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Process for rebooting Mesh routers and get Sonos attached to the right satellite


I was wondering what the best practice for rebooting Mesh Routers. I have a lot of devices with reserved IP addresses and every time I am making a change I have to reboot the router. As a result all the Sonos devices that were attached to the main router are now picking up one of the satellites. The only way I have found to get the devices back to where they belong is to power cycle all my Sonos units. Any ideas to avoid this?

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Best answer by ratty 14 April 2021, 19:18

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Unless the mesh system has the ability to block client devices from specific satellites, I can’t see how you could do it.

 

The mesh system, by design, “should” choose the most efficient WiFi point to connect to and manage the clients appropriately.

 

out of interest, what is the brand of mesh WiFi?

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I use an Asus AiMesh consisting of a GT-AX11000 and two GT-AC5300 as satellite nodes. All connected via Ethernet backhaul. I have a lot of WiFi products in a tri-level home. 

However, my Sonos uses the SonosNet with a Boost Module connection to the main and each satellite nodes. You may not need that amount of signal to stabilize the SonosNet ( in fact it’s probably overkill in my setup LOL)

My point is that you should trying wiring a Sonos speaker to your main node or a Sonos Boost module to create the SonosNet. Most likely will resolve your connection issues.

Unless the mesh system has the ability to block client devices from specific satellites, I can’t see how you could do it.

 

The mesh system, by design, “should” choose the most efficient WiFi point to connect to and manage the clients appropriately.

 

out of interest, what is the brand of mesh WiFi?

I am using Orbi RBR750 with 2 satellites. I dont believe the issue is the router. Sonos switch to a lesser quality signal when the router signal disappears, but does not switch back when a better signal comes back. 

I use an Asus AiMesh consisting of a GT-AX11000 and two GT-AC5300 as satellite nodes. All connected via Ethernet backhaul. I have a lot of WiFi products in a tri-level home. 

However, my Sonos uses the SonosNet with a Boost Module connection to the main and each satellite nodes. You may not need that amount of signal to stabilize the SonosNet ( in fact it’s probably overkill in my setup LOL)

My point is that you should trying wiring a Sonos speaker to your main node or a Sonos Boost module to create the SonosNet. Most likely will resolve your connection issues.

Thanks for the feedback. This is very interesting, because I had one node wired to the router in the past and Sonos support told me it was not recommended and suggested I moved everything to wireless. Things are working very well if I reboot all Sonos nodes after rebooting the router so I am satisfied with signal strength as is. 

I am using Orbi RBR750 with 2 satellites. I dont believe the issue is the router. Sonos switch to a lesser quality signal when the router signal disappears, but does not switch back when a better signal comes back. 

There’ll be some hysteresis in play, to avoid needless flapping between access points. I’d guess that a ‘better’ AP has to be at least +X dB relative to the one currently in use to be selected, and/or the current AP has to drop below Y dB in absolute terms.

How different are the respective RSSIs of the router and satellite(s) at a typical Sonos device location? A WiFi scanner app could give you a broad picture.

Do the Sonos units actually misbehave when they connect to the ‘wrong’ AP?

I am using Orbi RBR750 with 2 satellites. I dont believe the issue is the router. Sonos switch to a lesser quality signal when the router signal disappears, but does not switch back when a better signal comes back. 

There’ll be some hysteresis in play, to avoid needless flapping between access points. I’d guess that a ‘better’ AP has to be at least +X dB relative to the one currently in use to be selected, and/or the current AP has to drop below Y dB in absolute terms.

How different are the respective RSSIs of the router and satellite(s) at a typical Sonos device location? A WiFi scanner app could give you a broad picture.

Do the Sonos units actually misbehave when they connect to the ‘wrong’ AP?

I have had one node not being able to group with others and some skipping. My main reason for getting mesh was for Sonos. I guess I just have to get a bunch of smart outlets and toggle power when needed.. 

The grouping problems could be being compounded by Sonos devices connecting to the various mesh nodes on different channels. For optimal group performance units should share the same channel, so that they can talk to one another peer-to-peer.

I really don’t understand why Sonos Support advised switching away from SonosNet (‘wired’) mode. These kinds of grouping problems shouldn’t arise in a SonosNet setup as the units all mesh together via their own dedicated channel. I suggest you try that arrangement again, and see if you can avoid having to fight the Orbi mesh.

The grouping problems could be being compounded by Sonos devices connecting to the various mesh nodes on different channels. For optimal group performance units should share the same channel, so that they can talk to one another peer-to-peer.

I really don’t understand why Sonos Support advised switching away from SonosNet (‘wired’) mode. These kinds of grouping problems shouldn’t arise in a SonosNet setup as the units all mesh together via their own dedicated channel. I suggest you try that arrangement again, and see if you can avoid having to fight the Orbi mesh.

Thanks for your input. It may not have been clear above, but I only had one node wired which is what they recommended against. I dont have the infrastructure to wire all nodes. Below is a part of their response. This is a while back before I got the mesh router.

 

Looking over the diagnostic, we see that your Sonos system set up on what is called mixed mode. That means that some of the Sonos products are talking directly to the WiFi, and the others are wired and using Sonosnet to communicate. which can cause communication issues like you are having. 

You shouldn’t normally need to wire more than one Sonos node. The whole point of SonosNet is that it’s a true mesh, where each node supports its peers.

The Tech Support comment about mixed mode is a valid one. At that time some of your Sonos units were on SonosNet and some on the WiFi. This can result in instability. You’d avoid this happening by getting all the Sonos devices onto SonosNet and then simply deleting your WiFi credentials from the system.

You shouldn’t normally need to wire more than one Sonos node. The whole point of SonosNet is that it’s a true mesh, where each node supports its peers.

The Tech Support comment about mixed mode is a valid one. At that time some of your Sonos units were on SonosNet and some on the WiFi. This can result in instability. You’d avoid this happening by getting all the Sonos devices onto SonosNet and then simply deleting your WiFi credentials from the system.

 

Got it. Not sure why they suggested to go wifi instead of sonosnet, but at the time it was hard to find an extra open channel so it could make sense for that reason.  Ill check with Acrylic if there is more space now. Thanks for all your input. I mistakenly picked the wrong post as the “best answer” instead of yours and unfortunately I cant seem to change that.