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How do I setup my system to work with mobile hotspot

  • 24 September 2014
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I have a Sonos bridge, two play1s and a play 5. My current internet connection is through my cellphone (tethering). I'm wondering how I could configure my system so that I can play the same thing out of all the speakers.



Is there a way to do this?



If not, is it possible to just have them create a mesh network with eachother (plug them into eachother through ethernet). And then use the line in of the Play 5 to repeat to all the other speakers?
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Best answer by ratty 6 July 2015, 16:03

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17 replies

I have a Sonos bridge, two play1s and a play 5. My current internet connection is through my cellphone (tethering). I'm wondering how I could configure my system so that I can play the same thing out of all the speakers.

Is there a way to do this?

If not, is it possible to just have them create a mesh network with eachother (plug them into eachother through ethernet). And then use the line in of the Play 5 to repeat to all the other speakers?


With the latest release, you can connect Sonos directly to WiFi. If your phone creates a true hotspot (not an ad hoc), then see this link for instructions on connecting to WiFi:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/2627
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Else its possible if you have a router, and have one of the units wired to it, the other Sonos units will create their own network, and you can stream to them all from any line-in available.

Best regards
Ole
Userlevel 2
Whats the diff between a true hotspot and ad hoc? I have an iphone 5s with Verizon as my service provider. Is this possible for me?
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Can someone confirm that it either works or does not work with a single mobile phone to act as a personal hotspot?

Tried with two separate phones on the weekend but never even got so far as to enter the advanced wireless configuration.
Can someone confirm that it either works or does not work with a single mobile phone to act as a personal hotspot?
It does, up to a limited number of Players clearly.

However you will need a second device (phone, tablet, computer) to set up and control the Sonos, also attached to the hotspot. When the phone's WiFi is in hotspot mode -- with the phone's network connection over the mobile network -- it can't talk to the locally attached Sonos devices.
Userlevel 2
Hi

I use the Zoom 4504 as I can only get 3 or 4g I use an unlocked dongle and Sonos streams fine with four zones

Have you done a speed test at your home on mobile?

What mobile phone do you use? and is there a cap on your mobile data usage?

Cheers

Nige
Userlevel 2
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It does, up to a limited number of Players clearly.

However you will need a second device (phone, tablet, computer) to set up and control the Sonos, also attached to the hotspot


Thanks for the confirmation, that's what I thought, even though I did not manage to get it to work. Will try again...
Thanks for the confirmation, that's what I thought, even though I did not manage to get it to work. Will try again...
Well, YMMV, but as a fresh trial I set up a couple of PLAY:3s, tethered to my Moto phone's hotspot, using an iTouch as controller. They streamed radio fine as a bonded stereo pair.

I obviously had to go through the Sonos WiFi Setup rigmarole. And IIRC the iTouch had to be cajoled to reconnect to the phone after switching to the open WiFi point that the PLAY:3 temporarily created.

Also I would give your phone's hotspot a simple SSID name, without blanks.
How can I tether my play 3 to my Samsung note 5? I have it setup with my router with no Internet but I can't play any Pandora or anything bc only my cell has internet
How can I tether my play 3 to my Samsung note 5? I have it setup with my router with no Internet but I can't play any Pandora or anything bc only my cell has internet
You'll need to have another device -- other than the Samsung phone -- to control the PLAY:3.

Turn on the phone's hotspot, attach the second device to your router and go to Advanced Settings/Wireless Setup in its Sonos controller. See if you can persuade it to accept the hotspot's WiFi details.

If that doesn't work, you'll need to factory reset the PLAY:3, reset the second device's controller, attach that device to the Samsung hotspot, then set the PLAY:3 up as new.
For some reason I still can't make sense of this .
I have two phones I can use as controllers so for argument sake let's call them phone a. and phone b.
I can't get into any advanced settings as its asking me to either look for an existing sonos or set up a new one. When I set up new it keeps telling me to turn on WiFi. So it appears there's no way to setup without a router at minimum .

