Temporarily move Sonos components to another wifi network


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G'day
This is my first post on the Sonos forum....
Have had my Sonos system up and running perfect at home for about a year now (Sonos Bridge + Sonos5 + Sonos Play1) and have been loving every note of music form this fantastic system.

Thing is, a friend of mine has asked me to bring it to his 49th birthday party tonight. (he also loves the system and is considering getting a Sonos system for his place) .

To set it up at his place, I will have to take the components from my place, to his place, and then instal it on his wifi network.

So I guess I'm asking is it safe to just disconnect/unplug the Sonos Bridge from my Windows 7 desktop computer then simply instal it on his wifi network as a normal new setup?

System will be controlled using the Sonos Controller App on my iPhone5. I will of course also have to connect my phone to his wifi network.

This will only be a 1 night setup at his place then it will need to be reinstalled back on my own home wifi network the next day.

Besides physically disconnecting the bridge from my desktop computer and then connecting and installing it up on my friends network is their anything else I need to do? Really don't want to screw up any settings at my place.

Thanks

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20 replies

Kooa,

First post! Welcome to the forums.

Note that SONOS does not use WiFi although the controllers might use WiFi.

Do not set up at your friend's house as if the SONOS system is brand new. This will destroy all of your Sonos Playlists, music service registrations, Internet Radio favorites, and your Music Library index. Simply unplug your system and move it to the remote location. Once you have wired at least one SONOS component to his wired network, the system will function. Your iPhone will continue to control the system once you are logged on to his network.

Note that SONOS does not store any music. If you want to bring music with you, you'll need to bring the storage device along and attach it to your friend's network. If you normally play music from an online service or your iPhone, this will play as usual.
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Thanks for the info (and the welcome) Buzz!
That why I love Sonos everything is simple! And sounds great!

So just to clarify..... I just have to disconnect my Sonos Bridge form my modem/router here at home, then take my Bridge and speakers to the remote location and then just connect the bridge to my mates Modem/Router and everything will connect correctly?
It will, but only the internet music sources will play. To play music stored on your home network, you'd have to also bring that storage device -- PC, NAS, or whatever -- along with the Sonos equipment.

Also, it wouldn't hurt to verify which channel you're using on Sonos at home, and find out if that channel is available at your friend's house.
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Thanks for the info NoBoB

Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean by verifying which "channel" I am using?

Thanks
Kooa,

If the SONOS system and your friend's WiFi use the same RF channel, there could be some interference between the SONOS wireless and WiFi. You will not notice mild interference, but in difficult situations you may experience some music dropouts. In some respects this is similar to the situation where there are too many people talking in a room, making comprehension difficult. If you operate the two systems on different channels, this is similar to moving some of the people to another room.

You can change the SONOS channel through Advanced settings. It is best to change the SONOS channel, rather than messing with your buddy's router, because you will be blamed for any future networking issue if you touch his router.
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Tanks to all who answered my original post. The sonos system worked beautifully at my friends party and is happily back at home now and once again pumping out the music.

I followed the instructions given here in this post and everything just simply worked. If only everything in life was as simple as a Sonos system 🙂
How can I temporarily use my Sonos Play:1 on the wifi network of a friend. I dont have a bridge, since I'm using the new "standard setup".
How can I temporarily use my Sonos Play:1 on the wifi network of a friend. I dont have a bridge, since I'm using the new "standard setup".
If you can still reach the PLAY:1 from your controller, you can tell it the ID/key of your friend's router.

If you're already at the friend's house, temporarily wire the PLAY:1 to the router to re-establish contact between the controller and Player.

If you're really stuck, you can factory reset everything and set it up afresh, though this will erase all your settings, Sonos Playlists, online accounts, etc. See here.
If you can still reach the PLAY:1 from your controller, you can tell it the ID/key of your friend's router.

If you're already at the friend's house, temporarily wire the PLAY:1 to the router to re-establish contact between the controller and Player.

