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Question

Wifi 7 router, only ERA 300 speakers work

  • February 11, 2026
  • 11 replies
  • 101 views
K
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I’ve just spent 4 hours on both on the Sonos chat and then had to call to try and get my system up and running. I’ve upgraded my Vodafone wifi 6E router to WiFi 7 but can only get my 4 x ERA 300 speakers to work. I can’t get the Arc and any of my older speakers to work ie Play one (gen2) x 2 or play 3 and Play 5.

At the end I was told no they won’t work as our speakers aren’t compatible with WiFi 7 except the ERAs. So I’ve now got a partly obsolete system. I would have expected to be told that within 5 minutes if that’s really the case not 4 hours later after exhausting every avenue.
 

I also asked so if I upgrade to the Arc ultra will it work but apparently it won’t either , I find it hard to believe no one else has had this issue as im sure many people are upgraded to WiFi 7.Has anyone heard if Sonos are addressing this or anyone had similar issues ? 

    11 replies

    Airgetlam
    • Airgetlam
    • February 11, 2026

    First off, don’t trust the chat, call in. The ‘bot you most often ‘chat’ with doesn’t always have the correct answers, imho. 

    As far as I’m aware, WiFi 7 is completely backwards compatible with earlier versions of WiFi, so as long as the signal matches the data in the Sonos Network Requirements FAQ, and isn’t ’locked down’ to WiFi 7 features only, any and all Sonos should be able to connect. Life does become slightly easier if you first wire them with Ethernet cable, temporarily, before removing it once the speaker has joined the system, but it isn’t required, just easier. 

    Call in, speak verbally to a rep. 

    Bruce
      Belly M
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      • Belly M
      • February 11, 2026

      Just to confirm I have a Wi-Fi 7 UniFi setup, works perfectly with Era 300/100’s,  OG Beam, Play One’s (Gen 1). 

        C
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        • craigski
        • Local Superstar
        • February 11, 2026

        Has anyone heard if Sonos are addressing this or anyone had similar issues ? 

        Vodafone has addressed this with compatibility mode on their Ultra Hubs:

        https://www.vodafone.co.uk/support/articles/how-does-wifi-compatibility-mode-work----04ed1934-a78e-44e2-b0a5-53acd344d265

          K
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          • k11pol
          • Author
          • Contributor II
          • February 11, 2026

          Hi, It was a human that I spoke directly with , I started of with a bot then a human on chat and then finally a human on voice call. 
          would there be a setting on the Vodafone app that I could adjust to let the router see these speakers ? 

          K
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          • k11pol
          • Author
          • Contributor II
          • February 11, 2026

          Thanks Craig, I’ll have a look at this later and hopefully figure it out. 

          controlav
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          • controlav
          • Lead Maestro
          • February 12, 2026

          Looks like that Voda device defaults to WPA3, which Sonos don’t support. Per the link ​@craigski shared, you need to use WPA2.

          Author of the leading independent Sonos apps for Android, MacOS, iOS, Windows and Xbox.
            K
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            • k11pol
            • Author
            • Contributor II
            • February 12, 2026

            Amazing guys , thanks. All working as it should apart from my gen 2 sub , it won’t play ball so maybe time for an upgrade or as I’ve seen before it might just jump into life. 
             

            Just to help anyone out if you upgrade to Vodafone WiFi 7 and looking at this in the future , just remember once you have toggled compatibility mode in the app to ON then go to your WiFi setting and use the Vodafone extra WiFi not your original Vodafone WiFi. I didn’t realise this initially so wasted some time trying again and still wouldn’t work but once I used the extra setting it was seamless. I also used chat GPT for some advice and it was spot with everything.

             

             

             

              Stanley_4
              • Stanley_4
              • Grand Maestro
              • February 12, 2026

              On the Sub, start with a network refresh to clear out any stale information. Power down all Sonos Reboot router and controller then power up your Sonos. 

                K
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                • k11pol
                • Author
                • Contributor II
                • February 12, 2026

                I actually did everything you mentioned and started one by one but had no joy with the sub but the rest worked a treat. I was also getting a bit bored with it so thought rather than persevering I’ll come back to it another day. I go back to work at the weekend for 6 weeks so not really wanting to waste anymore time with it as I’ve a few more important tasks to tidy up before I go , appreciate your advice. 

                  Airgetlam
                  • Airgetlam
                  • February 12, 2026

                  Since WiFi 7 didn’t exist when the chips were designed, purchased, and installed in those Sonos devices, it’s unsurprising that they rely on the backwards compatibility with all versions of Wifi. 

                  Bruce
                  Stanley_4
                  • Stanley_4
                  • Grand Maestro
                  • February 12, 2026

                  When you get back to this the lists here may help.

                  https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/supported-wifi-modes-and-security-standards-for-sonos-products

                   

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