Ok, so the first thing I’d do is go into the BT Home Hub menu on 192.168.1.254 and click on advanced settings. It will prompt you for the admin password on the back of the router on a pull out piece of plastic. You can then go into the wireless settings on the hub and disable WiFi… Your BT hub will then just provide the passthrough to the internet for the Deco’s and keep your phone running as is. You may need to reconnect any devices that used the BT WiFi to your Deco one. 

As a test, then move your NAS near to your master Deco M4 and plug it into the spare ethernet port on the master Deco. The other should be the cable going back to the BT Hub. 

At this point check to make sure the Sonos App now reliably sees your NAS and local library. 

Then power down all your Play:1’s and 3’s that are not part of the Arc system. Leave your stereo Era’s as is, as they can’t use Sonosnet. Unplug the Arc ethernet from the Deco nearby and reboot the Arc. Verify that the Arc and the sub/surrounds are all still functional. Then power on the Play speakers and verify they still work. 

What all that should do is remove the BT Hub 2.4GHz an 5GHz networks, and also the Sonosnet 2.4Ghz network. That leaves you with the Deco’s providing your main WiFi on 2.4/5Ghz, and the dedicated 5Ghz network the Arc uses to talk to the Sub and surrounds. That’s the minimum number of networks you can get to easily. IF you still have interference, the Deco now has more room to manoeuvre in choosing a less congested channel.

If the NAS works plugged into the Master Deco, then run a second cable from the cupboard to the master Deco and use that to plug the NAS back in to the Master Deco from the cupboard. 

As *ALL* your Sonos kit and the NAS should directly connected to a Deco, I would hope that it would be better at handling the various broadcast signals that Sonos needs to work better. 

If not, then it’s time to try without the BT hub completely and just using the Deco’s, and taking them out of bridge mode. However that will mean loss of phone, so if that is the case only way for it all to work reliably, you my want to talk to BT to see if you can change to a tariff that doesn’t include a land line number. It’s no longer compulsory like it used to be when the phone line carried the broadband signal. 

Hope that’s not too daunting and makes sense! 

Hi Ian. Very many thanks for taking the time to reply. It is very much appreciated.

I’ve gone through all the steps you mentioned and the system has located all the speakers and verified they are all working. Also verified the NAS is discoverable by Sonos (Played some music stored thereon) and my Mac.

I’m just a bit confused about this. That was already the first step you suggested so I now have:-

BT Home Hub Wireless turned off.

Ethernet from Home Hub to Deco Master

NAS ethernet connected to Deco master unit

NO Sonos units wired.

So above seems redundant?

I’ve submitted a diagnostic so Sonos can see if that shows any reduction in interference. For now I guess it’s run not for a week or so and see what transpires.

PS Old telephone still plugged into Home Hub and working

Was simply meaning if that works, then go to the effort of laying a cable so you can hide the NAS in the cupboard again… no point doing that if it didn’t work 

Fingers crossed it stays a bit more stable for you!!

Ah ok. You weren’t to know the Deco was on top of the cupboard with the BT hub and NAS and redirecting that Ethernet cable was thankfully trivial

If you have a Mac, there’s a tool I use

https://apps.apple.com/gb/app/wifi-explorer-scanner/id494803304?mt=12

This lets your Mac scan the surrounding WiFi networks so you can see where conflicts may be. I find it very useful.  

Hi @Stuart_W 

Apologies - I had a long weekend off.

For what it’s worth, I basically agree with everything @Ian_S has said.

Let’s see how the testing goes!

Yesterday I had a number of drop outs, slipping backwards and forwards of track from my music played from the NAS.

I powered of everything. All speakers, internet hub and wi-fi mesh. All then powered back on. Suffered some more room drop-outs on BBC Sounds this morning and have submitted a couple of diagnostics. Also submitted a diagnostic yesterday

Please advise if I should call

Hi @Stuart_W 

I think the best piece of advice I can give you now is to try to use a more modern device as the speaker that is in charge of a group - currently, you have two groups, and have a Play:1 running each one. 

The speaker that is in charge of a group (GC - Group Coordinator) can make a large difference in how that group performs. The GC is responsible for fetching a music stream, then coordinating it’s playback over the network and delivering the data to the other speakers in the group. Although the level of interference seen by the GC can be a major factor, all things being equal, so is it’s available resources (in terms of CPU and RAM) - especially for larger groups.

Therefore, when you create a group (and please disband your current groups so you can do this), please try to put a Sonos One, an Era or an Arc in charge by selecting it first, then grouping other rooms to it.

I also see some multicast packets not destined for a Sonos device reaching the network interface of the Office (R) speaker - I recommend enabling IGMP Snooping/Filtering on your router, if that option is available (if I recall correctly, a BT router won’t have the option, but a Deco might).

I have advised that from the start. If you still experience issues after following the above advice, sure - please do call in.

I hope this helps.

Thanks Cory. I’ll investigate those router/mesh settings. As to the Group Co-Ordinator I can do that. One question on that. If I start on the ARC (say) and then group some other rooms to it. Then stop playback some time later starts a new stream will the GC stay as originally set?

Hi @Stuart_W 

Yes - as long as the TV is not turned on. If the TV is turned on, the behaviour will depend on the Ungroup on Autoplay setting for the Arc.

I hope this helps.