If you're really stuck, you can factory reset everything and set it up afresh, though this will erase all your settings, Sonos Playlists, online accounts, etc.


Ok temporary connecting it via ethernet works great. But what should I do when I'm in a hotel room and there's no wired connection. I don't want to loose all my sonos playlists...
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Compie, and All

Got a laptop? With a wired ethernet jack?

A little known fact is that these jacks are LIVE when the laptop is connected via WiFi

So though I haven't tested it yet, you could travel to your hearts content & whenever running a laptop on Wifi plug your Sonos player into that jack and be good to go. So it would be a plus to have the laptop carrying your personal music collection.

My GF's application: She wants to bring her PLAY:3 to our church to have music during a workshop there.
A little known fact is that these jacks are LIVE when the laptop is connected via WiFi
You'd either need to bridge the network adapters, or else run Connection Sharing.
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Just following up here, I've put a Bridge into my system. So when I want to travel with my Play 3's ( 2 in Stereo ) to function or party, I just bring the 3 pieces along, plug them all in (plugging the Bridge into a network jack), and connect my controller (phone) to the wifi network.
I have 2 x Play 1 and I also have a Sonos "Connect" which I use with my Hi-Fi system and a Playbar and Sub-woofer. Can I take these and use them in another house? I don't have a 'bridge' mentioned above. Thanks!
I have 2 x Play 1 and I also have a Sonos "Connect" which I use with my Hi-Fi system and a Playbar and Sub-woofer. Can I take these and use them in another house? I don't have a 'bridge' mentioned above. Thanks!You can, but either buy a Bridge (very cheap on eBay) or wire one of your speakers to your router at home to put the system in SonosNet mode, then wire that speaker to the new router. The wired speaker acts as a Bridge.

I would recommend not trying to mix systems. Take it somewhere where there isn't Sonos, by all means, but don't try adding your speakers into a mate's system.
I have a Sonos One and my friend has a Play:5. Is it possible to bring each of these to a different location to temporarily use for one night, synced on the same app?

- Sonos One from House A to House C
- Play:5 from House B to House C

Is it possible to use both of these devices synced to one phone/app? We would only be using spotify/apple music etc.
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Hi, Katie4. As John B says above:

I would recommend not trying to mix systems. Take it somewhere where there isn't Sonos, by all means, but don't try adding your speakers into a mate's system.

You could, theoretically, Factory Reset both components, then add them in as though they are brand new, but this will wipe all your own details off the speaker(s).
A note to our users: Please do not perform a Factory Reset unless expressly advised by a Sonos representative.
While I agree that it's theoretically possible, I'd also heartily agree with John B. Don't mix systems. It just never ends well. 🙂
I have a Play:3 and a Sonos One both of which have always been connected wirelessly (i.e. I've never connected either directly to my router). If I wanted to use my Play:3 at a friend's party, do I need to connect it to her router to set it up? And is it straightforward to re-connect it to my system, once we've finished?
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I have a Play:3 and a Sonos One both of which have always been connected wirelessly (i.e. I've never connected either directly to my router). If I wanted to use my Play:3 at a friend's party, do I need to connect it to her router to set it up? And is it straightforward to re-connect it to my system, once we've finished?

Hi NickSyd,

The easiest way to set your speaker up on your friend's network is to temporarily wire in one of your players to his network, then connect your controller to the wifi, and you can go through the wireless setup in the advanced settings menu.

If you don't have physical access to the router, you can factory reset your player and set it up new on his wifi. You'll have to set up your music services again if you factory reset your speaker.
Well whilst I love the audio of my play bar. This conversation and experience I've just had has made me utterly disgusted by SONOS lack of competence in making a simple system that actually makes sense. I never had to use a ethernet to set up my SONOS so why on earth should I need it to set it up on my families WiFi.
Sorry just infuriated that SONOS seems to think everyone walks around with ethernet leads in their pockets.
FYI there is the in built hardware necessary to make it possible. They just didn't set up the software to do it.