Luma wifi is about to be released and looks like a great product. Can Sonos and Luma both create mesh networks that work together or will there be interference? I assume they will work, right?! A wifi mesh will be on a different frequency than the Sonos mesh, right? Luma looks like the solution many of us could use if it works as effectively as Sonos does with its own mesh. Opinions?
Mesh.
Will Sonos work with Luma wifi?
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Just got my Luma system. Used Sonos windows app to change the wireless to access the Luma wifi network. However, if I'm connected on my iphone to the Luma wifi Sonos says it cannot find the network that the Sonos is on. If I switch back to the wifi on my original router it works. Ideas?
Here's my experience getting LUMA to play nicely in the sandbox with Sonos. Because there is so little literature on the topic at this point, my eventual success was mostly the product of trial and error. My setup is the ubiquitous antiquated MI424WR Verizon Actiontec cable modem/router. I have the following paired Sonos components: 2 sets of paired Play 1s, 1 set of paired Play 5s (1st edition), and 2 Sonos Connects. With the new wireless network, I had previously removed the Ethernet cable from my Play 5 located closest to the router. Once I installed all 3 LUMAs from my newly arrived 3-pack, and without any adjustments to my Verizon router settings, my Sonos app could no longer find the Sonos network. I tinkered with a variety of solutions, getting one pair of Play 1's to be recognized when my phone was in close proximity to them. However, as soon as I walked about 30 feet away, the phone app. could once again no longer find the Sonos network.
Well to make a long story short, with several solutions proving to be dead ends, I decided to plug an ethernet cable from the back of one of my Play 5 stereo pairs (the one that had formerly been plugged into the Actiontec router before Sonos went completely wireless) into the OUT port on the back of the LUMA, The In port of that device was plugged into my Actiontec router. All my Sonos components magically appeared. Moreover, I was able to travel throughout the house and even into my backyard without losing the connection to the Sonos components. I note that I did this first without disabling the wireless on the Actiontec router. That's the curious thing about LUMA - although you can run it as your only wireless, it appears you don't have to. Effectively, this means you can have some components on your 192.168.1.XX Actiontec DNS range, and others on the LUMA 192.168.55.XX range.
But my next test was to see if it would still work when I turned off the wireless on the Actiontec router. (I note that keeping the Actiontec wireless enabled effectively circumvented LUMA's ability to cut off internet service; devices would just reroute to the Actiontec router.) So I wanted to see if I could maintain my Sonos connection after disabling the wireless on the router. With the Play 5 now plugged into the LUMA and the LUMA, in turn, plugged into an open LAN port in the back of my router, I was pleased to see that the Sonos app continued to work even after the Actiontec wireless was set to off.
In sum, the simple, if not intuitive, solution turned out to be the best. No resetting the controllers or fooling around with the DNS server ended up being necessary. Just a spare ethernet cord was all it took.
Incidentally, while I am not blown away by the speed of the LUMA (which never seems to change according to the app and seems to be about double what my Speedtest app says it is), I am impressed by its range. I have a 4000 square foot house with very poor wifi range using the Actiontec router. With the 3 LUMAs strategically placed on the left, center and right sides of the houses, I was able to get excellent coverage throughout the house and a good 50 feet into the backyard. That alone has made the purchase worthwhile.
Hope this helps.
Well to make a long story short, with several solutions proving to be dead ends, I decided to plug an ethernet cable from the back of one of my Play 5 stereo pairs (the one that had formerly been plugged into the Actiontec router before Sonos went completely wireless) into the OUT port on the back of the LUMA, The In port of that device was plugged into my Actiontec router. All my Sonos components magically appeared. Moreover, I was able to travel throughout the house and even into my backyard without losing the connection to the Sonos components. I note that I did this first without disabling the wireless on the Actiontec router. That's the curious thing about LUMA - although you can run it as your only wireless, it appears you don't have to. Effectively, this means you can have some components on your 192.168.1.XX Actiontec DNS range, and others on the LUMA 192.168.55.XX range.
