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WiFi vs Hardwired on S2 with two Connects


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So I have one Connect (Theater) hardwired to the network. My second Connect (Bedroom) is not hardwired. I had a few drop outs of the second Connect so I added my WiFi to the Networks section under "Manage Networks". It now seems to be working ok now so I guess the built in Sonos wifi network is not strong enough for the distance between the two Connects and the WiFi signal is stronger where the second Connect is located in the master bedroom. 

Does this sound correct?

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Best answer by ratty 30 April 2021, 13:14

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In About My System, does the bedroom Connect have WM:0 or WM:1 next to it?

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WM:0

Then it is still connected to SonosNet, not your WiFi.

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Ok, so when the app had me go through the whole process of adding in a Network by selecting the SSID and putting in the password and pressing the two buttons on the front of the Connect and now has said Network listed under the Manage Networks section, what was the purpose of it? 🤔

Don't ask me, it was your decision to try it.

If you have a wired device SonosNet will operate.  The bedroom Connect is evidently happier sticking with SonosNet.

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Thanks for the fast reply’s on here John, I do appreciate it. Yes, does seem very strange that it had me do all that just to stick with SonosNet. I know there is a web interface to check what kind of signal the SonosNet has between devices so I will investigate more and check into that and see how it looks. 

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So l looked at my http://192.168.#.#:1400/support/review Sonos Support Info:

Theater
Secondary Node
Noise Floor: -77, -81, -83
OFDM Weak signal level: 4

It was in a Red box, so turned off Wifi on the Theater Connect which gave me:

Theater
Secondary Node
undefined
undefined

 

Bedroom
Noise Floor: -90, -94, -88
OFDM Weak signal level: 7

 

So the Bedroom is indeed on a Weak signal but at least it is Yellow and not Red like the Theater was at.

 

So the Bedroom is indeed on a Weak signal but at least it is Yellow and not Red like the Theater was at.

A complete misinterpretation. Signal levels are displayed in the body of the matrix. The left column denotes the ambient RF noise levels and the amount of active rejection by the chipset.

The red cell for the Theater Connect was because of a poor noise floor, possibly because of its proximity to other electronics.

The full picture -- including the actual signal strength at the Bedroom Connect -- will remain unclear unless you re-enable ‘WiFi’ (i.e. SonosNet) in the Theater Connect, wait a couple of minutes, screenshot the matrix, and post it. Alternatively submit a diagnostic and post the reference number so someone official can take a look.

Or maybe you just want to leave it as it is. You’ve disabled SonosNet, so the Bedroom Connect has no alternative but to connect to the WiFi (WM:1). Your call.

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Thank you Ratty. Yes after a bit more investigating and making some changes to my WiFi channels on both the Secondary router, which is close to the Theater Sonos, and on the SonosNet channel, I was able to get things more stable:

 

 

Thank you Ratty. Yes after a bit more investigating and making some changes to my WiFi channels on both the Secondary router, which is close to the Theater Sonos, and on the SonosNet channel, I was able to get things more stable:

The signal strength (30/32) is not great but should work okay in the absence of heavy interference.

The noise floors look rather better (larger negative nunbers), perhaps from changing the SonosNet channel. 

Proximity to a router is a concern. These are old Connects, with less resilient radios. Space the Theater Connect away by at least 50cm, ideally more. Also make sure the router’s 2.4GHz WiFi is separated by least 5 channels from SonosNet, ideally 10 channels. And set it to use 20MHz width only.

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Thank you for the reply ratty, yes I read a post on here somewhere about that distance, probably written by you, as you can see that will be a challenge to move the Connect away from the other electronics due to the construction here in Colombia and the location of my theater headend. But nothing is impossible and with two new holes drilled into the concrete off to the left of all that gear it should help some. Will give it a go today once I get the tall ladder out and the drill and concrete bit. 👍

That’s a real rats’ nest. :wink: I wouldn’t bother messing around up there, especially drilling the concrete.

If you still have problems, disable SonosNet (‘WiFi’) on that Connect and find some other way of getting a signal to the Bedroom player. Did it actually work when it was on the WiFi (WM:1)?

