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thirdprize
Enthusiast I
Aug 24, 2023 6:17 PM UTC
Answered

Will sonos fix it working with wifi extenders?

Got a new Wi-Fi setup.  There is a router and extender all with the same network name.  Works fine for tablets, etc.  Three Sonos are near the router and one is near the extender.  the app can usually connect to one version of the network or the other but has trouble finding the Sonos devices depending on which network it uses.  I would have thought that was a fairly standard set up these days but it looks like Sonos struggles with it.  Are they likely to fix it?

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ratty
rattyAnswer
Aug 25, 2023 7:07 AM UTC

Extenders will never be supported. Most of them do horrible things to the MAC addresses of connected client devices, as seen from the rest of the network. 

Use a proper WiFi mesh system. 

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3 replies

Airgetlam
Airgetlam
Aug 24, 2023 6:24 PM UTC

Unlikely, it’s been that way since the beginning of time, I assume there are specific networking issues that can be raised by that type of setup. Given the density of communications between Sonos devices, and their need to access the outside world, it could be hard to resolve every issue, depending on the way each manufacturer sets up their network extension. 

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Bruce
Ken_Griffiths
Ken_Griffiths
Aug 24, 2023 6:36 PM UTC

It’s always been on the system requirements that wireless range extenders are not supported as can be seen here… 

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/sonos-system-requirements

That said I would like to see such networks supported too, even if it meant that Sonos recommended certain make/models of extenders etc. That said, the majority of home users seem to now be moving more towards WiFi ‘mesh’ networks instead, where all operate as one entire network subnet and support multicast broadcast ‘device discovery’ and they can often work much better with Sonos products.

By the way, I would not only broadcast the same SSID/credentials on the range extenders, I would use the same fixed non-overlapping 2.4Ghz WiFi channel as the main router (use channel 1, 6 or 11) and set the channel-width to 20Mhz only on every single WiFi access point and also use the same fixed 5Ghz WiFi channel on every device aswell as that can often help.

If you have no joy with that suggestion, you could just try blacklisting your Sonos products MAC addresses on your range extenders and force the devices to just use your main router WiFi AP only, and/or simply use SonosNet instead and see if that resolves your issue. If you have any Era, or Sonos portable products, I would perhaps look more towards the blacklisting option.

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    ratty
    rattyAnswer
    Aug 25, 2023 7:07 AM UTC

    Extenders will never be supported. Most of them do horrible things to the MAC addresses of connected client devices, as seen from the rest of the network. 

    Use a proper WiFi mesh system. 

    Translate
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