But my next test was to see if it would still work when I turned off the wireless on the Actiontec router. (I note that keeping the Actiontec wireless enabled effectively circumvented LUMA's ability to cut off internet service; devices would just reroute to the Actiontec router.) So I wanted to see if I could maintain my Sonos connection after disabling the wireless on the router. With the Play 5 now plugged into the LUMA and the LUMA, in turn, plugged into an open LAN port in the back of my router, I was pleased to see that the Sonos app continued to work even after the Actiontec wireless was set to off.
In sum, the simple, if not intuitive, solution turned out to be the best. No resetting the controllers or fooling around with the DNS server ended up being necessary. Just a spare ethernet cord was all it took.
Incidentally, while I am not blown away by the speed of the LUMA (which never seems to change according to the app and seems to be about double what my Speedtest app says it is), I am impressed by its range. I have a 4000 square foot house with very poor wifi range using the Actiontec router. With the 3 LUMAs strategically placed on the left, center and right sides of the houses, I was able to get excellent coverage throughout the house and a good 50 feet into the backyard. That alone has made the purchase worthwhile.
Hope this helps.
User108155,
In your original configuration, SONOS to the ACTIONTEC and everything else to LUMA, you had two routers attempting to take control of your network -- each attempting to protect your network from the other router. SONOS cannot operate in this sort of environment. As you found, moving the SONOS to the LUMA essentially eliminates the ACTIONTEC router and everything works fine -- as long as you keep the ACTIONTEC's wireless turned OFF. You might experience slightly better throughput and better interaction with some multi-user games if you set the ACTIONTEC's port connected to the LUMA as a "DMZ".
In your original configuration, SONOS to the ACTIONTEC and everything else to LUMA, you had two routers attempting to take control of your network -- each attempting to protect your network from the other router. SONOS cannot operate in this sort of environment. As you found, moving the SONOS to the LUMA essentially eliminates the ACTIONTEC router and everything works fine -- as long as you keep the ACTIONTEC's wireless turned OFF. You might experience slightly better throughput and better interaction with some multi-user games if you set the ACTIONTEC's port connected to the LUMA as a "DMZ".
According to the website it's using 2.4 and 5ghz, so it's just as likely to interfere with Sonos as any other 2.4ghz WiFi. Whether luma is smart enough to avoid that is unknown. Presumably you could connect Sonos to the Luma ssid as you can any other wireless network, in which case it wouldn't matter.
$199 for what is basically a router though...
$199 for what is basically a router though...
Userlevel 6
+11
No, for $299 you get 3 routers that create a mesh wifi network for your house, similar to the way Sonos creates its own network. I'm assuming a mesh wifi network will work just the same as only using your one wifi router.
The "normal" price for one unit is $199, says so right there on the website. They're doing an introductory offer of $149 at the moment but it's still a lot.
Userlevel 6
+11
Getluma.com
click preorder and its $299 for 3. The price will increase once it is released.
click preorder and its $299 for 3. The price will increase once it is released.
Interesting find and if it can do a better job of entire home coverage compared to what repeaters can do today, it ought to be very useful, doing for WiFi what Sonos does for audio. Someone from Sonos ought to have the answers to the interference question and clarify it here, hopefully.
Equally interesting is the question: can Sonos can use that mesh running in WiFi mode, doing away completely with the need for a wired to the router unit as is recommended when the WiFi approach doesn't provide stable music play? As a corollary, no need then for Bridge/Boost units either?
Equally interesting is the question: can Sonos can use that mesh running in WiFi mode, doing away completely with the need for a wired to the router unit as is recommended when the WiFi approach doesn't provide stable music play? As a corollary, no need then for Bridge/Boost units either?
Userlevel 6
+11
That is an interesting question, one I didn't think of. I already have 2 wired Sonos units on opposite ends of my house so that works great, but my wifi is not so great. I feel this is a product that has been a long time coming and I really want to try it out.
click preorder and its $299 for 3. The price will increase once it is released.
