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When the Internet goes down?

  • 29 December 2020
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tonsure
Userlevel 2
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Straight out-of-the-box, my Beam has been experiencing connectivity issues. It appears, in the end, I might have bought a lemon & I’ll be exchanging it for a fresh one tomorrow. However, this has got me thinking: after my Beam is properly set-up, how much functionality will it maintain if I experience an Internet disruption (regardless of whether I’m using a wired or wireless set-up)? I presume, at the most basic level, the HDMI connection to my TV and Blu-Ray player will continue working fine. Is that a safe assumption? And obviously I’d also lose access to Sonos services / streaming (and, presumably, the ability to adjust EQ etc on my Beam?). But, in between those two extremes: would functionality like Bluetooth and AirPlay also be lost in the case of an Internet connection failure? When I was experiencing the WiFi problems, I was amazed that I even couldn’t get AirPlay to work from my iPhone. And I’m trying to wrap my head around how “Internet-dependent” the Sonos ecosystem really is (before I invest in it).

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 29 December 2020, 00:54

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6 replies

tonsure
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Straight out-of-the-box, my Beam has been experiencing connectivity issues. It appears, in the end, I might have bought a lemon & I’ll be exchanging it for a fresh one tomorrow. However, this has got me thinking: after my Beam is properly set-up, how much functionality will it maintain if I experience an Internet disruption (regardless of whether I’m using a wired or wireless set-up)? I presume, at the most basic level, the HDMI connection to my TV and Blu-Ray player will continue working fine. Is that a safe assumption? And obviously I’d also lose access to Sonos services / streaming (and, presumably, the ability to adjust EQ etc on my Beam?). But, in between those two extremes: would functionality like Bluetooth and AirPlay also be lost in the case of an Internet connection failure? When I was experiencing the WiFi problems, I was amazed that I even couldn’t get AirPlay to work from my iPhone. And I’m trying to wrap my head around how “Internet-dependent” the Sonos ecosystem really is (before I invest in it).


I should qualify: this isn’t a doomsday / prepper type of question (in terms of the Internet disappearing). I’m just wondering, if I ultimately decide to move outside of the City, where I may not have access to a super stable Internet connection, would my Sonos system become vulnerable to the new circumstances? Or, on a more modest/immediate level—if my Internet provider here in the City experiences some kind of technical screw-up for a few days (a rare event, certainly): just how limited will the functionality of my Sonos system get?

Ken_Griffiths

Straight out-of-the-box, my Beam has been experiencing connectivity issues. It appears, in the end, I might have bought a lemon & I’ll be exchanging it for a fresh one tomorrow.

It’s unusual that the Beam isn’t working / setting up correctly ...did you try a reset?

However, this has got me thinking: after my Beam is properly set-up, how much functionality will it maintain if I experience an Internet disruption (regardless of whether I’m using a wired or wireless set-up)? I presume, at the most basic level, the HDMI connection to my TV and Blu-Ray player will continue working fine. Is that a safe assumption?

Yes the Beam HDMI-ARC connection will work and your TV, blu-ray etc; will continue as normal without the internet. You should also have access to your local WiFi/LAN devices for music playback of any files held locally on computers, tablets, mobiles and NAS boxes.

And obviously I’d also lose access to Sonos services / streaming (and, presumably, the ability to adjust EQ etc on my Beam?). But, in between those two extremes: would functionality like Bluetooth and AirPlay also be lost in the case of an Internet connection failure?

Airplay will work. Your controller will work for EQ, Night Mode, Speech Enhancement, volume control etc. There is no Bluetooth on the Sonos Beam

When I was experiencing the WiFi problems, I was amazed that I even couldn’t get AirPlay to work from my iPhone. And I’m trying to wrap my head around how “Internet-dependent” the Sonos ecosystem really is (before I invest in it).

A local WiFi network issue is different to a ‘No Internet issue’ - the WiFi going offline will stop some of the things mentioned but the Beam’s HDMI-ARC connection will work and your TV, blu-ray etc; will continue as normal - you should still be able to control the Beam with your TV Remote and do most things your TV can do without a WiFi connection. There are also volume controls on the Beam too. 

Ken_Griffiths

tonsure,
If you have access to a Mobile 4G/5G MiFi device or LTE travel router - it is possible when a local home WiFi network, or internet connection goes offline, to have the device setup temporarily to ‘mirror’ the local routers 2.4Ghz/5Ghz band (SSID/Password) with same channels/channel-width - which will keep a home connection up and running until the main router/internet connection is replaced/fixed etc. So that is something you may wish to consider too. I use one when travelling and its useful as a backup/fail-safe network device for home use.

tonsure
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Many thanks Ken; I appreciate the level of detail in your answer. And yes, this particular Beam seems to be frustrating a lot of people today. I did try a factory reset, and the same problem kept popping-up. Basically: I need to unplug my router each time to get the Beam to recognize it again / come back to life. But then, without fail, the connection will drop within the next hour or so, and the app will become useless—i.e. it doesn’t recognize the system any longer.

 

All that being said: I’ve now turned-off the iOS 14 Privacy setting that you mentioned in another thread, and the WiFi connection seems to be working OK now with the Beam. (I’d earlier tried that fix only on my iPhone, without remembering that my iPad was also connected to WiFi while running iPadOS14 and having that Privacy setting still turned on). Should I, however, still be weirded-out that Airplay wasn’t working before? Or would the same Privacy masking issue cause problems with that feature as well, when the system is set-up in a wireless way? I.e. should I still be worried this might be a lemon?

Ken_Griffiths

tonsure,

It might just be worthwhile switching off WiFi assist on your iPhone ..and if you have a feature called ‘Airtime Fairness’ on your router I would disable that.

It’s then a case of seeing how the Beam continues to perform. 

If you have any other WiFi hubs/access points/extenders on your local network subnet, then you may want to perhaps also consider setting those up with the same credentials as your main router (SSID/Password) channel/channel-width. I recommend a channel width of 20MHz for the 2.4Ghz band.

Hope those few things assist too.

tonsure
Userlevel 2
Badge +4

Yes, in my case it was a very simple fix. Just turning off that network-masking privacy feature on all of my iOS 14 devices devices solved the problem. (Originally I’d only turned it off on my iPhone, but then realized that the masking was also taking place on my iPad as well). No need to play with the router whatsoever. Given that this is a known issue (and potentially impacts anyone who owns an Apple product), I would hope that this problem/solution becomes more widely known—especially by the customer service reps, who were unfortunately mystified.

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