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I got my Sonos Move yesterday and intend to use it in our patio.   To my horror, it started playing and then went dead.   The WiFi signal wasn’t strong enough and the patio is maybe 5 or six steps from the router but on the other side of a sliding glass door.  I have had a Sonos One sitting on the patio but almost touching the door and it works fine.   But it is using the Sonos network, not WiFi.   If I open the door, the Move works fine but I let the air conditioning out.

 

I thought the Move is using 5.0 - not 2.4 (which can go through glass doors easier, I believe) but it already is using 2.4 and the title of this post is wrong.

 

I found an iPhone App to measure WiFi signal strength and walked around measuring with the glass door closed…..I found a “hot spot” and I believe it is because the spot also had a view of the bedroom window and was getting signal from there as well (I have a Google WiFi mesh with a node in that bedroom.  The Move works well in this hot spot but it isn’t where I’d like to use it.

 

Any recommendations?   I mean, it is just a few steps from the house.

 

This is a Cat 5 hurricane home in Florida and the exterior walls are cinder block construction.

 

 

Some glass has a metallic coating to block some sunlight heating. This coating also blocks a lot of WiFi. 5GHZ is more easily blocked than 2.4GHz.

One strategy is to use different SSID’s (network names) for 2.5GHz and 5GHz. Don’t give MOVE the 5GHz credentials.

Could you move one of the Google mesh nodes closer to a window that overlooks the patio?

When I first started troubleshooting, I thought the Move could use either 5 or 2.4   -- but now I believe (not 100%) it only used 2.4

 

I was also looking into putting a Google node on the window sill.   Might get vetoed by my better half.   

 

I was just checking the signal again this morning and it is quite a bit better than yesterday afternoon.   

 

Very strange.   

 

I’m going to do a test and put the Move in the lowest signal spot and see if it can play continuous 

 

My experience with MOVE has been that its WiFi is potent. Given how WiFi is configured (LOTS of interference too) where I am, I expected zero outside, but performance was very good. It’s a small outdoor area, hardly a “yard”, in an urban area.

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