Sonos Incompatibility with T-Mobile Home Internet service

Unfortunately, Sonos never reveals their development roadmap, except when there is a substantIal partner involved, and even then, it is rare. . My guess would be that you’ll get some sort of ‘we’ll pass this on to the team as a request”, but they won’t tell you if it will be implemented until it might be released. If it won’t be implemented, they just will remain silent.

Out of curiosity, where can I read up on this, and why is it Sonos’ responsibility to fix the incompatibility? Or have you made this demand of the appropriate internet providers too? 

@gene-mo .   What is the nature of the problems?  What specific issues are you having?

There is no reason In principle why Sonos should not work with a router that connects to the Internet by mobile connection rather than landline. In fact I used Sonos with a 4G router at least 3 years ago. 

Please tell us what Sonos needs to fix.

Let me try and reply to all the responses so far in this note.

I consider myself reasonably capable with technology overall.  I dont know the ins and outs of all elements of 5G technology.  Now, given that, this is what I have learned.  I have been told by Sonos that their networking technology relies on the inherent technology of DSL or Cable internet or wired internet.  The LTE technology found in the wireless signal pumped out by T-Mobiles home internet is incompatible with wired internet expectations.  The problem manifests itself in losing connection with each of my 4 Sonos players (2 Amps, 2 Soundbars).  I have even lost connection to the Sonos equipment where it keeps playing the music, but my iphone app has no ability to control volume or even stop playing the music.  Sometimes it happens within 2 minutes, sometimes longer.  But eventually something in the Sonos ecosystem stops working correctly.  

I have had the T-Mobile service longer than my Sonos equipment.  I have 26 wifi devices hooked up to T-Mobile directly. I do have similar issues with an alarm system device where it cant use the T-Mobile wifi signal to call the central office if an alarm happens.  

I have an older Netgear router I used with my previous DSL service that I might just have to reinstall and connect to the T-Mobile device and reconfigure the 26 devices I have connected to the netgear wifi.  Seems like a waste of time, but might be the only way to get Sonos to reliably work.  Before I do that, I will look to see what new wifi routers are available that work well with this 5G service and Sonos gear.

Any other comments would be appreciated. 

Will your Sonos devices work in SonosNet (wired) mode - see the two links below:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3235

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/3209

So you bought $2500 worth of Sonos kit, you found that it doesn’t work without wired internet, you have a similar problem with other kit, but you still feel it’s a Sonos incompatibility issue that they should fix?

I agree it would be good if Sonos worked on such networks, but the surely the failure here is on you, rather than Sonos? You bought kit that doesn’t work in your networking environment. 

“Nik9669a” thanks for all the support and understanding.  Your response puts the value of these forums in question.  I resolved the home alarm product “kit” issue with different technology so all good there besides your implication that I should know better.  It would seem that stockholders of Sonos stock would want the solution to flawlessly support emerging technologies like 5G home internet to expand market share and sales. Would flawless support of the 3 major mobile carriers home internet solutions not be advantageous to Sonos?  Or should marketing materials detail don’t buy the product unless you have a wired internet service like DSL or cable.  Just FYI, I can’t get cable at my location and DSL service is slow. 

@gene-mo . May I ask who at Sonos told you that Sonos could not work with 5G? Your description frequently confuses WiFi network and Internet connection. 

You may be correct but forgive me for thinking that the jury is still out. 

I am using a 5g router with eero pro 6 mesh wifi and I have many sonos products on my network 

I have no Internet issues with the system 

Unsupported network setups and devices

• Wireless internet connections such as satellite, mobile hotspots, or LTE routers.

[...]

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/126?language=en_US

Might I suggest that you invest in a couple of eero 6  hubs turn off the wifi on the isp router 

Name the new eero wifi the same as your previous wifi with the same password this should make your wifi network more robust 

In my experience isp routers tend to have problems when using over 20 device's 

No idea what speed your 5g is but mine is reliably over 200mb down and 20 up and does go faster usually 

If this isn't possible I apologise for wasting your time 

There are threads on this forum where users have Sonos running happily on 5G LTE routers. I use the D-Link dwr-2101 5G LTE router - 802.11ax when travelling and that works fine with Sonos on the EE mobile network.

I’m sure I’ve seen users in this forum using T-Mobile Home Internet service and those that had difficulties with it were pointed towards using their Sonos products on SonosNet, as suggested earlier in the thread, so perhaps give that a try.

I apologise for shouting, but …

UNSUPPORTED DOES NOT MEAN WILL NOT WORK.

Yes, LTE routers do work with Sonos, in the same way as wireless range extenders or powerline adaptors do work with Sonos.

I should have mentioned my sonos Arc is hardwired to my router via a 1gb switch and all my sonos speakers are on sonosnet with the exception of my roams and moves which are on eero wireless 

I really don't think the LAN configuration is relevant to this discussion. Wired (SonosNet) or WiFi. Mesh or traditional. That has nothing to do with how the router connects to the nternet.

If by flawless you mean works perfectly immediately out of the box with every router then that is a pipedream, given the variety of routers, their settings, and the myriad ways router manufacturers can invent features  to frustrate  Sonos'. The nature of the router's connection to the Internet is actually one of the least of the worries.

If Sonos doesn't work immediately with a 5G router it is much more likely to be a problem on the LAN side than anything to do with it being 5G.

A local network problem then, unrelated to the external connection.

Thanks to all of you for responding.  I am going to try and hardwire one Amp and see if that fixes the issue.  Otherwise, new wifi router and try that way.

Wiring a Sonos device may well solve the problem, but it depends what the problem is.  There may be a setting that needs changing somewhere.  It would not necessarily mean that there is something wrong with the router or Sonos, just that something needs tweaking so that they get along well.

Another learning just today may point to something other than my internet connection.  We have all apple devices including phones and ipads.  I noticed yesterday that even though on my iphone the sonos app says I was not connected to my sonos system, my ipad sonos app said I WAS connected and could play music.  Points to other than a T-Mobile issue.  

This is a great idea. This isn’t a Sonos issue, it’s the way some or most of the mobile carrier modems operate over their network. I’ve researched the T-Mobile option for my mom. I could see how using the T-Mobile modem/router could cause some issues with speakers, streaming devices, and cameras. The T-Mobile modem/router is the only available option for their service. I would place the T-Mobile modem/router in bridge mode (still using it as your modem), and add a good quality router. You don’t have to have a WiFi 6 or 6E router, just a newer router with recent tech. I’d suggest one of the eero models. One would give better coverage than the T-Mobile router, and would be able to handle video streaming and smart home devices better. I’d also try to wire one of the Sonos speakers directly into the eero, or get a Sonos boost, which does the same thing if a speaker isn’t located near your router.  My mom has dsl with a speed of 10 down/.5 up, so I understand how T-Mobile could be your only/best option. 

It points to something other than the nature of the internet connection.  It doesn’t by any means rule out a networking issue caused by the T-Mobile router.

For example, it may be that your Sonos system is on the 2.4GHz WiFi band, your iPad also on 2.4GHz band, but your iPhone is on the 5GHz band.  If your T-Mobile router doesn’t allow data to flow between the two bands that would explain what you are seeing.  That is only one possible explanation, but my point is that it is still almost certainly a networking issue, not a Sonos issue.

Did you have a Sonos device wired when this occurred?

Edit: to pick up the theme of @Not An Opossum , the T-mobile box’s modem may be working fine; it’s how it is operating as a router that is apparently causing you problems.