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My question is on the SonosNet behavior when there is more than 1 cable connection.



My scenario: I have 11 Sonos units. One of them (poorly positioned far though) is connected by cable to the network, which puts the entire network on SonosNet (About screen reads WM:0).



But it's choppy, which could be to the poor position of the unit that is cabled. I have a question, if I plug a second Sonos unit to ethernet somewhere in the middle of the mesh network, will it strengthen the entire mesh network? E.g. will SonosNet take advantage from the fact that the second unit has direct access to internet and won't route further away nodes all the way to the same unit which has the cable connection? My guess would be that this would be the default behavior, but I wanted to confirm the SonosNet behavior.



The choppiness might be due to two things, either 2.4 GHZ interference from neighboring wifi networks, which is the case in the area. But I also know that far away nodes in the mesh network might have too many hops to get to the cabled node, which could also be a reason.



In the scope of this question, I'm only interested to know about the SonosNet behavior when more than 1 unit is cabled into the network.
Hi Wadih



You may not need another speaker wired in the middle as you say. It sounds as if you originally setup Sonos in Wi-Fi mode. Click the link to properly make the transition from Wi-Fi to Boost. Pay special attention to point number 4.



https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3319



Cheers!
Hi Wadih



You may not need another speaker wired in the middle as you say. It sounds as if you originally setup Sonos in Wi-Fi mode. Click the link to properly make the transition from Wi-Fi to Boost. Pay special attention to point number 4.



https://sonos.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3319



Cheers!



Thanks for your answer AjTrek1, however they are on SonosNet, as WM=0 on the About Screen for all of them.



However my question remains, if I add a cabled connection to one of them "in the middle", it will affect the network positively for all intents and purposes correct?
To answer your question there will be no negative nor a positive affect as the second wired speaker (in the middle) as a "Boost" will be ignored.



Your issues are most likely due to interference and/or not following the instructions as outlined in my previous post. Also, a dedicated Sonos Boost component ($99-USD) will provide a stronger signal versus the speaker you currently have wired to create the Boost mode. Furthermore just because everything appears as WM=0 doesn't mean that Sonos is stable; if you did not follow the instructions in the link and adhere to point #4.



If having done everything by the book...then I suggest you submit a diagnostic and post the reference ID in this forum.



Cheers!
To answer your question there will be no negative nor a positive affect as the second wired speaker (in the middle) as a "Boost" will be ignored.

Not exactly. Wireless components will use the 'cheapest' path back to the wired network, and a central wired component may well be key.



The one consideration to note when wiring multiple Sonos components is that intervening kit (switches, router) must deal with Spanning Tree Protocol (STP) traffic correctly. The majority of simple equipment should be fine. Try it and see. Incorrect STP handling manifests as the network grinding to a halt. Usually this can be fixed.
I have a wired Boost as well as several other Sonos devices wired as well as several unwired using the Sonos WiFi. It is interesting to see them swapping connections around in the Network Matrix diagnostic page as I move the unwired ones around where needed. Everything is working perfectly.



I did assign all of my Sonos gear persistent (aka static) DHCP addresses in my router to deal with a possible IP assignment issue but I don't have any other tweaks applied.
I’m investigating SonosNet. How do you assign “Sonos gear persistent DHCP addresses in my router”?
Your router should have a DHCP server settings page, they may call it something else but if you can get your router manual you can usually figure it out.



Nicer routers allow a name as well as an IP, if yours does assign both so you can connect by name instead of trying to remember the IP address.
Thanks Stanley. I have an Apple AirPort Extreme so I’ll investigate.



In your note you say addresses (plural). Do you assign a different IP address to every speaker? Or just an address to your hard wired boost?



Thanks again for your thoughts.
Each speaker will have its own IP address. All of them are connected to your network, whether wired or wireless.
Thanks Stanley. I have an Apple AirPort Extreme so I’ll investigate.



In your note you say addresses (plural). Do you assign a different IP address to every speaker? Or just an address to your hard wired boost?



Thanks again for your thoughts.

Canuckcamper,



I think this link may help you...



https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_to_configure_a_static_dhcp_reservation_with_airport_extreme




I think this link may help you...



https://www.macobserver.com/tmo/article/how_to_configure_a_static_dhcp_reservation_with_airport_extreme



Thank you, this is helpful.
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