Got it. Thanks @AjTrek1 for having me double check the Comcast, because you may on to something. When I went to research how to login to that specific gateway, Google showed me its’s Typical IP address which looks like 10.0.0.1 and to my surprise I remember before my most recent change, when the Boost was connected I remember seeing that IP address under each speaker, so I don’t understand how that was possible but they were connected to it previously (not now)

This morning’s 6am class got the crappy end of the audio stick the whole “water bag” idea never made sense until now but it wasn’t just skipping, it was skipping like a Scratched CD, so same song pretty much cutting in and out, super annoying at some point she literally used her iPhone for audio in the last 5 minutes of class 

@buzz when you are referring to previous reserved IP address, what exactly is that?

You can log into the Comcast Admin page to place it in Bridge mode ( if allowed). However, that is a remote function that Comcast can handle by phone or chat. After that all you need do is setup your Mesh properly. Don’t make the process any harder than need be. You’re paying Comcast for that type of service as well. Make them do their job. ISP’s generally think customers are stupid 🤪

The router’s DHCP server is similar to the receptionist at a building’s entrance. As clients arrive, they check-in and are given a number -- their IP address. As long as the client is in the building, this is how they are known. The receptionist keeps track of the numbers in a little index card box. If someone spills coffee into the box or she runs away to get married (or the router is rebooted or replaced) the box is simply dumped out and numbering restarts. These IP addresses are just rented and must be “renewed” periodically. Unfortunately, there is no general notice sent out asking everyone to renew if there is a general fault (reboot, replace, power outage, whatever) and the numbering simply restarts. And, there may not be a contract stating that a client will receive the same address during renewal. This can easily create duplicates as you are assigned the number that I’m still using. You can imagine the chaos -- “I didn’t order that!”, “Where’s my order?” … and on and on. “Reserved” clients have a VIP status and are always assigned the same address. This reduces the risk of duplicates.

Check the NIGHTHAWK’s documentation for reservation details. Reserve addresses for all regular network clients -- especially SONOS. There is no point reserving addresses for transient clients, such as students and instructors.

@AjTrek1 - Agreed! I am calling them now to put it in bridge mode, I can’t login to the router, I don’t see its SSID (located on the back of the unit) just “Xfinitywifi” on any network. The back of the Comcast unit has a Network name but I don’t see it. 

@buzz Thank you for epic description (she runs away to get married ) it actually helped me visualize it all.

Question, the Nighthawk asks if I want to create a separate 2.4ghz network, I could make it so Sonos is the ONLY thing that is connected to it and make the rest go to the 5ghz band?

Creating a separate SSID’s for 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz works fine for some legacy products. I have 2.4Ggz, 5Ghz and 6Ghz bands broadcasting on my router all with the same SSID.

I have Moves, Roams and Era100’s that connect to the proper band with no issues. My other 24 Sonos connect to the SonosNet via a Boost.

Bottom-line I don’t see the necessity to create separate SSID’s. @buzz may have a different opinion.

BTW…yes I do have a product that uses the 6Ghz band

Class is over and working with Comcast (slow death) to get the Modem to be in Bridge Mode

I took a deep dive into the advanced settings of the NIGHTHAWK and noticed 2 speakers were staying on 2.4ghz and the rest are hopping to 5ghz...seems like that would be an issue?

Oh snap...the 2 speakers that was showing interference on the Matrix on the previous page are the 2 on 2.4ghz, Mid Right Studio and Front Left...I thought I set them up to be all the same band but the NIGHTHAWK doesn't let me force the device to a certain band

Moderator edit: removed picture with serial number

I’m not familiar with the NIGHTHAWK details. Some routers are a pain because they will not allow units on one band to communicate with units on the other band. There may be user options to allow or block the communication. If you force SONOS to use 2.4 and your phone uses 5GHz and the router blocks 5GHz from communicating with the 2.4 side, the phone will not be able to control the SONOS units. In my case clients can flip between bands and access points on a whim and nobody cares.

The newer SONOS units that can use 5GHz are more agile than the older 2.4GHz only units. I highly recommend following my 2.4GHz band setup suggestions.

