Using wifi mode with multiple APs

Hey there, 2bob. Thanks for posting and welcome to the Community. Sonos is not recommended to work in standard wireless mode on a mesh network or a network with wireless extenders, as noted here (under Networks that do not support a Standard Setup). This is so your wireless network will not fight with Sonos for wireless channel bandwidth.

Hi Keith, my AP's are not a mesh network or range extenders, they are cabled individually to a switch.
I have excellent wifi throught the property.

I noticed that the resposiveness of the UI seemed to improve when using the wifi rather than a boost configuration.

It appears SONOS does not recognise that this configuration may actually exist.

You can use multiple APs in Standard/WiFi/Station mode. However Sonos say that they should all be set to the same channel. Although this is contrary to conventional channel planning practice it enables grouped players on different APs to make direct peer-to-peer connections. In any case, unless there are masses of simultaneous WiFi users, using the same 2.4GHz channel throughout is unlikely to be a limiting factor. High bandwidth users can always move to 5GHz locally.

Yeah, not doing that.
Have some other high bandwidth users on 2.4 - notably Sky Q - another manufacturer that doesn't support 5GHz!!

So you think all of the SONOS equipment is looking for the same channel rather than BSSID?
It would explain why the speakers initially select the closest AP then migrate to a single AP in the following minutes.

I wish SONOS would recognise that some people may decent wifi and allow the option to use it.

2bob wrote:

Yeah, not doing that.
Have some other high bandwidth users on 2.4 - notably Sky Q - another manufacturer that doesn't support 5GHz!!

Have you actually looked at the channel utilisation? WifiInfoView can report it.

So you think all of the SONOS equipment is looking for the same channel rather than BSSID?

Possibly, because that's the way Sonos' clever mixed hub-spoke/mesh scheme works.

I wish SONOS would recognise that some people may decent wifi and allow the option to use it.

I wish users would pause a moment before blaming Sonos all the time. Their patented wireless scheme is designed to enable peer-to-peer direct connections in groups (and for pairs/SUBs which are special types of group), instead of forcing all intra-group traffic to loop via potentially distant router/APs. This can offer a major benefit for group performance and overall channel utilisation.

Besides, for larger systems spread out over a substantial area Sonos have always had a solution: SonosNet/BOOST mode.

Just trying to understand how the system works, not attributing blame.

Arguably SONOS was developed before (good) domestic wifi was so prevalent, wouldn't hurt to allow users the option to try the alternatives.

I wonder if there is still some peer-to-peer communication between players when they are in standard mode. If so this would explain why they all gravitate to a single channel so they can talk to both the AP and each other. I don't think putting your APs all on the same channel is a good idea so Boost mode is likely your best option. I have 4 APs alternating between channels 1 and 6 and keep Sonos in Boost mode on 11.

upstatemike wrote:

I wonder if there is still some peer-to-peer communication between players when they are in standard mode.

There is, as already noted in earlier posts.

Re-visiting an old issue, I've just tried migrating my speakers onto wifi again and the speakers now attach to the nearest AP :)

Has there been some change in behaviour in version 10?

Are your AP's using the same or different channels?

Yes, i have 3 AP's on channels 1, 6, and 11 broadcasting a common SSID.
The AP's are all cabled to a common switch - they are not repeaters.

I have 4 SONOS speakers and they now attach and stay on the closest AP.
Everything seems ok - it might be my imagination but the response through the iPhone app seems quicker.

When i tried this originally (on an earlier release) the speakers would migrate to a common AP, so the signal strength on some of the speakers wasn't good enough to be stable.

I'm now a happy camper 🙂

If the Sonos units are gravitating to their closest AP, and those APs are on different channels, you could have suboptimal performance when grouping. Note that a stereo pair (and a Sub bonded with a speaker other than a home theatre one) could also be affected, as these are a special type of group.

See how you go.

For reference here is the article which stipulates "If you are using multiple access points, make sure they are all set to the same 2.4GHz wireless channel." (The link in the earlier post is now broken.)