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Contributor I
January 27, 2023
Answered

Speakers cutting out is boost the solution?

Hello, I have 8 one SL speakers through a 2500 sq ft house.  I had multiple problems with far reaching speakers from the router cutting out on my wifi.   I have moved the router to the central part of the house and connected one of the speakers to my router via ethernet to create the mesh sonos network.  I’m still having problems with the speakers cutting out (one of them being the speaker that is connected to the router).  I have rebooted all speakers, changed the channel on the sonos.  My last option is to call my cable provided to ensure that the channels match and the other channels are disabled. I disconnected the wifi extender and live in a house so should not have to much interference from my neighbors. My next thought is getting a boost but before I purchase it I want to ask if that is really going to correct the problem? The far reaching speakers are cutting out but it is happening on the majority of them intermittently.  Sometimes I can uncheck the speaker and check it again to get it going again but then another one will cut out.  

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John BAnswer
January 28, 2023

A few suggestions that may improve stability.  (Sorry if some have been mentioned already, but on a very quick skim back I didn’t notice them).

  1. Remove your WiFi credentials from your Sonos system.  Go to Settings, System, Network, Manage Networks.  (You cannot do this if you have a Move or a Roam, but it sounds like you don’t.)
  2. Reserve IP addresses for your Sonos speakers in your router’s DHCP settings
  3. Keep the wired speaker at least 3 feet from the router.
  4. Check that the channel width for your WiFi is 20MHz, not 40MHz or Auto.
  5. If there is a ‘band steering’ option in your router, disable it.  (Although now that you are using SonosNet, this will directly affect only the controllers, and may not have an impact even there.)

17 replies

Mr. T
January 27, 2023

A Boost is unlikely to help as you already have a device wired. If it is easy, you could try connecting another of your One SLs to the router in addition to the existing one.

What router are you using?

For the wired speaker, are you getting dropouts on that when playing to it alone, or only when grouped with others?

When grouping speakers, you want the initial room to have the best connection ie. wired. as that becomes the Group co-ordinator.

Contributor I
January 28, 2023

Hello and thank you so much for your reply.  I have a an Xfinity router and one speaker wired to the router and the remaining seven as I understand, it, create a mesh Netwerk with each other.  My speakers typically drop when they are grouped. And what’s odd it’s the speakers that are closer to the router.  I have two bands on my router, a 5 on a channel 157 and a 2.4 on channel 11.  I have change the Sonos Netwerk to channel one, so it would not have interference however, that did not solve the problem. Then the support representative told me to change it to the same channel as my router so I changed it to 11 because they said it would most likely look at the 2.4.  I’m running out of ideas. Sure appreciate your thoughts. Thank you! 
 


 

Airgetlam
January 28, 2023

Based on what you’ve posted, it sounds like you’ve got some wifi interference . Worth reading the linked FAQ, and ensuring that “closer to the router” doesn’t mean less that around 3 feet. 

You’re using SonosNet, which is still a wifi type signal, and can be affected as much as your normal wifi. I’d definitely try channel 6, if you’re having issues on channel 1. The reason Sonos uses 1, 6 or 11 is that those are the channels that have no “bleed” over into each other. But whichever channel you use, it’s still potentially affected by both your normal wifi router’s signal, other electronic devices in your home, and of course external sources. I once had a new neighbor move in who set up his router such that it stomped all over my SonosNet channel, and I had to change it. 

Unfortunately, those of us who are part of this community don’t have the same access to the diagnostics that you submit to Sonos, so much of what we’re telling you is based on history, and not hard data.

