Question

Home wireless mesh with Sonos system on SonosNet

  • 4 February 2018
  • 7 replies
  • 7621 views

My 8 node Sonos system has worked for years using the SonosNet and my CR100 is still going - but I accept that in the name of progress I will have to ditch it soon.

IOS and Android apps on my mobile devices do not always manage to connect to my system because they use my home wireless network (not the SononsNet) and coverage is not as good as the Sonos mesh (which the CR100 uses).

This leads me to my question...in order to improve my home wireless network I am going to buy a 3 node mesh system plugged directly into my internet router - I am concerned that this will set up a separate network from the one used by Sonos thereby preventing wireless devices connected to the new mesh (eg. Android apps) from connecting to wired devices connected to my router (eg. Sonos bridge).

Can you confirm that I have nothing to worry about? Surely, since both the new mesh and the existing Sonos bridge will be connected directly to my router (and this will be my DHCP server unless the new mesh network controller creates its own) then all devices should be with in the same IP range?

Has anyone any experience of this?

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7 replies

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Actually androids can connect direct to sonosnet like the cr100. In settings you should have the option.
I can confirm that you have nothing to worry about if you do decide to get a mesh network. It's still fundamentally just wifi and there is no reason why the two cannot exist together. With Google wifi, for example, the simple key is to keep everything Sonos on the LAN side of Google. Wire a Sonos component to a Google puck, connect your controllers to the Google wifi (or SonosNet for Android controllers). Turn off DHCP on your original router if you have retained it. Job done.

Btw, whatever type of wifi you have, SonosNet is not really a separate network. Your LAN consists of devices connected to wifi, devices connected by SonosNet, and devices connected by Ethernet. The two wireless segments are bridged by the wired Sonos component. This is true whether it is a mesh network or a traditional 'wheelspoke' wifi.
I can confirm that you have nothing to worry about if you do decide to get a mesh network. It's still fundamentally just wifi and there is no reason why the two cannot exist together. With Google wifi, for example, the simple key is to keep everything Sonos on the LAN side of Google. Wire a Sonos component to a Google puck, connect your controllers to the Google wifi (or SonosNet for Android controllers). Turn off DHCP on your original router if you have retained it. Job done.

Btw, whatever type of wifi you have, SonosNet is not really a separate network. Your LAN consists of devices connected to wifi, devices connected by SonosNet, and devices connected by Ethernet. The two wireless segments are bridged by the wired Sonos component. This is true whether it is a mesh network or a traditional 'wheelspoke' wifi.


Thanks John B - I think that you are saying that the Sonos component will bridge between SonosNet and the Google meshed wifi only if the Sonos component is wired to a Google puck and not my existing internet router - is that right? That makes sense, but what then bridges between my wired devices (some of which have static IPs in a range of my choosing 192.168.x.x, but some require DHCP) and the wifi network? How do my wired devices get their IP addresses?
Whilst many such WiFi solutions permit operation in bridge mode (i.e. as a set of interconnected APs), Google WiFi does not allow its internal NAT routing function to be disabled when in mesh mode. This means it contains a secondary router, dividing off its own clients onto a separate subnet from the main router's.
Whilst many such WiFi solutions permit operation in bridge mode (i.e. as a set of interconnected APs), Google WiFi does not allow its internal NAT routing function to be disabled when in mesh mode. This means it contains a secondary router, dividing off its own clients onto a separate subnet from the main router's.

That's what I feared - thank-you. This may not be a problem if my wired devices are not controlled by mobile apps (i.e. they don't need to communicate with Wireless devices), they can remain in a separate sub-net with a separate DHCP server...but how long that remains the case I don't know. My next toy might require an app to control it.
Whilst many such WiFi solutions permit operation in bridge mode (i.e. as a set of interconnected APs), Google WiFi does not allow its internal NAT routing function to be disabled when in mesh mode. This means it contains a secondary router, dividing off its own clients onto a separate subnet from the main router's.

That's what I feared - thank-you. This may not be a problem if my wired devices are not controlled by mobile apps (i.e. they don't need to communicate with Wireless devices), they can remain in a separate sub-net with a separate DHCP server...but how long that remains the case I don't know. My next toy might require an app to control it.
I really don't think there is anything to be feared here. Most people using Google wifi seem to use their ISP router/modem as a modem only, and |Google becomes their router and DHCP server. But as @ratty says, the Google approach is non-typical and the more typical model is, in effect, a set of linked access points. You can continue then to use your existing router much as you do now.

Obviously you would need to check details before buying any product, but I have seen several threads that show that people are using Sonos with a number of these mesh systems, in wifi mode or SonosNet mode. (The ones who come on here are by definition those who have had difficulties, but these are normally quickly dealt with.)
I have seen several threads that show that people are using Sonos with a number of these mesh systems, in wifi mode or SonosNet mode. (The ones who come on here are by definition those who have had difficulties, but these are normally quickly dealt with.)
In WiFi mode, such Sonos systems may be operating sub-optimally. Meshed WiFi access points could well be autoselecting different channels to minimise interference between one another and maximise overall bandwidth. Where Sonos nodes are attached to different APs and are grouped together they can only do direct peer-to-peer communication if the APs share the same channel.