Now I did factory reset the speaker and unplugged my router in an attempt to try to connect the speaker solely with my phone and the speaker, it still forces me to turn on WiFi. In this case it found a weird network with a bunch of letters and numbers (can't remember what all they were ) so I know it's something to do with the speaker although the numbers and letters don't make it obvious since they don't spell out sonos or anything. But I connected to it and proceeded to do the setup. The speaker is flashing Orange and on the setup it shows connecting but nothing ever happens. So then the speaker goes to a solid orange. Tried again and again and nothing completes.
So I just checked the available WiFi networks and seen now the weird named one is gone and it's been magically renamed to SONOS. It joins with no password required but then open the controller and it still yet tells me no current sonos can be found and tried creating new and same results just never connects.

So is there anyway you can dumb down your instructions for me in an attempt to get this working?

I love my sonos setup at home but I've always hated the setup.. they make it so hard to connect some speakers lol. Used to had to have internet connection just to use it .. now it can be router only but then if router has no Internet then u can't stream Pandora from ur phone bc u can't use 4g while connected to the router.
So is there anyway you can dumb down your instructions for me in an attempt to get this working?
Enable the hotspot on the Samsung (phone A).
Connect phone B's WiFi to phone A's hotspot.
Reset the controller on phone B.
Factory reset the PLAY:3 again.
Go through the wizard on phone B's controller to set up a new system.
When asked for a WiFi, select phone A's hotspot ID and supply the password.

I love my sonos setup at home but I've always hated the setup.. they make it so hard to connect some speakers lol.

Hardly. We always used to say that it took longer to take the player out of its packaging than to set it up. Mind you that was before 'Standard Setup' (aka WiFi mode) appeared. Attaching to hotspots may take a little bit more care.
Ok that makes sense now. I'll give it a go. Thanks for politely dumbing it down 🙂
Ok I tried it and had a heck of a time and then magically all of the sudden it paired up and worked . Not sure if I could do it again or not but it works!! Thanks sir.
I just did this successfully. I turned off my Verizon Wireless cell phone's mobile hotspot. I logged into my Netgear router (routerlogin.net w/ UN/PW) and changed Wireless Settings to match those of my Verizon Wireless cell phone's mobile hotspot (SSID and PW). I turned off mobile hotspot on my phone. I connected 1 of my Sonos Play:1 speakers via cat5 cable to my router, and connected my laptop to my mobile hotspot. I opened the Sonos app on my laptop, which i did not like, since it could not connect to my previous settings (via router and cable modem). I clicked the "more options" button, I think, went to settings, clicked advanced, then clicked wireless settings. This walked me through setting the sonos speakers to the new SSID/PW. Once complete, and the sonos program told me I could disconnect any wired ethernet connections, I unplugged the sonos speaker from the router, unplugged the speaker from the wall, disconnected my laptop from wifi (router), and shut off the router. I then turned on the mobile hotspot, plugged in the sonos speaker, and connected my laptop to the mobile hotspot (settings already saved since the SSID/PW are the same as the router). I fired up the sonos app on the laptop and VOILA!! Sonos on wifi via mobile hotspot. Hope this helps, cheers...
Those instructions seem pretty clear and concise. I’m going to try that when I’m out in the RV this week. Looks to be a full six pack chore though. :D

Only flaw I can see is if I wander from the RV and take my phone with me...
Same issue for me. Had my system somehow set up on my mobile hotspot(fluked it but dont know how) Due to me stuffing around I no longer have any connection. This is what I do have:
Play 3
Dlink router - no internet connection(I had to buy a router specifically to run Sonos - why????)
Samsung S7
Samsung tablet
Do I;
A) use my phone as the controller
😎 use my tablet as the hotspot
C)Link all to the dlink router
All my music is on the phone.
Oh for a bluetooth connection which would be soooooo easy compared to this. A pity the designers didnt engineer for all the common style connections. All I want to do is play my music, not reconfigure my whole internet to play music & not be able to do anything on the net while doing so. For the price of the system (was a present from hubby) it should just work. For the record, I can & do set up all our home electronics so am not completely ignorant. This one has me baffled & very frustrated.