Airplay to Sonos One speaker with only cellular internet connectivity available

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
December 15, 2020
23 replies
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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?

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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.

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M

Matty72Author

Avid Contributor III

I am still finding that I need to factory reset my Sonos One each time I change Wi-Fi networks. Is switching between Wi-Fi networks without having to factory reset each time a supported feature? If so, what exactly is the process to get this to work?

On this particular issue, when trying to connect a Sonos One (that is already registered on a Wi-Fi network) to a different Wi-Fi network by going to:

Settings-->System-->Network-->Wireless Setup

I arrive at the screen below. When I connect the Sonos One to the router via an Ethernet cable and return to the above path as instructed, I simply end up in a loop where the same screen appears once again.

Ken_Griffiths

The screenshot attached shows the WiFi networks I have in use and the previous WiFi networks not currently in use.

The steps are as described earlier, but it might be the case you need to do this with a Sonos Move installed to the Sonos Household, rather than a Sonos One (perhaps?) as that ‘portable’ speaker is designed to move around networks in this way. Or perhaps use a wired connection to each router instead to add the network credentials via the App in ‘Settings/System/Network/Wireless Setup”.

I have also put some screenshots in this (temporarily) shared online folder for you to see the ‘relevant’ screens in the S2 App, so perhaps see if that assists you.. I’ve used a Play:1 speaker in the example shown (iPad controller)

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0SGSkLVwGSRDnd

M

Matty72Author

Avid Contributor III

The screenshot attached shows the WiFi networks I have in use and the previous WiFi networks not currently in use.

The steps are as described earlier, but it might be the case you need to do this with a Sonos Move installed to the Sonos Household, rather than a Sonos One (perhaps?) as that ‘portable’ speaker is designed to move around networks in this way. Or perhaps use a wired connection to each router instead to add the network credentials via the App in ‘Settings/System/Network/Wireless Setup”.

I have also put some screenshots in this (temporarily) shared online folder for you to see the ‘relevant’ screens in the S2 App, so perhaps see if that assists you.. I’ve used a Play:1 speaker in the example shown (iPad controller)

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0SGSkLVwGSRDnd

I would like to add a Sonos Move to my network eventually. Black ones are not available where I am located at the moment. What I am trying to achieve is to make a One portable which is a temporary solution until I get a Move. Factory resetting isn’t particularly onerous though it would be a bonus to be able to switch easily between networks. Once I add a Move, there won’t be a need to switch networks as the Move will become the portable speaker which supports Bluetooth.

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