Bruce
Contributor I
January 28, 2023

Hi Bruce, thank you!  I will try channel six to see if it makes a difference.  I wonder if the fact that my router has two bands causes any confusion?  Xfinity suggested I drop the 2.4 but really don’t want to do that since if my 5.0 loses connection I have a failover to the 2.4.  The other thought is to see if it still drops on five speakers instead of playing all 8 at once.  The Sonos rep said the wired speaker create the Sonos net but only good for five speakers.  Not a great option when having parties which is why I thought of the boost.  But it sounds like that will not solve the problem either. 

buzz
Grand Maestro
January 28, 2023

BOOST simply omits the audio section to save costs. Unless it’s impractical to wire one or more speakers, I doubt that BOOST has any utility in your system. Actually, it is likely to be ignored.

Eight speakers is easy for SonosNet to support — unless there is interference or signal strength issues. Very dense walls will reduce signal strength. All of this leaves clear tracks in the diagnostics.

Note that all network traffic for a Group passes through the “Group Coordinator” (the first player in the Group). If the Coordinator is struggling to connect, the Group will suffer. Ideally a wired unit should be the Coordinator. You should experiment by using a different Coordinator.

Parties can present additional issues. Water absorbs WiFi band energy. Humans are mostly bags of water. A house full of party bags can degrade wireless performance.

Airgetlam
January 28, 2023

And I’d leave the 2.4 GHz ‘side’ active. 5Ghz is indeed ‘faster’, but it doesn’t go ‘through’ objects as well, and Sonos streams don’t need the ‘speed’ it offers. It’s very useful for other things, absolutely, just not for Sonos. 

Bruce
January 28, 2023

Hi.  You seem to have received some dodgy advice from Sonos Support, I am afraid. The suggestion that SonosNet is only good for 5 speakers is the most blatantly ridiculous statement.

Just to check that SonosNet is running OK please check under About My System in the Sonos app that all your speakers are displaying WM=0 not WM=1.

Do you have any other network devices besides the router?  Mesh satellites?

Do you have separate network names for your 2.4 an 5GHz bands or are they combined into a single SSID?

Contributor I
January 28, 2023

BOOST simply omits the audio section to save costs. Unless it’s impractical to wire one or more speakers, I doubt that BOOST has any utility in your system. Actually, it is likely to be ignored.

Eight speakers is easy for SonosNet to support — unless there is interference or signal strength issues. Very dense walls will reduce signal strength. All of this leaves clear tracks in the diagnostics.

Note that all network traffic for a Group passes through the “Group Coordinator” (the first player in the Group). If the Coordinator is struggling to connect, the Group will suffer. Ideally a wired unit should be the Coordinator. You should experiment by using a different Coordinator.

Parties can present additional issues. Water absorbs WiFi band energy. Humans are mostly bags of water. A house full of party bags can degrade wireless performance.

 

Contributor I
January 28, 2023

Thank you!  Wm are set to zero.  No other networks except the two and they are separate names.  I’ll try a different wired speaker but from the advice I’m getting the consensus seems to be interference since I’ve tried everything else.  I’m playing them this morning after changing to channel 6 and so far no drops.  It does seem to happen more in the late afternoon. I thought it was odd that I was told a wired speakers are only good for five other speakers in the mesh network, Sonos advertises 32! I also found another potential issue after reading the interference article that was in a response.  My router is on a shelf below my tv that uses a fire stick.  So may be causing interference or competing for the network.  The tv uses the 5 band.  But they are not on at the same time.  Not sure if that matters? Really appreciate the help here!  I’ve gotten more solutions that seem to be improving the situation. 

buzz
Grand Maestro
January 28, 2023

Are there any other potential interfering devices, such as Zigbee home control devices, baby monitors, microwave ovens (when operating), wireless security cameras,  cordless phone system, etc.?

Since there seems to be more issues at specific times, keep a log of events. Back in 2005 I had major issues with my SONOS system. After a short period of logging a clear pattern started to emerge. I shared my log with a neighbor and she could correlate her use of a cordless phone system with my issues -- occurring only when she was at home. She mostly used the phone in a specific room and I was able to shuffle my wired/wireless player locations and work around the issue. (By the way, only certain cordless phones will cause issues)