How do I get Sonos to work without an internet connection?

D

I have some vacation property that has no internet or cell reception. I want to bring some Sonos speakers with me, but I can’t get them to work. Here’s what I’ve done so far:

  • I have a router that has the same WIFI information as my home network so any devices that can connect to my home network can also connect this one. Again, this WIFI has no internet.
  • I was able to get my Sonos speakers to work on my home network when the internet was disabled (with local files only, no streaming services obviously.)
  • I brought a Play 5 to the vacation property, and I confirmed that both my phone and the speaker were connected to the vacation network. The speaker was able to connect to the network either via WIFI or with an ethernet cable.
  • The Sonos app on my phone couldn’t find a Sonos network. Perhaps this was because my home network was tied to a different GPS location? The phone app required Location services to be on, so I couldn’t disable that.
  • I couldn’t create a new Sonos network without an internet connection.
  • I tried to bypass Sonos entirely and use the line-in input on the speaker, but that didn’t work either.

Is there any way to get Sonos speakers to work?

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14 replies

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

On e set up a Sonos system can work without internet I have read in this forum. You however are trying to set up a new speaker for the system, maybe even with a different software version. For that you probably need an internet connection. Word of warning: you shouldn’t update the app, that needs to be on the same version as the system.

A work around would be to take the whole system home again, add the new speaker and update everything. Then take it back to the vacation property.

D

I’m not trying to setup a new speaker, I’m trying to move speakers that work at my home to a new location (different GPS) with the same WIFI information but no internet connection.

melvimbe

GPS shouldn’t really be a factor.  Does your vacation property only have the single router, no additional access points?

If you have not tried it already, I would try to use the Sonos app to connect to the Play:5 while the Play:5 is wired in.

Danny
T

While at your vacation home with your travel router and Sonos speakers, connect one speaker to your router with Ethernet cable and go through wireless setup.  After speaker is found on your Sonos app, unplug Ethernet cable.  Then power up any additional speakers.  The first connected speaker you setup has established the Sonos Connect wifi networking.  Subsequent Sonos speakers will then daisy into existence in your app I believe?

D

GPS shouldn’t really be a factor.  Does your vacation property only have the single router, no additional access points?

If you have not tried it already, I would try to use the Sonos app to connect to the Play:5 while the Play:5 is wired in.

There’s only one router/access point at the vacation property. I can see the Sonos Play:5 on the network when it’s connected via Wifi, and also when it’s connected via ethernet cable. Either way, I’m unable to see a Sonos network on my phone (which is also connected to the vacation network via Wifi.)

D

While at your vacation home with your travel router and Sonos speakers, connect one speaker to your router with Ethernet cable and go through wireless setup.  After speaker is found on your Sonos app, unplug Ethernet cable.  Then power up any additional speakers.  The first connected speaker you setup has established the Sonos Connect wifi networking.  Subsequent Sonos speakers will then daisy into existence in your app I believe?

I’m unable to go through the wireless setup at the vacation property because I have no internet there.

106rallye
Userlevel 7
Badge +17

If your wifi credentials at home and away are the same, my understanding is you should not have to do a set up - your system should not know it’s way from home.

Ken_Griffiths

I’m unable to go through the wireless setup at the vacation property because I have no internet there.

The connection should work - have you fully closed the Sonos App (slide off screen) and then reopened it… if your Mobile and (previously setup) speakers are connected to the same network (wired or wireless) the App should see the speakers even without an Internet connection… if doing the connection over WiFi (rather than having one device wired) then perhaps ensure the following.. 

  1. The network credentials SSID/Password (cAsE SenSiTiVe) are identical to the Home network (NB: you can always cable a single device to the router if you think there maybe a problem with the WiFi credentials anyway). If you do cable a single device then reboot any others ‘wireless’ speakers in the setup.
  2. Put the mobile device on the 2.4Ghz band of the router, just to eliminate wireless isolation issues and open App from fully closed state (not minimised or running in background) to ensure the App finds the speakers on the new network.

If problems persist, perhaps go onto try the ‘Update Networks’ feature in the Sonos App ‘Settings/System/Network/Manage Networks’. Follow the onscreen instructions and see if that solves the matter for you 

D

The connection should work - have you fully closed the Sonos App (slide off screen) and then reopened it… if your Mobile and (previously setup) speakers are connected to the same network (wired or wireless) the App should see the speakers even without an Internet connection… if doing the connection over WiFi (rather than having one device wired) then perhaps ensure the following.. 

  1. The network credentials SSID/Password (cAsE SenSiTiVe) are identical to the Home network (NB: you can always cable a single device to the router if you think there maybe a problem with the WiFi credentials anyway). If you do cable a single device then reboot any others ‘wireless’ speakers in the setup.

 

The SSID and password for both home and vacation networks are exactly the same.

 

  1. Put the mobile device on the 2.4Ghz band of the router, just to eliminate wireless isolation issues and open App from fully closed state (not minimised or running in background) to ensure the App finds the speakers on the new network.

 

I’ll have to try this the next time I’m at the vacation property. I have both 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz bands on the router there.

 

If problems persist, perhaps go onto try the ‘Update Networks’ feature in the Sonos App ‘Settings/System/Network/Manage Networks’. Follow the onscreen instructions and see if that solves the matter for you 

When I tried this before, it required an internet connection.

Ken_Griffiths

@dcmouyard

Its a pity you are unable to get a mobile signal at the vacation property, as quite a lot can be achieved whilst (temporarily) using a MiFi device or mobile hotspot. I have been using a D-Link dwr-2101 whilst travelling recently and that works well with Sonos on either a 4G/5G mobile internet connection.

Once things are all setup you should be fine. The one other thought is to maybe bring the (travel) router at the vacation property back to your Home and sort out the Sonos setup there first and then move all to the vacation property afterwards. You can even switch off the internet at home and test that everything works beforehand.

D

Its a pity you are unable to get a mobile signal at the vacation property, as quite a lot can be achieved whilst (temporarily) using a MiFi device or mobile hotspot. I have been using a D-Link dwr-2101 whilst travelling recently and that works well with Sonos on either a 4G/5G mobile internet connection.

 

Yeah, there’s no cellular reception at the vacation property either.

 

The one other thought is to maybe bring the (travel) router at the vacation property back to your Home and sort out the Sonos setup there first and then move all to the vacation property afterwards. You can even switch off the internet at home and test that everything works beforehand.

This is what I had done at the very beginning. Everything worked at home, even with the internet shut off and the home router shut off.

Ken_Griffiths

This is what I had done at the very beginning. Everything worked at home, even with the internet shut off and the home router shut off.

Obviously if everything worked at your Home with the internet shut off it should have worked at the vacation property for you too in exactly the same way - so not sure what might have gone wrong for you in this instance🤔? 

A

Is your “vacation” router issuing an ip address via DHCP if its not connected to the internet?

just a thought.

Andy

D

Hey all, I finally figured out the problem: Someone had inadvertently updated Sonos and all speakers, except the Play 5 I took to the vacation property. Bringing the Play 5 back home and updating it to match the same version as the others fixed the issue. Everything works as expected at the vacation property now.

 

Thanks for all of your help!

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