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Contributor I
September 4, 2016

ASUS RT-AC88U

  • September 4, 2016
  • 62 replies
  • 25964 views
I recently bought a new wifi router/access point an ASUS RT-AC88U

Once I switched over to it I found that I had sporadic access to my Sonos speakers (Play 3, Playbar + Sub).
Sometimes I could connect to the speakers, sometimes I couldn't. When I could connect I'd sometimes be able to see all the rooms and other times only 1.

I played with a bunch of wifi settings and finally tracked down the culprit.
Wireless menu >> Professional Tab >> Airtime Fairness
This setting is enabled by default. When I disabled it my access to my Sonos was restored to it's former fully functioning glory.
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62 replies

Lyricist I
November 9, 2017
This message also caused me (a dedicated lurker) to create an account to post.

It also stopped me moving away from Sonos products. I have 2 Play:1 devices which have been a little random in terms of connecting and this had caused me to put on hold any additional purchases (I had planned on replacing the 5.1 setup in the Living Room and adding speakers to other rooms). More importantly the family has lost trust in them and were pushing me to seek alternatives.

All of a sudden I can connect to my speakers again in a (so far) reliable way. No more firing up the controller app and wondering "Will I be lucky this time".

Will see how things go for a few weeks and if all goes well, and the family learn to trust it all again I will be able to reinstate my original "Sonos Everywhere" policy.
Lyricist I
November 20, 2017
This was driving me crazy. Once I disabled Air fairness, we are up and running. I was getting concerned I had to replace the new router or get another just for the Sonos. I really enjoy the speakers and would have hated to move to something else.

Thanks for figuring this out.
Lyricist I
December 6, 2017
make sure that you set it for both your bands (2.4 and 5ghz) !
Lyricist II
December 16, 2017
Be sure to set it for all bands!
Lyricist II
December 17, 2017
Thanks a lot, you made my weekend. @Sonos Staff: please include this in your FAQ!
Collaborator II
December 17, 2017
It’s on their hardware compatability list:

https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/42/~/sonos-and-incompatible-hardware
Lyricist I
December 21, 2017
I see that it's there. No one is going to find it without going through the built-in troubleshooting script a few times to make sure they didn't get something wrong, and then coming here. This is an obscure incompatibility to even purchasers of the latest ASUS routers.
pwt
Virtuoso
December 21, 2017
I see that it's there. No one is going to find it without going through the built-in troubleshooting script a few times to make sure they didn't get something wrong, and then coming here. This is an obscure incompatibility to even purchasers of the latest ASUS routers.
Not to beat a dead horse, but in your situation the first thing I’d have done is Googled ‘ASUS and Sonos’. Try it. I’m surprised at the number of questions on this forum that could have been quickly resolved with the simplest of searches.
4 x P:5 | Sub | 4 x P:1 | 3 x Connect | 2 x Boost | Connect:Amp | 2 x One | Amp | Move | Port | Era 300
Lyricist I
December 24, 2017
Just create my account on this forum to thank you!!
Lyricist I
December 31, 2017
Hi Everyone,

I just got a new Play:5 Gen II, got home to set it up with my RT-AC88U router and it won't connect. I tried going to Wireless Setting --> Professional to disable airtime fairness however that setting doesn't seem to be accessible. I am running the latest firmware (3.0.0.4.382_18991). Any help on how to disable airtime fairness? Below is a screen shot of what I see when I go into Wireless settings.

. Hopefully you can tell in the screenshot that there are no tabs up top to view professional settings as other instructions say to follow to turn off airtime fairness. I do have several other Sonos components hooked and working fine.