Avid Contributor III

Answered

Airplay to Sonos One speaker with only cellular internet connectivity available

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 15, 2020
23 replies
2823 views

I am trying to find a way of playing music from my iPhone via my Sonos One speaker at a location where cellular data is available but there is no LAN or internet connectivity available via Wi-Fi or Ethernet. Is it possible to use a Sonos One on a closed network without internet connectivity? Or does Airplay necessarily rely on being able to connect to the Sonos cloud? If so, exactly what hardware do I need to create a Wi-Fi signal that I can use to connect to the speaker via Airplay? Or is there a way I can turn a cellular data signal into a Wi-Fi signal and for it to behave like a regular local area WI-Fi network?

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

Best answer by Ken_Griffiths

You need two mobile devices to do this, one mobile device needs to be setup as a WiFi Hotspot/Router and the other is used with the S2 Sonos controller App.

Connect the controller device to the WiFi Hotspot and either add another wireless network to the Sonos Controller App or ‘factory reset’ and setup the Sonos speaker on the nearby broadcasting WiFi Hotspot signal. Note when you factory reset a device for use in this way it will lose all previous settings and services.

To add an additional wireless network you can do the following steps:

Ensure the mobile device is connected to the new WiFi network (Hotspot).
Open the Sonos app and wait while it searches for your existing Sonos system.
- If the app shows “We can’t connect to Sonos,” tap This isn’t working.
Tap More Options, then Update Wi-Fi Settings.
Follow the instructions to connect your previously setup speaker to the new WiFi network.

Some Sonos products, can remember the credentials for up to 16 wireless networks. When you bring your speaker back home, it may automatically reconnect to your WiFi network.

It’s often easier to factory reset the Sonos product for mobile setup and use in this way.

Once the speaker setup is complete on the Hotspot, you can then either use the Sonos App to play music etc. to the speaker or use other Apps on the controller device to ‘Connect’/‘Airplay’ to the speaker too.

Ken_GriffithsAnswer

You need two mobile devices to do this, one mobile device needs to be setup as a WiFi Hotspot/Router and the other is used with the S2 Sonos controller App.

Connect the controller device to the WiFi Hotspot and either add another wireless network to the Sonos Controller App or ‘factory reset’ and setup the Sonos speaker on the nearby broadcasting WiFi Hotspot signal. Note when you factory reset a device for use in this way it will lose all previous settings and services.

To add an additional wireless network you can do the following steps:

Ensure the mobile device is connected to the new WiFi network (Hotspot).
Open the Sonos app and wait while it searches for your existing Sonos system.
- If the app shows “We can’t connect to Sonos,” tap This isn’t working.
Tap More Options, then Update Wi-Fi Settings.
Follow the instructions to connect your previously setup speaker to the new WiFi network.

Some Sonos products, can remember the credentials for up to 16 wireless networks. When you bring your speaker back home, it may automatically reconnect to your WiFi network.

It’s often easier to factory reset the Sonos product for mobile setup and use in this way.

Once the speaker setup is complete on the Hotspot, you can then either use the Sonos App to play music etc. to the speaker or use other Apps on the controller device to ‘Connect’/‘Airplay’ to the speaker too.

J

John B

@Matty72 . You seem to have conflicting information in your post. You say there is no LAN, then ask about whether things will work on a closed network.

We know there is no connection to the Internet, but I am not sure what the rest of the picture is. Please would you clarify?

M

Matty72Author

Avid Contributor III

You need two mobile devices to do this, one mobile device needs to be setup as a WiFi Hotspot/Router and the other is used with the S2 Sonos controller App.

Connect the controller device to the WiFi Hotspot and either add another wireless network to the Sonos Controller App or ‘factory reset’ and setup the Sonos speaker on the nearby broadcasting WiFi Hotspot signal. Note when you factory reset a device for use in this way it will lose all previous settings and services.

To add an additional wireless network you can do the following steps:

Ensure the mobile device is connected to the new WiFi network (Hotspot).
Open the Sonos app and wait while it searches for your Sonos system.
- If the app shows “We can’t connect to Sonos,” tap This isn’t working.
Tap More Options, then Update Wi-Fi Settings.
Follow the instructions to connect your previously setup speaker to the new WiFi network.

Sonos products can remember the credentials for up to 16 wireless networks. When you bring your Move back home, it will automatically reconnect to your WiFi network.

