Hi guys - we recently moved to a new house which is long and the router is at one end (cannot be easily moved / rewired due to where Verizon set it up). At the other end of the house, we have an extender to with a different SSID to allow access for some of our other devices - TV, laptop, phones, etc.
As for the Sonos, we have (i) a Play 5, (ii) Sonos Beam, (iii) three Play 1’s, and (iv) a Move. The Play 5 is hardwired to our router and broadcasts a ‘Sonos-Only Wifi’ around the house. I sometimes have issues with one of the Play 1’s and the Move, which are both at the other end of the house, dropping out intermittently when music is being played.
“Sonos-Only WiFi’ is called ‘sonosnet’ or a ‘wired network’. It’s referred to as wired since the setup requires at leasted one of your speakers to be wired to the router. A Sonos wireless network means all devices are connected to your router’s WiFi directly.
For homes where Sonos devices are too far apart to get a good sonosnet mesh network going, you can add a Boost in between the devices to bridge the gap, so to speak. Really, any Sonos speaker will do, including the ikea speakers. Bookshelf speakers can be had for the same price as the Boost.
I believe maybe with the Play 1, the issue may be because it is too far from one of the other speakers to transmit the Sonos-Only Wifi. Based on my other research, does the Move now use the ‘Sonos-Only Wifi’? If so, any recommendations on best way to achieve seamless sound?
Move and Roam do not use Sonosnet. Mesh networks require the network devices to be physically stationary for the most part, and cannot be relied upon for this since it’s portable. The Move needs to be connected via WiFi to the same router that the rest of your system is connected to, if you want it on the same network. You could connect it to your extender, but it would only see other devices connected to that SSID. The Move does have a pretty strong wireless radio, so it may appear to connect from a wireless distance better than some of your other WiFi gear.
Would a mesh system would be the best / only solution here?
Maybe. A Boost would likely fix the issue for your play:1 but nothing for your Move. It’s cheaper than a mesh system so maybe you’re ok with the Move not always connecting well? If you went with a mesh system, then you could switch your network over to a wireless Sonos setup and let everything use your WiFi. Of course, that may be an improvement to your home network overall for all your devices, and you would never need to manually switch WiFi on phone or tablets.
I have an Orbi mesh network, but I got it for my non-sonos devices, to extend my range into the backyard mostly. Sonos is still using sonosnet on my system.
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Edit: Submitted a diagnostics - confirmation #: 1911232793
