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4 Wifi Connections showing for 3 Sonos devices

  • December 6, 2022
  • 5 replies
  • 119 views

I’m setting up Sonos in a new house starting with a Sonos ARC and 2 and 2 roams.  I’m using a SONOS ARC for the first time and in setting up the new network noticed 4 Sonos connections listed in WIFI.  The 2 Roams, The ARC and something called Sonos Home Audio System.  Everything seems to operate ok but  does anyone know what device the Home Audio System is?

Best answer by buzz

Go to Settings → System → About My System. Here you’ll see the Mac addresses of the players. WM: 0 shows players that are wired, WM: 1 shows players that use WiFi. ROAM will always be WM: 1.

Is this extra device shown in Settings? I’ve never seen the behavior that you describe, however, these devices do have 2.4 and 5GHz radios and they might switch access points, particularly the ROAM’s if you move them around. It’s possible that your WiFi manager noticed another radio and logged this, but I doubt that all four devices will be online simultaneously. However, if your manager hangs on to recent connections there may be some overlap before stale data is removed from view. If a unit is being double counted, I expect that the Mac addresses will be different only by a couple characters at the end of the string.

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5 replies

Corry P
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  • Sonos Staff
  • December 7, 2022

Hi @Frankh828 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

That is pretty strange - I don’t think it’s anything to do with us, though I suppose there could be a underlying part of our system that I’m not aware of that does this during setup, and you’re seeing the vestiges of that process. I’ve certainly never heard of this happening.

The best way to find out is with the associated MAC address for that device/connection. Copy the MAC address and paste it into the box on this webpage: https://www.wireshark.org/tools/oui-lookup.html The webpage will hopefully tell you the manufacturer associated with the MAC address. If it's us, please let me know and I’ll do some digging.

I hope this helps.


  • Author
  • Contributor I
  • December 7, 2022

Entered MAC 542a1bbba234 result: 54:2A:1B Sonos, Inc.

This is what shows when I enter the MAC associated with Sonos Home Audio System


buzz
  • Answer
  • December 7, 2022

Go to Settings → System → About My System. Here you’ll see the Mac addresses of the players. WM: 0 shows players that are wired, WM: 1 shows players that use WiFi. ROAM will always be WM: 1.

Is this extra device shown in Settings? I’ve never seen the behavior that you describe, however, these devices do have 2.4 and 5GHz radios and they might switch access points, particularly the ROAM’s if you move them around. It’s possible that your WiFi manager noticed another radio and logged this, but I doubt that all four devices will be online simultaneously. However, if your manager hangs on to recent connections there may be some overlap before stale data is removed from view. If a unit is being double counted, I expect that the Mac addresses will be different only by a couple characters at the end of the string.


Corry P
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  • Sonos Staff
  • December 8, 2022

Hi @Frankh828 

I couldn’t compare the MAC address you provided against your system as you’re using a different email address here on the forum. Could you please DM me the email address that your Sonos system is registered to (don’t post it here on the forum) and I’ll check things for you. Thanks.


Corry P
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  • Sonos Staff
  • December 8, 2022

Hi @Frankh828 

One more thing - if two of the four MAC addresses for the connections you see vary only by the last character, then @buzz is correct. I think this is likely.