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Here's the complete story: I had just one Connect there in the theater which was Gen 1 and it is was hardwired so I never had an issue with just it. I decided to upgrade to S2 so found a S2 compatible Connect on eBay. While doing this upgrade I decided I would add a second Connect in the  Bedroom so I could do whole house music synced. This all happened just this past month so I introduced the problem myself... I think it's called Karma...  😂🤣

It was not having many problems but I did notice the white light on the bedroom Connect flashing at night (which I have set to off) so thought it must be a communication issue. I didn't have many drop outs at first but then I noticed a few so started reading posts on these forums here to try and improve things a bit...  Again more Karma... 

I now have that old linksys e3000 you see in the photo set to wifi channel 1 and I have Sonosnet set at 11 and it seems to be better than it was before but will need to test it for a while to make sure it works flawlessly as even before I made these changes it worked 99 percent of the time so wasn't really pissing me off or anything. 

Also I'm sure thinking about adding two new Sonos Roams to the system and thought it best to have all the current gear working 100% first.

The Connect LED flashing is most likely a reconnection attempt. Either it restarted after a power outage or it lost its wireless connection temporarily.

You’ll want decent WiFi coverage for the Roams anyway (they don’t connect to SonosNet) so if the bedroom player continues to glitch I would try and get a good WiFi signal in there as you’d need it anyway. Turning off the SonosNet (‘WiFi’) in the wired player will force the bedroom unit to use WiFi.

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I have pretty good WiFi coverage all things considering. Concrete with rebar construction is not WiFi friendly at all. The E3000 router is my second router and is setup as an AP. The main router is a TP-Link Archer C1200 but I am looking at swapping that out as it wont let me run third party firmware on it like the E3000 lets me run Tomato on it. I also have a Netgear PLW1000 that is mounted out in my shed out in my back yard to cover the back of my house outside and is mostly used for one of my Wyze Cam 3’s out at the shed.

The gear at the headend in the theater is a URC TC2, a URC RA2 master, a ShieldTV, a Projector, the Sonos connect and a Enclave 5.1 wireless speaker system. 

The theater Sonos Connect is currently line of site with the MB Sonos Connect but like you said it is very close to the other electronics. If I move the Theater Sonos Connect to the left away from the other gear it will no longer be line of site with the MB Connect and the signal will have to go through two concrete walls or around the corner of the walls hopefully. 

So I am thinking it might be best to leave it be for now and see how it works now that I made changes to the channels.

As for the Roams, that is great info on the fact they do not use SonosNet. So my next question is do they connect to just one WiFi? I have three (6 if you count the 5GHz) WiFi SSIDs so that I know which one my phone is connected to. Does the Roam just connect to one WiFi when you set it up like my Wyze cameras? 

Enclave 5.1 wireless speaker system

Ah. What frequency band and protocol does it use?

If problems persist, like I say I think you should disable the radio on that Connect and attach all other Sonos devices via WiFi. (By the way, powerline is not supported.)

Sonos can store multiple SSIDs. At least 8 and it may be 16. I don’t recall.

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It is based on the new WiSA standard so I don’t think it causes any interference to anything WiFi.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/home-theater/wisa-wireless-explained/

 

I will keep an eye on the signal between the two Connects and will disable the radio on the Theater Connect if it acts up again. Do you happen to know what the WiFi adaptor in the Connect S2 version has in it? “N” or older “G” or “B”? When I was adding the SSID into the Sonos it didnt seem to like my router being set at “N only”. I did a search but couldn't find a definitive answer on what WiFi it is capable of.

Only 5GHz then for the WiSA. That’s okay, though the digital electronics itself, if in close proximity to the Connect, could introduce local noise.

The minimum requirement for Sonos WiFi connection is B/G. Your old Connect would need G. Some of the latest models, including Roam, can connect to N 2.4G and 5G.

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/126

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Thank you again ratty, I now have a much better understanding of how the whole SonosNet works and how to get it to switch over to the local WiFi network.

 

“All Sonos products support 802.11b/g Wi-Fi modes and Open, WEP, and WPA/WPA2 Personal Wi-Fi security standards. Some Sonos product support additional Wi-Fi modes and security standards that are listed below:”

 

I missed this section when I was looking for the Connect or Connect Amp info since they are not mentioned by name in the link you shared. Now I know. :-)