I can read you know. I know that but if you only want one, the "normal" price is $199. That seems expensive.
Userlevel 6
+11
Calm down.. Yes it does, but to get the full benefit of the product you'll want more than one. If 3 aren't enough to cover your entire house, you can add a 4th for $199. I wouldn't buy just 1.
Well that's partly my point, I buy three for $299, decide I need another one and then have to shell out $199 for it? Crazy...
Looks architecturally similar to eero. No relevant FAQ that I could locate so channel usage for the mesh is presently unknown. (The last time I looked, eero used a fixed channel 1, 40MHz wide, at 2.4GHz.) Any user of the 2.4GHz band obviously has the potential to interfere with SonosNet.
Userlevel 6
+11
Well yes that's getting pricey, but they claim 3 should cover a typical home and really I feel just 2 will probably do it for me.
Userlevel 6
+11
@ratty: So does that mean Sonos wouldn't work with an Eero setup? The products are similar but Luma is more affordable and offers other security features.
It should work, and others report as much.
Since eero appears to use a fixed 40MHz channel, my suggestion to users with SonosNet based systems has been to move SonosNet to channel 11.
Userlevel 6
+11
Actually I meant to type 'would'.. damn auto correct. I found this info about the Luma:
"Luma works on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies and uses new 802.11ac Wave 2 technology. Each device sports 2GB ethernet ports for WAN and LAN, as well as one USB 2 port"
It seems it should to me too, i mean, it's still just wifi and Sonos is meant to coexist with wifi. I'm gonna go ahead and order this i think, thanks for the input!
"Luma works on 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequencies and uses new 802.11ac Wave 2 technology. Each device sports 2GB ethernet ports for WAN and LAN, as well as one USB 2 port"
It seems it should to me too, i mean, it's still just wifi and Sonos is meant to coexist with wifi. I'm gonna go ahead and order this i think, thanks for the input!
Yes, but some WiFis are greedy, perhaps the worst being the late and unlamented 'Super G'.
Any 40MHz width channel has the potential to pretty much monopolise the 2.4GHz band. However if its primary is on channel 1 or 11 there is space for SonosNet to co-exist.
Eero is glorified repeater snake oil, and I would lay odds that this Luma stuff is, too. They mesh on the same radio channel as they service clients (if they really had the extra radios to do proper meshing, they'd be a lot more expensive).
Save your money and buy some Ubiquiti APs instead and hard-wire them so they are each on a separate radio channel. You know, the way you're supposed to expand coverage without creating tons of radio interference...
Save your money and buy some Ubiquiti APs instead and hard-wire them so they are each on a separate radio channel. You know, the way you're supposed to expand coverage without creating tons of radio interference...
Like a number of such devices they're evidently capable of servicing clients on one band and back-hauling on another.
Marketing snakeoil. They may hop bands for backhaul, but they still reuse the same channel for client devices as they do for the backhaul. in fact, they use the same fixed radio channels on ALL Eeros. So the APs themselves are creating radio interference with each other. Proper radio cell designs use different, non-overlapping radio channels.
I'm not here to defend eero, but an extender using different bands for clients and for backhaul is standard practice. It's a bridge and an AP back to back.
Userlevel 6
+11
Hey guys, update for this thread..
I found the official answer on Amazon: YES! It will work!
I dug into the questions and someone asked the same and got a response from Luma.
They also gave props to Sonos!!
I found the official answer on Amazon: YES! It will work!
I dug into the questions and someone asked the same and got a response from Luma.
They also gave props to Sonos!!
Userlevel 6
+11
What? Ok first of all how did you get your Luma? Amazon still shows it hasn't shipped yet?
Second, how are they connected? You are using both Luma and your old wifi router together?
Second, how are they connected? You are using both Luma and your old wifi router together?
Userlevel 7
+22
Yes. I'd suggest Sonos is connecting to your original router as you imply you still have that running (why?)
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