Ideal but simple Wifi network setup

  • 12 January 2024
  • 4 replies
  • 55 views
R

First time poster...in many years at least...and I have searched the forums and realize there is a lot of information here and probably the perfect post for me is there somewhere but have been unable to find it. 

I have been a SONOS user for more than 10 years and have 10 speakers in my home. Now obviously not all speakers are on at once all the time but the times when I do connect them all there are connectivity issues. This is an obvious network problem and there are very technical responses and details in these forums that well beyond by networking capabilities that would probably work but I am curious if there is a simple solution that should work in my case. I am just asking before I go out and purchase something that may not work (if its not the right solution). Here are some deets on my situation:

  • Internet provider - Starlink (usually pretty good speed - I don’t think this is the problem)
  • Network set up:
    • Starlink wifi router network for non smart home devices, guests etc
    • Google wifi home network with one additional wifi point connect all my smart home devices including SONOS products and the phones/tablets that are used to control them. FYI Currently 22 devices connected.(I think I need more wifi points to create a better mesh network. This is what I want confirmed)
  • Home layout: 2 floor 2500 sq/ft home plus basement. Speakers are spread out throughout the home (including basement). I live on an acreage so don't have really interference from neighbors wifi networks.
  • Music source - 99% of the time the music is streamed.
  • Speaker connections - All speakers are connected via wifi.

I think purchasing a system to increase the mesh network capacity is the solution and just would like confirmation and possibly a recommended system that I should or should not purchase. Since I already own a google home network and points, I think I should just add more points around the home.

Really appreciate the responses and patience if there is already the right response somewhere already that I missed. 

 

Thanks!

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4 replies

Airgetlam

I would think the StarLink is enough, no need, in a house of that size, for the Google device. I am frequently a guest at a cabin of 2200 sq ft on three floors that does perfectly well on StarLink. I would hope, however, that only one of them is set up for handing out DHCP information, and the other is set in ‘bridge’ mode. Are they both using the same SSID and subnet? I’m wandering now in areas that I think other folks in this forum are more capable of intelligently responding, but I suspect that data would help them help you. 

What I do suspect is that you may be experiencing occasional issues with duplicate IP addresses, which tend to occur particularly around software updates by Sonos, since part of that process is a reboot of the Sonos device, which then asks the router for a new IP. Try unplugging all your Sonos devices from power, then reboot both the Google device and the StarLink device. Give them both a couple of minutes to come up before plugging back in your Sonos devices. That may help, it certainly shouldn’t hurt. 

Bruce
R

I would think the StarLink is enough, no need, in a house of that size, for the Google device. I am frequently a guest at a cabin of 2200 sq ft on three floors that does perfectly well on StarLink. I would hope, however, that only one of them is set up for handing out DHCP information, and the other is set in ‘bridge’ mode. Are they both using the same SSID and subnet? I’m wandering now in areas that I think other folks in this forum are more capable of intelligently responding, but I suspect that data would help them help you. 

What I do suspect is that you may be experiencing occasional issues with duplicate IP addresses, which tend to occur particularly around software updates by Sonos, since part of that process is a reboot of the Sonos device, which then asks the router for a new IP. Try unplugging all your Sonos devices from power, then reboot both the Google device and the StarLink device. Give them both a couple of minutes to come up before plugging back in your Sonos devices. That may help, it certainly shouldn’t hurt. 

Thanks Bruce. DHCP and subnet terms go beyond my understanding. lol.

My 2 wifi networks have different SSID’s.

The last time I had some issues was a recent party over the Christmas break where we had 50 people in the house, all the speakers were on and pretty loud and the music kept cutting out so I unplugged some of the smart TVs and some Alexa devices that were connected to the network and it seemed to help along with a reboot of some of the speakers and full reboot of the routers. But it does happen evry so often and we often host large parties and each time there are problems so am just curious if i need a more robust mesh network.

 

Stanley_4
Userlevel 7
Badge +22

People absorb WiFi quite well so more APs or even looking at getting people free paths to your Sonos could help.

I’d do the static/reserved IP addresses in any case.

Airgetlam

That’s one thing I’ve not been able to figure out / do on my friend’s StarLink. I don’t have router access, and my Google searches haven’t been fruitful on if such a thing is even exposed to the end user. On the other hand, every time I’ve been there, it hasn’t been an issue. But there’s semi frequent dropping of all internet access from StarLink, not related to Sonos. Which can be frustrating on a work call via ‘internet’. 
 

Bruce
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