Once the speaker setup is complete on the Hotspot, you can then either use the Sonos App to play music etc. to the speaker or use other Apps on the controller device to ‘Connect’/‘Airplay’ to the speaker too.

I followed these instructions. When I disconnect 2 iPhones from Wi-Fi then connect iPhone #1 to cellular data and tether iPhone #2 to iPhone #1’s hotspot and open the Sonos S2 application on iPhone #2, the System button is disabled and I can’t reach “Wireless Setup”.

I may also be in areas where there is no cellular data available and I am wondering whether there is a device I can use that creates a WI-Fi signal and network without an internet connection so I can play music that is stored locally via Airplay on the devices that are connected to it to my Sonos One speaker.

You mention a Sonos Move speaker. I have a Sonos One. Can this model also remember 16 networks?

J

John B

Greyed out options often indicate version incompatibility. Are your speaker and the Sonos app on the mobile device fully up to date?

J

John B

A further thought. Is the speaker currently set up with your home network credentials? If so you could use the same SSID and password for your mobile hotspot.

M

Matty72Author

Avid Contributor III

Greyed out options often indicate version incompatibility. Are your speaker and the controller mobile device fully up to date?

The controller iPhone is running iOS 14.2 on which I just installed the Sonos S2 application and my Sonos One speakers are set to update automatically and are up to date.

Ken_Griffiths

You need two mobile devices to do this, one mobile device needs to be setup as a WiFi Hotspot/Router and the other is used with the S2 Sonos controller App.

Connect the controller device to the WiFi Hotspot and either add another wireless network to the Sonos Controller App or ‘factory reset’ and setup the Sonos speaker on the nearby broadcasting WiFi Hotspot signal. Note when you factory reset a device for use in this way it will lose all previous settings and services.

To add an additional wireless network you can do the following steps:

Ensure the mobile device is connected to the new WiFi network (Hotspot).
Open the Sonos app and wait while it searches for your Sonos system.
- If the app shows “We can’t connect to Sonos,” tap This isn’t working.
Tap More Options, then Update Wi-Fi Settings.
Follow the instructions to connect your previously setup speaker to the new WiFi network.

Sonos products can remember the credentials for up to 16 wireless networks. When you bring your Move back home, it will automatically reconnect to your WiFi network.

Once the speaker setup is complete on the Hotspot, you can then either use the Sonos App to play music etc. to the speaker or use other Apps on the controller device to ‘Connect’/‘Airplay’ to the speaker too.

I followed these instructions. When I disconnect 2 iPhones from Wi-Fi then connect iPhone #1 to cellular data and tether iPhone #2 to iPhone #1’s hotspot and open the Sonos S2 application on iPhone #2, the System button is disabled and I can’t reach “Wireless Setup”.

I may also be in areas where there is no cellular data available and I am wondering whether there is a device I can use that creates a WI-Fi signal and network without an internet connection so I can play music that is stored locally via Airplay on the devices that are connected to it to my Sonos One speaker.

You mention a Sonos Move speaker. I have a Sonos One. Can this model also remember 16 networks?

It’s often easier to factory reset a speaker to get it setup on a mobile hotspot, that’s as long as it’s not your only speaker you can add it back to your existing network later. If it’s your only speaker however you will lose everything, settings, playlists, music services etc and have to set them up from the beginning.

J

John B

Changing the SSID and Password on the mobile hotspot to match those of the home network sometimes works and avoids the need to reset.

M

Matty72Author

Avid Contributor III

A further thought. Is the speaker currently set up with your home network credentials? If so you could use the same SSID and password for your mobile hotspot.

Yes the speaker is currently set up with my home network credentials. An iPhone’s hotspot SSID is the iPhone’s name. I don’t really want this to be the same as the SSID of my home Wi-Fi network. Is there a way of changing the SSID of the iPhone’s hotspot without changing the iPhone’s name attribute?

Ken_Griffiths

Adding an additional wireless network does work easier when you have a Sonos Move in the setup, but you can add such networks through "Settings/System/Network/Wireless Setup’ too, when your system is (already) connected to a WiFi or SonosNet (wired) connection.. If adding a WiFi network however, as I described in my first post, you need to be out of range of your existing WiFi connection or perhaps simply switch off the WiFi router instead to then go onto add your new WiFi network which must be broadcasting and in range.

As mentioned though a factory reset is often the quick/easier route, for some users.

Show more replies

Sign up

Login to the community