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My system consists of Boost, Stereo Pair Gen2 Play5, Connect and five Play1s,. I have Sonosnet set to channel 11 and my home 2.4ghz network (ASUS RT-66 Merlin Firmware) set to channel 1. Channel 6 is always congested. My immediate neighbour has a Sky router that must be set to Auto as it is regularly changing channel, causing me dropouts. Sonosnet does not appear as a continuous signal, popping up on inSSIDer as multiple connections when Sonos is playing but only occasionally when not playing.

My questions are:

Is there a way of having Sonosnet active continuously so as to block my neighbours Auto wanderings?

My 2.4ghz channel 1 home WiFi is little utilised, but appears as a constant signal and as most of my other devices are connected to the 5ghz WiFi so can I have Sonosnet co-existing on channel 1 without too much issue or is the mere presence of a signal from my 2.4ghz WiFi going to cause me lots of problems? ?

I wish Sonos would consider using 5ghz for Sonosnet (not just for 5.1 setups) as the 2.4ghz WiFi even in Outer London is very congested. I am the sole user of 5ghz in my area and get good signal throughout the my house.
Sonosnet does not appear as a continuous signal, popping up on inSSIDer as multiple connections when Sonos is playing but only occasionally when not playing.

This is normal. Scanners pick up Sonos nodes only intermittently. It appears to be related to communications with an Android device configured for SonosNet.



Is there a way of having Sonosnet active continuously so as to block my neighbours Auto wanderings?


It is active all the time, since amongst other traffic bursts there's an STP 'pulse' every 1 second. However many routers don't recognise SonosNet as WiFi (because it isn't) and, as observed, signals from Sonos nodes operating as access points are detected only occasionally..



My 2.4ghz channel 1 home WiFi is little utilised, but appears as a constant signal and as most of my other devices are connected to the 5ghz WiFi so can I have Sonosnet co-existing on channel 1 without too much issue or is the mere presence of a signal from my 2.4ghz WiFi going to cause me lots of problems? ?


This would perhaps be the best option to try, if it's clear that next door's router tends to steer clear of channel 1. Any local WiFi traffic of yours will coexist cooperatively with SonosNet.



I wish Sonos would consider using 5ghz for Sonosnet (not just for 5.1 setups) as the 2.4ghz WiFi even in Outer London is very congested. I am the sole user of 5ghz in my area and get good signal throughout the my house.


5GHz has inherently less range and penetration than 2.4GHz. The latest 5GHz routers are powerful beasts, often with 4 substantial antennas in a MU-MIMO configuration. Sonos units are of more modest dimensions and power. A 5GHz SonosNet would probably struggle even if it were feasible.



For compatibility with 2.4GHz-only Sonos devices, any SonosNet nodes would need to support both bands. The only device able to operate at 2.4GHz and 5GHz simultaneously is PLAYBAR.
Thanks Ratty - the RT-66 has an option STP enable/disable - what should this setting be?
Thanks Ratty - the RT-66 has an option STP enable/disable - what should this setting be?

That would make the router an active STP participant. Assuming the BOOST is the only wired Sonos node it makes no difference either way, and I strongly suggest you leave the setting alone. It has nothing to do with your wireless issues.