I’d say that once you get the Comcast box into bridge mode you’ll be able to get your NightHawk up and running correctly.

I’d power down all Sonos and concentrate on getting your NightHawk mesh working properly. That should be your main node connected to your Comcast modem. Next setup the satellites to work only as extensions of your network with no DHCP capabilities.

If you changed the SSID you may have to setup your Sonos as a new system starting with the Boost. If you didn’t change the SSID you can just reintroduce the Boost to setup the SonosNet. Then bring your other Sonos speakers online.

My Sonos works perfectly in the configuration of the Comcast modem in Bridge mode and my Asus AiMesh consisting of a main node and two satellites. I have a Boost plugged into the main node creating the SonosNet.

My Moves, Roams and Era100’s connect to home WiFi with no issues as I mentioned in a previous post.

However, you can’t change physics regarding the WiFi inference generated by humans (as per @buzz) in your environment. If that remains an issue you might consider investing in Sonos Era 100’s and using Bluetooth.

Great feedback, I'm on it...

If SONOS is using SonosNet, it will ignore WiFi and WiFi will ignore SONOS. The ERA units will not connect wirelessly to SonosNet. 

Completed - Comcast Modem set to bridge

Setup Boost - 3ft away from Router but hardwired to it. Both sitting at 6.5ft off the ground

Matrix Before adding Boost:

Here is the Matrix after adding Boost:

Sigh...back to square one

Maybe my Boost has went Bust

You can explore that by powering down Boost and wiring another player. Boost is simply a player with the audio guts stripped out.

Just noticed a 15.3 update getting pushed to all my Speakers, everything was on 15.2 earlier today. Hopefully there is some small fix.

Support has been helpful and doing everything they can. They seem to think this update will help. Have you guys downloaded it yet? Probably just bug fixes I assume and really hope!

Does the Matrix change on its own -- possibly by time of day?

Seems to be similar with not much fluctuation. I removed the Boost and the Matrix went to this: 

The update had no effect sadly. 

I am going to see if creating a dedicated 2.4ghz network and having just the Sonos and the teachers phone (their controller basically) connected to it. Then I can eliminate some of the speakers being on 2.4 and some on 5ghz. 

Maybe the Play 3’s have reached the end of the line?

In that last Matrix, which player is wired?

The last matrix has nothing wired, after I added the Boost I removed it since it was blasting Red like that.

This is the worst it has ever been, it’s almost like the more effort I put to fix, the worse it gets. I had to swithc from Sonos to the JBL speaker mid class - Sonos kept dropping speakers then switching tracks, I have never experienced this before. 

The app would say “the connection to spotify was lost” or the song “wasn’t encoded correctly” when the track would skip. Sometimes it literally was skipping 4 tracks in a row, I mean its insane, never seen this before

Support is going to escalate to their senior team tomorrow. They said they want to test out their account on my system, I thought he was referring to Spotify accounts, but they said the registered Sonos account is what they want to test. 

Well this is going to a whole other level. 

Should I go buy a new Router? Would getting new Era 300’s even solve the issue? (doubtful?)

Work with SONOS support. They can see details not available here.

Yes, I will update later today with the results 

(edit)

*Update* - L2 Support is saying that my Mid Left Studio is experiencing “Streaming Underflow”, so they want to hardwire that to ethernet, then add each speaker 1 by 1 to determine the threshold of the Group which they are saying is only about 5 speakers before dropouts begin. 

Sounds like plan. Hopefully you can wire the speaker depending upon distance to router.

I noticed something strange which I can consistently replicate. The Dropouts and Track skips are only happening on Spotify...we tested Sonos Radio and for hours perfect. Then we added Apple Music and began streaming from it, flawless. Switch back to Spotify and its all over the place.

I would get error messages at the bottom of the Sonos app saying things like “Connection to Spotify was lost” or “Track cannot be played - not encoded correctly” and just keep switching tracks and dropping out. 

If the audio issue I have been having was related to a connection, an interference or Wifi issue, it should persist across all platforms because the interference or signal issues is Local here to me. This is leading to me that somehow this is a Spotify issue? Thing is Spotify plays perfectly on the phone or BT speaker. Could the issue be between the Spotify and Sonos servers not communicating properly?