Netgear Orbi compatibility

  • 8 December 2016
  • 16 replies
  • 6703 views

I recently purchased Sonos and Netgear Orbi. I had a sonos play:1 hooked up wirelessly via my airport extreme for a few days and it worked flawlessly. Once I received my Orbi, I hooked up my connect and wired to one of the orbi satellites.

Since then I've had issues with sonos. I believe at least one orbi satellite is defective as it is creating all kinds of issues. I've also found this topic on netgear forums: https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/SONOS-Compatability-with-Orbi/m-p/1183437/highlight/false#M1644

Anything I can do to test/prove this? I'm happy to try another Wifi product if orbi is the problem, but I'd rather not do a return re-purchase cycle unless I'm sure Sonos has problems with Orbi.

I'm thinking eero or google wifi (already ordered a google wifi for my mom for christmas and she is also getting sonos so we will see how that goes).

FYI: I love Sonos, I will try eero and google wifi and maybe luma before giving up Sonos. 😉 However, as a technology worker that works from home, the orbi is technically the best of the group. I have support requests out to netgear as well.

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16 replies

Userlevel 7
Badge +21
Once you wired one of your Sonos devices to one of your Orbi devices, you took Sonos out of WiFi mode and told Sonos to use its own wireless mesh network, which is separate (in terms of the wireless signals) from your Orbi network. My first recommendation would be to send a diagnostic through your Sonos controller to allow Sonos to have some details of your current system and the issues you're experiencing. A Sonos employee can then make recommendations on what changes you can make.

You might also try changing the wireless network info in Sonos to your new Orbi system, then un-wire the wired Sonos component(s) and have them connect to the Orbi WiFi instead. See if that might make things better, and submit another diagnostic through your Sonos controller.

Make sure to respond here with the confirmation number(s) of your Sonos diagnostic reports.
MikeV,

I understand the sonosnet (I work in technology). The reason I wired one of them was because I have routinely overloaded wifi networks with a ridiculous number of devices. So, if there is a wired option available, I tend to prefer it. In this case, wireless may be the solution. I noticed in the sonos app "About Your Sonos System" the switching of the WM field as I tried different wired/wireless combos. Once I looked that up I had a clear understanding of what was happening.

I have actually already switched to a pure wifi setup with Sonos and for the last few hours have had no problems. Previously I had already put orbi 2.4 on channel 1 and sonosnet on channel 11 with just the Sonos Connect wired or just the Play:1 wired. Both of these setups caused regular issues. I did not submit a diagnostic report at the time. I thought I had at least one faulty orbi satellite based on other things dropping connectivity. At this point, my theory is the orbi satellite that is connected to a sonos device has issues. Possibly due to STP protocol (I'm learning about that now).

I just did a diagnostic report now: 6841808. However, it is working now on all wireless through orbi. We'll see if it stays that way.

My other concern is I may need sonosnet to connect some speakers in the future (no wifi coverage). If orbi doesn't work with sonos wired, I still have an expensive group of potential paperweights (in the form of 3 orbis) to deal with in the future.

I'm looking into if eero does better with sonos (even if performance won't match orbi). And google wifi (just ordered one as a Christmas gift for someone who desperately needs stable wifi in a large house)

Ah well. Thanks for the reply! I'll keep poking at it.

--Derrek
Userlevel 7
Badge +21
I think there are others here with Eero, so maybe they can give some feedback if they come across this.
I've read good and bad. My issue with eero is performance. It's a last resort for me (or any mesh network with rebroadcast hop penalties)
New info: The orbi satellite has disconnected everything without a sonos connected to it. I'm not sure there is any connection between them anymore. This may just be an all orbi issue.
Userlevel 2
Badge +2
I have the orbi router with no satellites. When I set it up, my sonos devices got disconnected because the orbi was now on a new password than what the sonos devices originally were on. So I took a play:1 since it was most handy, connected it with ethernet to the orbi and reran wireless setup and then everyone was able to play music. I have a connect, play 5, and a pair of play 1s in stereo mode.

The play 5 is the one most used sinc it is in the bedroom and is used to play my iTunes library at nite and is connected to a tv with the analog input. So whenever the tv is turned on, the play 5 provides its sound.

Anyways lately, when I play music in the bedroom at nite, I notice my iPad controller may not show the album art, then I may get errors that it was not able to access the media file or it may then stop playing a song or stutter and then it will skip to the next song and may skip several times. When this happens if I kill the controller on the iPad and restart it, music starts playing normally again but not always foolproof, may requires you do again.

With my old router I never had problems.

From what I read, I don't think I need to move the play 5 in the room with the router to rerun wireless setup? From what I understand, if you do syrup with any 1 speaker, all of them should be fine. Indeed connecting a single play 1 restored all to being able to connect.

So any ideas what can be done to fix this issue? Would adding a bridge or boost to the router help by using the Sonos mesh network instead? I do have the 2.4 frequency for the orbi on a fixed channel because one of my wireless bridge devices only used 2.4 and needed the channel used configured into it. My house isfairly small and I dont believe my wifi network is overwhelmed.

Thanks for any advice.
Userlevel 2
Completely disable the Orbi guest network or select the option "Allow guests to see each other and access my local network."
I had the same issue w/my ring devices. So far the only solution I have seen is a dedicated AP w/it's own SSID that is not meshed. When I tried to create a separate SSID on the mesh network devices still didn't work 100%, I am thinking it has something to do w/the fact that it is on the same wireless channel as the mesh SSID.
I don’t know if you resolved this? I have the same problems with Orbi not playing nice for sonos or ring. I think the issue may be that the orbi is not allowing 20mhz bandwidth devices to connect - despite coexistence being switched on.
I have this same issue and have a different thread going on Netgear site (Orbi) - Forum members have been helpful - but can not get this figured out - Everything worked great from Sept 2018 until sometime Jan 2019 ( few weeks ago )
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
I use Orbi with Sonosnet and have no issues.

What is your issue when you say there is an Orbi thread - I don't know of any Orbi issues.
Everything has worked great for sometime - Before Orbi I had apple airport and 2 expresses. In Sept - I switched to Orbi and 2 satellites - and switched to att fibre -

My connection and speed through out my house has been rocking and never any issues with that -

Just all of sudden, when I try to play Apple Music or Spotify ( the two I use ) I get connection to Apple Music was lost. I have turned down everything on my ATT side modem -- tried other odds and ends with orbs - still doesn't play. For some reason it played yesterday for the first time - then woke up this am tried to play some music - and back to the error. All my speakers are wireless. I have even unplugged all except one - still same issue -

My thread I have going on the netgear forums is below:

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Sonos-and-Astros-A50-and-Orbi/td-p/1695151/highlight/false

And I have spent days searching "Sonos the connection to has been lost" and seems like there are a lot of people who encountered this issue - but never a solid fix. Seems like most attribute it to some interference from their respective routers..
Userlevel 7
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Do you have any Sonos units hooked to router (using Sonosnet as well)? ok I see all wireless
Userlevel 7
Badge +22
so you just have one sonos speaker up right now and still have the issue with not playing. What happens if you plug it in one of the satellites - does it start working on services then?
Hmm - yes - so far anyway - I plug it directly into one of the satellites and it seems to work
I stop the play1 - and power up my play5 wirelessly - and it works without issue -

I stop the play 5

I unplug the play 1 that was wired directly into the satellite .. and unplug the power and replug the power

I try to play the play5 - and the same error the connection to Apple Music ( or Spotify) has been lost