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I switched my internet provider and have a new router now. My Sonos speaker worked find with the old router, but my new provider provided a Fritz!Box 7530 AX, which only work with my Sonos speaker if I wire them together using a ethernet cable. I suspect that the Fritz!Box has a setting or something that prevents the speaker from using the wifi, but I fail to find a reason why. Other hardware like laptops, phones, the TV and even my body scale can connect to the network.

I already checked the settings “Allow all new wireless devices” and “Active wireless devices may communicate with each other” as suggested in https://en.community.sonos.com/old-troubleshooting-229136/wifi-connection-issue-with-fritz-box-6836814. Both options are checked but the system still fails to setup wifi for the Sonos Play:5.

I have tried a lot, but the following description is probably the best explanation of what is happening (although I am not sure if I translate everything correctly, I am using the app in german):

  1. I go the Sonos App on my Android device, choose the settings tab, go to System and then Network, then manage networks, where another button “Upgrade network” appears.
  2. After pressing the “Upgrade network” button an overlay asks if I want to add a trusted network, which I confirm.
  3. I confirm that the systems are connected to a power source and click on “search system”
  4. It finds my Sonos Play:5 and I choose that I want to edit its network settings by clicking on “Choose”
  5. The app complains that the ethernet cable is connected.
  6. I remove the ethernet cable as the app asks me to and click on “Not with ethernet cable connected” button
  7. The app asks me to press the join button on the speaker. I do that and confirm the message in the app.
  8. The app tries to search for the speaker. After it finds it, it says that it wants to connect my mobile phone with the speaker’s temporary network “SONOS”, which I confirm.
  9. The app searches for a while, until it quits with an error message saying that a connection could not be established.
  10. After confirming it asks me to press the join button again. I press the button until the color of the light changes and blinks white/orange, then I confirm again in the app that I’ve pressed the button.
  11. The app tries to establish a connection.
  12. A popup saying “Searching for device” appears and 
  13. Another popup appears that the device is not found. I say I want to try it again.
  14. A popup appears saying that this did not work.
  15. The mobile device says again, that no connection to the speaker could not be connected.

As said before, I think that this is an issue in combination with the Fritz!Box, which seems to have more restrictive settings than my previous router.

Also, the Fritz!Box has a table labeled “Show Unsuccessful Registration Attempts”, which is even empty after that.

Does anybody have an idea if there is something else that I need to configure on my Fritz!Box? Or any other ideas, which would make that work?

After posting that I stopped the setup process. Afterwards the app somehow found the Play:5 speaker again, then the following slightly different path happened:

  1. I chose to setup the speaker
  2. It asked me to connect to the speaker’s temporary network
  3. An android message appears asking if it is OK to switch to the temporary network, which I confirm
  4. The setup screen is running for a while, but at some point the app says that the setup did not succeed, and something else should be tried.
  5. After pressing confirm it searches again for the box, and wants to connect to a temporary wifi again, which I confirm.
  6. The android message appears again, and I confirm to connect to the temporary wifi
  7. The next screen says that it tries to establish a connection. After a while an error message appears, asking me to connect the speaker using a ethernet cable (which already worked and I actually do not want).

Do you only have the one Sonos speaker?

@danrot, In the Fritzbox router, within the ‘WiFi security’ tab, there is a setting called The WLAN devices displayed may communicate with each other → enable it, if it is disabled.

 

Sonos require unrestricted internet access. If you have assigned any restrictions undo it.

https://en.avm.de/service/knowledge-base/dok/FRITZ-Box-7530/8_Restricting-internet-use-with-parental-controls/

My thoughts are if you have two or more speakers, then wire a different Sonos speaker and also the Play: 5 to the router and try the ‘update networks’ option again - alternatively if you only have the one device, reboot the speaker, the new router and also the mobile controller device …then (without wiring the speaker) try the ‘update networks’ option again.. note even if you do see an error in the App the credentials entered (see attached screenshots) may get passed to the speaker, so try restarting it to see if it then connects to your controller App.

@danrot, In the Fritzbox router, within the ‘WiFi security’ tab, there is a setting called The WLAN devices displayed may communicate with each other → enable it, if it is disabled.

 

Sonos require unrestricted internet access. If you have assigned any restrictions undo it.

https://en.avm.de/service/knowledge-base/dok/FRITZ-Box-7530/8_Restricting-internet-use-with-parental-controls/

As written above the “Active wireless devices may communicate with each other” is already enabled (I guess that is the option you are talking about, the exact wording you have used does not exist in the Fritz!Box UI).

