Adding Bridge to system to help Play 5 (Gen 1) connectivity

thank you for deciphering it for me. Bedroom hasn’t got connectivity problems (it’s a newer product) so I’ll try as you suggest plus tinkering with the location of the bridge as much as I can.

Brucie

Hello again everyone! 

Summary of my system: I have a small system (2x Play 1 and a Play 5 (1st Gen)) and use S1 controller all connected to wifi. Recently the Play 5 has been dropping out so I bought a second hand bridge for £2 to see if I could use this to boost the signal for the Play 5 - thanks for all your help (above) in connecting it.

However, I’m back. The bridge wasn’t cutting it, so I bit the bullet and forked out for a boost. I had to downgrade it to get it to work with the Play 5. 

Boost is now connected to my router, but I was still getting drop out on the Play 5. Since I now have a spare Bridge I tried to set this up as wireless in between the Boost and Play 5 as I read somewhere that this could help with the signal. However, as soon as I disconnect the ethernet cable to the bridge to move it to be between Boost and Play 5, it is no longer showing on the system as connected (just as ‘Bridge’, with no info, and then this morning it had disappeared completely). 

I’m playing around with the sonos/wifi channel combinations…..

Here’s a screen shot of the Network Matrix  with both wifi and sonos on channel 11 for example, it does seem to vary but what seems consistent is the matrix Boost: Big One (Play 5) is always green, whereas with the bridge it was yellow or orange. 

The undefined column (grey) is I assume the bridge which isn’t doing anything at present.

However, when I switched to Sonos channel 1 and wifi channel 11, the bridge appeared! However, I don’t think it’s actually doing anything - would someone who knows more than me be able to confirm this? Is it going to be better to remove the bridge? * note, it now seems to be a feature on wifi channel 1 as well…...odd?

I’m going to keep playing around with the channel combos - is this worth doing since the matrix isn’t static and it DOES indeed vary alot?

Thanks in advance for any help!

Brucie

You can remove the Bridge as it’s not doing anything.

You want your WiFi and SonosNet to be on different channels. You can also limit your router’s 2.4GHz band to 20MHz

From the first matrix, I’d keep SonosNet on channel 11, and try your router on channel 1 or 6.

Hi there Mr T.

Thanks for your quick response. I notice that the Bridge sometimes has a slightly better inbound signal strength to the Big One (Play 5) than the Boost  - maybe by 5 or 7. Can you force the Play 5 to use the bridge? Or would that not really make any difference? Would removing the bridge help with the boost’s signal (sorry for if these questions are dumb, I’m not an expert clearly!)

As I’m cycling though the channels I’m seeing that the Bridge and Play 5 (Big One) are always on OFDM signal level 3 but the Boost does vary, but does cut out even when OFDM is 0 or 1.

I’m on a BT Hub which I’ve been told defaults to 20MHz at 2.4GHz.

Sonos 11 and wifi 1 seemed to give the best signal strength on the Boost although it was pretty variable and not as good as 11 and 11.

thanks again for your input

Brucie

I’m not an expert either but from the matrix the Bridge is only connecting to your Boost. It is not doing anything to enhance the communication to your actual speakers. The only inbound/outbound matrix labels you should be concerned about are the coloured ones. The grey ones are not paths being used. Also Sonos will look to minimise wireless hops, so unlikely your speakers would connect to a wireless Bridge, unless there was a considerable distance between the speakers and the wired Boost, which is not the case.

“Big one” is showing a mild noise level. 

thanks, that makes a lot of sense. I’ve switched off the bridge, although it’s still showing in the matrix (just undefined as per my first screen shot).

Anyway having cycled through ALL the options, what I’ve noted is that the Play 5 (Big One) is always on OFDM 3 and the Boost is variable from 0-5 and slightly better on some wifi/sonos channel combos than others. But cut outs occur on all combinations, so it’s not really a solution.

At the moment the Boost is sitting pretty close to the router (maybe 2 feet away) as this is the best that can be done without drilling though walls and running new cables. Could the problem be interference? I guess I could temporarily drape some cables and move the Boost closer to the Play 5 (Big One) to see if this helps?

If not, I guess I return the Boost and fork out for the latest Play 5…. but it seems such a waste.

Interference is a definite possibility. Ideally you want around 3ft minimum between the router and Boost. One test you could do is turn off the 2.4GHz band on your router to see if you are able to play without dropouts. I’d also check for anything that could be interfering with the Play:5 - see Reduce wireless interference

Thanks again. I’ve moved the router and its dropped out already :(

If I switch off the 2.4GHz and it’s better does that mean that I need to have it permanently switched off for improvements? And any devices connected won’t work? I see that Sonos is connected on this frequency - although I don’t think it can be as it should be using the Sonos network now via the boost….

No, I wasn’t suggesting you permanently disable the router’s 2.4GHz band, just temporarily to see if having it off improved the Boost’s performance  and therefore “confirm” interference from the router being so close to the Boost was likely the cause of your troubles.

If you’re happy with the placement of your devices, I would perhaps contact Sonos Support as they have tools available to evaluate your specific system.