlier time, indeed even now, passive speakers would be easily expected to last 16ish years. But Gen 1s are NOT passive!  It is in many ways remarkable that 2007 tech is still viable, and supported by Sonos. Maybe the Eras will still be around in 2039, who knows! 😊

Thanks!

Can I connect one to a Wi-Fi extender? The router is not near any of my speakers.

 

No.  Buy a Boost and connect that to your router.  

Would a Boost do the same thing?

Can I connect one to a Wi-Fi extender? The router is not near any of my speakers.

I have 2 Play 5 Gen 1 set up as a stereo pair, and one Play 5 Gen 2 in another room. They had been working well but on the same S1 system but the Fios diagnostic app notified me of the Sonos system slowing down my wifi. I only used the S1 app since it doesn’t support the Gen 1 Play 5 units.

 

The Play:5 Gen 1 predates your modern WiFi router by a over decade and a half.  Of course the Fios diagnostic is going to say it is slowing down the WiFi, it’s running on a standard from 2007!  As was stated, the only way to get your old equipment off of your modern WiFi is to wire one of them or a Boost to an Ethernet port on your router.  

Ah, your earlier post had you with all gen 1 PLAY:5s, but it’s not significant, since you’re using S1 for all three devices. Follow the instructions in my last post, you should be able to remove them all from your wifi network per se. Just remember to go in and remove the wifi information in the controller as well, and it will all work on SonosNet for you.

There’s a very slight possibility that in order to get them to switch from Wifi to a wired (SonosNet) situation, you may need to power cycle them. Worth reading the wired and wireless modes FAQ.

I have 2 Play 5 Gen 1 set up as a stereo pair, and one Play 5 Gen 2 in another room. They had been working well but on the same S1 system but the Fios diagnostic app notified me of the Sonos system slowing down my wifi. I only used the S1 app since it doesn’t support the Gen 1 Play 5 units.

So you have 3 PLAY:5 gen 1s? That means you’re using S1 since they won’t connect to S2 at all. That would be reserved for the PLAY:5 gen 2 or the Sonos Fives.

The way to run SonosNet, the Sonos network, is to connect one of those speakers to your router with an ethernet cable. Barring the ability to connect one of the speakers, you could use a Sonos BOOST to do the same functionality , but why pay for one if you can use one of your speakers? I would not recommend the use of the Sonos BRIDGE at this point, it’s just too old tech, and prone to power supply issues at this age.

This removes the Sonos from your wifi connection, and you likely won’t see that error any longer.

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