Contributor I

Answered

NEW FIBRE OPTIC BROADBAND AND SONOS

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I think I’ve just had more than a 4-hour call with Sebastian S’. If it was Sebastian, I should start by thanking him again for his patience, professionalism, and not swearing at my in Romanian! Be advised that any technical issues are usually my fault!

After switching to a fibre optic broadband, using a Deco M4R Base Station and TP-Link ‘range extension’, my Sonos App lost visibility of my five Sonos speakers (3 x Sonos One (Gen 2), and 2 x One SL), and Sonos Boost, all of which I’d enjoyed using wirelessly with Norton 360 and four BT range extending disks for the past four years.
During a lengthy support call, we reinstalled the Sonos App on multiple occasions, disconnected Sonos Boost, tried uninstalling (factory reset) and then reinstalling one One SL speaker, disconnected the router Ethernet cable from a BT disk to connect directly to two speakers in succession, uninstalled Norton 360 from a second mobile phone on which we used the Sonos App, turned off and on the power to all devices on multiple occasions, and varied our efforts between Sonos One and Sonos One SL speakers. I still have no connection with any Sonos device and am unable to upgrade my network connection without various error messages appearing (1,000 was a favourite!).

Tonight, I had to reconfigure my wiring as it was before in order to establish any connectivity.

Feeling thoroughly fed up and slightly anxious.

Grateful for additional support. Thank you.

Moderator Note - Removed and recorded case number.

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press250Answer

Prodigy III

Okay @RDMG, your TP-Link M4R and RE330 are indeed a proper mesh Wi-Fi system. It sounds like you have two separate mesh Wi-Fi systems: the TP-Link and the BT Discs. If that is the case, it is not a formula for success. Having two “competing” Wi-Fi systems is mess to diagnose and debug, and can create many different problems.

My lightly informed suggestion would be unplug all of the BT discs and connect everything to the TP-Link mesh system … when you remove all the BT discs, any device that loses connectivity needs to be “introduced” to your TP-Link mesh system.

HOWEVER, it sounds like the TP-Link mesh does not cover all of your house. That would say that you need additional TP-Link satellites (RE330) to get good coverage. YMMV!

press250

Prodigy III

Hi @RDMG, clarifying question: the TP-Link Deco M4R is mesh Wi-Fi, do you have the “base station” and a “satellite”? If the two TP-Link units literally came out of the same box, then it is true mesh Wi-Fi.

I ask because you said “range extension” which can be a different (non-mesh) thing … and people are about to respond “Sonos doesn’t work with range extenders.”

AjTrek1

In addition to @press250 comments what does this mean.

Tonight, I had to reconfigure my wiring as it was before in order to establish any connectivity.

The question being what did you change back to (reconfigure) regarding Sonos speakers and your network?

Together Everyone Achieves More = T.E.A.M.

R

RDMGAuthor

Contributor I

Thank you Press250,

The M4R router was provided by the Fusion Fibre Group, when I switched from BT. I opted to buy a tp-link Mesh Wi-Fi Extender (RE330) from Amazon owing to its poor range. In addition to which, I still have four BT range extending discs which I’ve previously found invaluable.

In truth, I know that I’ve got a functioning M4R router, and I know that when I disconnect the Ethernet cable from the closest and only wired BT disc, most of my network appears to collapse. Only when I connected the same Ethernet cable directly to a Sonos speaker, could I see my devices in the Sonos App once more.

I’ve not much of a ‘Scooby’ what’s occurring!

Thanks again.

R

RDMGAuthor

Contributor I

Thanks for engaging AjTrek1,

What I meant was that after a four hour call, I momentarily left an Ethernet cable inserted in a Sonos One SL speaker instead of my BT range extender disc. Very quickly I realised that I’d lost internet connection in large sections of my property.

Not knowing what to do, I returned everything (including the Tp-Link) to as it was configured this morning. I now have great internet connection again, but can’t access any Sonos device!

press250Answer

Prodigy III

Okay @RDMG, your TP-Link M4R and RE330 are indeed a proper mesh Wi-Fi system. It sounds like you have two separate mesh Wi-Fi systems: the TP-Link and the BT Discs. If that is the case, it is not a formula for success. Having two “competing” Wi-Fi systems is mess to diagnose and debug, and can create many different problems.

My lightly informed suggestion would be unplug all of the BT discs and connect everything to the TP-Link mesh system … when you remove all the BT discs, any device that loses connectivity needs to be “introduced” to your TP-Link mesh system.

HOWEVER, it sounds like the TP-Link mesh does not cover all of your house. That would say that you need additional TP-Link satellites (RE330) to get good coverage. YMMV!

I

Ian_S

Prodigy III

Dump the boost. It’s time is done.

Also as @press250 says, you need to get rid of the BT Discs as they are designed for the BT Hub which you are no longer using either.

Were any of the Discs connected with ethernet directly back to the BT Hub?

R

RDMGAuthor

Contributor I

AjTrek1, Press250, and Ian_S,

I’ve since encountered another challenge connecting my Dyson air purifier to my network, and feel like I’ve no option but to ditch my expensive BT range extending disks (>£70 each).

One of those discs was connected directly to the router by an Ethernet cable. If I remove that disc, it will give me the option to plug the cable directly in to one Sonos speaker (which one?).

Thank you all for your helpful suggestions. It saddens me to have to accept that I’ve seemingly wasted so much money in good faith on a system that is no longer fit for purpose. I’m clearly also going to have to buy a second Tp-Link range extender.

The Deco M4R is allegedly incompatible with a ‘mesh’ network!

Once I’ve made the alterations, I shall attempt to configure my Sonos system once again.

Stanley_4

Grand Maestro

Sonos usually isn’t happy with “range extenders” but does well with additional mesh access points. Shop carefully, maybe ask here before hitting the buy button?

I

Ian_S

Prodigy III

Did you change broadband provider? Or just get upgraded to Fibre?

R

RDMGAuthor

Contributor I

Thank you to Stanley_4 and Ian_S for your recent engagement.

Since switching from BT Whole Home Broadband to full fibre broadband (BT don’t offer full fibre in my arera), I’ve experienced multiple issues with Sonos speakers and now my Dyson App.

As a result of the kind advice that I’ve received in this forum, I have now purchased a Tp-Link Mesh WiFi 6 Booster to compliment my Deco M4R Router and Tp-Link Mesh Wi-Fi Extender (RE330). I have no idea whether they will work together and give me the same connectivity I enjoyed with BT.

My immediate intention is to physically remove my four expensive BT range extending discs this weekend, and hope that my two Tp-Link extenders provide the same coverage. Once I remove the Ethernet cable from my BT disc, I propose to plug it directly into one Sonos speaker before attempting to reinstall my Sonos devices wirelessly on my Sonos App once more.

Technically, I haven’t a clue what I’m doing, although the immediate impact has been losing four expensive BT discs and one Sonos Boost. That’s quite a financial hit, not to mention having to also buy two Tp-Link range extenders.

Thanks again to those who’ve contributed. Please shout out if my proposed solution is unworkable.

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