Can you use the sonosnet 2.4gz dedicated network for other connections?

No, you cannot connect anything to Sonosnet.  Android devices used to be able to connect, but that hasn’t been the case in a while.  

SonosNet uses a private wireless protocol, but SonosNet will share its wired connection with other devices, even if the SONOS device is wireless. If you have a SONOS player or BOOST near the garage door controller and the controller can work through a wired connection, connect the door controller to the SONOS player or BOOST’s LAN connection. This is a 10/100 connection and if you try hard enough you can swamp the connection and the music will suffer. This would not be an issue for a garage door controller, but I don’t recommend using this scheme as a substitute for a modern, generic mesh network. By the way SonosNet has been available since the first product introduction in 2005. The recent flurry of consumer mesh network hardware is late to the party.

Looking at this and your other thread, I am prompted to ask what the big gain is in disabling your 2.4GHz WiFi?  Why not just see how everything works with it still on?

From a different perspective, it also strikes me as odd that a garage door remote should depend on WiFi.  Yes I’d expect it to use a wireless signal and that may use the 2.4GHz frequency.  But why would it need to be networked?   For remote access?  I am struggling to find a plausible reason, but perhaps you can enlighten me?

Those are some great great questions….I’ll try to enlighten:

lets start with the 2.4 question. Everything works just great on 2.4. except that since 2.4 bandwidth travels well, all my devices want to connect to it. when they do, my speeds drops by 50%. So why pay for fast internet speeds of up to a gig, when your wifi can only transmit at 100?...there lies your answer. its well know that if you can turn off 2.4 and only use 5gz, that everything will run much faster and if it can get to all your devices, wont encounter interference from all the other crap that runs on the 2.4gz bandwidth (microwaves, etc.). I’ve tried multiple configurations (my router has alot of settings and tricks for dual band), but in the end, most devices will try to connect to the strongest (not the fastest) network band, which will always be 2.4 if its turned on. If you do the research, you’ll find out that if you dont have devices that count on 2.4, the recommendation is to turn it off. 

Next lets hit the garage door. my issue has nothing to do with the typical remote. My issue is my garage door does have an app that allows me to control it through my phone, but it must be connected to my wifi network to enable it to work. when connected, i can control my garage door remotely (which has multiple benefits for me). it does not need to be networked (and looking at what i wrote previously, i’m not sure how you “made the leap” that it needed to be networked). 

So there you have it. when i turn on 2.4, my network and its devices slow to speeds of that bandwidth. i’d rather not go that route and be able to utilize the speeds i reap from the new wifi 6 technology. I thought if i could “sneak” onto some “behind the scenes” 2.4, then i could keep my setup the same , but piggyback onto that bandwidth for my one device (my garage door) that requires it. 

Router technology is pretty incredible nowadays. my new wifi 6 router can share 2.4 and 5gz bandwidth while using the same SSID name. at first i though that was my ticket, but when using it, you find that devices tend to pick 2.4 at first, and then at some point (and you never know when), the router decides that the 5gz is faster and will make the switch for you (but at that point, you may be done with what you were doing and wanting the extra speed). Things got even more complicated when attempting to connect a one mesh system (as many of the sonos articles with “enlighten’ you about). Great way to extend coverage in theory, just not when it comes to your sonos system (much better to use sonosnet). 

I’m sure there is some configuration out there to make this work (and actually think i came up with a way to split these bands up and force my devices to connect to certain ones), but in the end, its just not worth it to me to try wacky configuration tricks just too enable the functionality of one device thats not a high priority in my wifi ecosystem..

theres my nickels worth…

GG

I assume you have something like MyQ.  In some respects it’s fairly unnecessary to have a smart garage door opener, since must openers have RF remotes with extensive range, and a button is easier than opening an app and pressing a button.  However, the app will allow you to do many things you can’t do via remotes.  None of this it absolutely necessary, but for $30, it’s easy. 

I wondering if you'd like to share your $30 fix for my issue. There are multiple benefits around having the garage door connected through myqueue. We'd save that for a separate thread. I

Gg

I meant that the MyQ smart device can be added to any garage door opener for $30.   I don’t have any advice to give regarding your WifI plans.

my garage door opener has the myQ built in….i thought you had a solution to connect it…..so even if i didnt have it, and added your 30 dollar myQ to it, i’m still in the same situation as not being able to connect to it….So i’m not sure where this thread is headed, but it looks like it may have come to an end..

gg

Consider pulling an old WiFi access point out of the discard bin, wire it to the network, and give it credentials that are available only to the garage door.

Not sure how I would be able to give a wifi access point credentials that would only allow one device to have access. That access point is going to broadcast, and once it does, any devices that can detect it are going to try to attach to it..

Is there a trick?

Sc

A couple of points:

1. Why the need to get the fastest speed?  Your connections need to be fast enough for everything to work robustly, that’s all. 
2. The single SSID can actually be a menace.  You could stick with separate SSIDs, and ‘forget’  or delete the 2.4GHz SSID on any devices you don’t want to connect to it.  Sonos devices will nearly always choose a SonosNet connection ahead of a 2.4GHz WiFi, but you can remove the WiFi credentials from Sonos to make sure.

I am not suggesting you should do this or that it would be better than turning off your 2.4GHz WiFi, just that I am not sure you have made a totally convincing case yet :)

PS - thanks for enlightening me about the garage door app.  I didn’t know such a thing could exist for such an apparently simple task.  On this point I have to admit that you have an open and shut case.

I assume that this dedicated access point will be near the door controller. If you can limit the access point’s RF output, set it for minimum, otherwise place it in a metal container and control the output by adjusting the container.