I have not created any restrictions, by default there seems only to be something for the guest network, which I am not using.

As written above the “Active wireless devices may communicate with each other” is already enabled (I guess that is the option you are talking about, the exact wording you have used does not exist in the Fritz!Box UI).

 

Apologies, I skipped that part. The interface of my Fritzbox is in German, so I’m not familiar with its English interface. The Fritzbox is the most popular router in Germany, usually Sonos works fine with it.

 

I’d recommend to get in touch with AVM, the manufacturer or you call German Sonos Support, as far as I am aware there is English speaking staff there too.

https://en.avm.de/contact/

My thoughts are if you have two or more speakers, then wire a different Sonos speaker and also the Play: 5 to the router and try the ‘update networks’ option again - alternatively if you only have the one device, reboot the speaker, the new router and also the mobile controller device …then (without wiring the speaker) try the ‘update networks’ option again.. note even if you do see an error in the App the credentials entered (see attached screenshots) may get passed to the speaker, so try restarting it to see if it then connects to your controller App.

I have a second speaker, a play:1. I’ve planned to get one running first, but now I’ve tried your suggestion. I wired both speakers to the router and got them configured. However, if I tried to go to Settings → System → Network and then chose Upgrade Network it did not work. I was asked to choose one of the speakers, and if I do so I ended up in the same loop as before and the app just said that it could not setup the speakers correctly. This also means that I was not able at all to choose a network or enter the wifi passphrase.

After that I also tried your second suggestion, disconnected both speakers from their power plug, and let them reboot. I did the same to the router. I also quit the sonos app on my phone, and after the network and speakers were up again I tried to choose update networks again, but without any luck either. The app just said that there is a problem and asked to solve a problem. But doing so didn’t help either. The system menu entry in the settings was deactivated at that point.

This might be hassle for you @danrot, but I have two further separate suggestions which you might want to consider...

  • One option would be to rename your Fritzbox WiFi network to the same as your previous routers WiFi network, using the old password too.
  • Another option you could consider, if you have two mobile devices available, is to setup a (separate) mobile hotspot to mirror your old router WiFi SSID/credentials and get one of your speakers running on that hotspot signal, then using a second (original) mobile device with the controller App installed, connect the App to the speaker and try the ‘Update Networks’ process again when all are on that network hotspot and see if it accept the Fritz WiFi credentials.

With my own Sonos system I use speakers at several different locations, with different routers and have used this mobile hotspot method to add several networks to my devices, as shown in the attached screenshot. So this perhaps might work for you too (hopefully).🤞

I did a bit more research and I found this…

-

All Sonos products support 802.11b/g Wi-Fi modes and Open, WEP, and WPA/WPA2 Personal Wi-Fi security standards.

-

So perhaps ensure the Fritz!box is not using WPA3 security mode and is backward compatible to the WiFi standards mentioned, as that may help to get the devices switched over to the new wireless network too. 

I did a bit more research and I found this…

-

All Sonos products support 802.11b/g Wi-Fi modes and Open, WEP, and WPA/WPA2 Personal Wi-Fi security standards.

-

So perhaps ensure the Fritz!box is not using WPA3 security mode and is backward compatible to the WiFi standards mentioned, as that may help to get the devices switched over to the new wireless network too. 

I do not know who marked this as answer (I did not), but it didn’t solve the issue. My Router was already running on WPA2 (CCMP), not on WPA3, so that cannot be the issue.

Hi @danrot 

That was me. Unfortunately, not everyone reports back when they have success, so we sometimes mark the most recent (and likely) answer as the Best Answer.

I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and what it reports.

 

Hi there,

I have been given a Fritzbox as my modem from my new broadband supplier and I am having issues connecting my beam to the network. It seems to connect my PLAY 5 device ok but when I look at my system in the Sonos App the product is not there even though it says add it has added to my trusted network. 

Any ideas?

Hi there,

I have been given a Fritzbox as my modem from my new broadband supplier and I am having issues connecting my beam to the network. It seems to connect my PLAY 5 device ok but when I look at my system in the Sonos App the product is not there even though it says add it has added to my trusted network. 

Any ideas?

Maybe try running things on their wireless SonosNet signal instead of your Fritzbox WiFi - see these support links to assist..

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