Contributor I

Answered

Compatibility WiFi 6 (802.11ax) mode

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
January 25, 2021
41 replies
21986 views

Hi there.

I recently upgraded my router to a Wifi 6 (no extender or mesh).

I have

3 x older Play 1s (2 as surrounds)
1 x Soundbar
3 x One SLs

I have found that, using 2.4GHz wifi, the 3 One SLs (i.e. newer hardware) work just fine however the older hardware cannot be seen on the network

UNLESS I turn off Wifi 6 mode and go into a compatibility mode… Then everything is fine.

As a workaround, my house is Cat 5 wired (and a couple of units are placed to enable connection directly to an ethernet port. I therefore connected the Playbar to try and create a hard wired configuration… It seemed that this didn’t work either, with an inability for anything to be seen / configured by the iOS app…

My questions are therefore:
1. Am I right to assume the Play 1’s and Playbar will not work with Wifi 6?
2. Because wireless router remained on whilst trying to config in wired mode, has this prevented a wired mode setup working?
3. What is the range of using SonosNet (i.e. wired mode) vs WiFi?
(and finally) 4. Would a Boost alleviate all my woes above and thus enable me to use WiFi 6 in my house?

Appreciate someone’s help on this.

Thanks

Wi-Fi 6

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Best answer by BunkMuffin

Right. I’ve rolled back my router firmware to version 384.9948.

I can see Sonos is already behaving differently on the network.

Fingers crossed this works.

Nice one controlav.

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Smilja

By temporarily connecting to the WiFi, would then being able to change the Sonos settings enable me to revert to using the modem and the sonosnet network?

No. You mentioned a dumb network switch. If it supports IGMP Snooping cable the Playbar to the switch (provided that the switch is connected to the WiFi router).

»And the world is like an apple whirling silently in space, Like the circles that you find in the windmills of your mind.« (›Windmills Of Your Mind‹ [1967]. Music by Michel Legrand ; English lyrics written by Alan & Marilyn Bergman)

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

The only thing I see missing is trying static/reserved IP addresses once you sort the issues following that post’s question out.

B

BunkMuffinAuthor

Contributor I

The only thing I see missing is trying static/reserved IP addresses once you sort the issues following that post’s question out.

Thanks for replying.

Sadly, I have done this too.

Last night I went back to basics, going through a process of resetting each part, starting with the modem… I’ll test this again today and see if I can weed out the issue....

J

John B

I would like to go back to a comment in your first post:

“UNLESS I turn off Wifi 6 mode and go into a compatibility mode… Then everything is fine. “

What exactly does that mean? Does it mean that 5GHz band is turned off, or does it simply mean that the router is happy to deal with older protocols using 2.4GHz. If the latter, then you don’t really have a problem.

B

BunkMuffinAuthor

Contributor I

I would like to go back to a comment in your first post:

“UNLESS I turn off Wifi 6 mode and go into a compatibility mode… Then everything is fine. “

What exactly does that mean? Does it mean that 5GHz band is turned off, or does it simply mean that the router is happy to deal with older protocols using 2.4GHz. If the latter, then you don’t really have a problem.

Yes, what I believed I had initially discovered was placing the router into “WiFi 5 mode” solved the problem, however following further testing, this did not seem to be correct and with either setting I’ve subsequently experienced issues...

J

John B

OK. In that case I would like to understand better (if you wouldn’t mind clarifying) what the relationships are between the modem, switch and router that you have mentioned. What is connected to what and how? If you can easily provided makes and models of the devices that would be helpful.

Are you sure that what you have referred to as a modem is indeed a pure modem, not a modem/router?

B

BunkMuffinAuthor

Contributor I

OK. In that case I would like to understand better (if you wouldn’t mind clarifying) what the relationships are between the modem, switch and router that you have mentioned. What is connected to what and how? If you can easily provided makes and models of the devices that would be helpful.

Are you sure that what you have referred to as a modem is indeed a pure modem, not a modem/router?

No problem.

Master phone point » Sky Q router (wireless turned off) » ASUS Ax82 wireless router located in middle of house.
I configure the Sonos by plugging into asus router.

My house is cat 5 wired, so I have an option to hard wire the playbar in, however, subsequent testing finds that it’s physical location means it can’t see all my other Sonos hardware via Sonos net.

Dolet me know if there are other details you want! Cheers

J

John B

Is anything other than the Asus router wired to the Sky router?

There is mention of a switch. How does that figure in the scheme?

What does ‘configure the Sonos by plugging into asus router’ mean?

Currently, is any Sonos device connected by Ethernet to anything, and if so, to what?

Thanks

B

BunkMuffinAuthor

Contributor I

The Sky router also serves a wired connection to a unmanaged switch, which serves my sky box and TV.

The Asus router serves two PCs (wired).

Currently, no Sonos is connected by Ethernet.

As an update from this morning… I reset everything in the early hours, then connected the playbar (with two surrounds) and a single One SL.

Everything seemed fine and stable.

I have just connected a Play 1 now (starting via wired and then disconnecting into wireless mode) and the whole system has again disappeared from my network. The iOS app can’t see anything. Neither can my PC.

Could this be a firewall setting on my router?

ratty

At the risk of being today’s Captain Obvious, a Sonos controller connected to the Asus router is not going to be able to see any Sonos unit wired to the Sky router (or to its switch). They’d be on different subnets.

Equally any controller on a device wired to the Sky box or switch wouldn’t see a Sonos device using the Asus’ WiFi.

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