Question
sonos + google wifi or bt whole house wifi?
+3does anyone here use sonos with google wifi or bt whole house wifi? Do you have any issues at all? I need to get one of these for my flat.
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I have just installed a BT whole home. One of the reasons is because the BT units are not routers. They are just AP (access points) which means they connect and are controlled by your router, which still controls all your devices ie sonos, chromo cast printers, media pc's.
Just plug the first BT unit into your router, and the rest of the BT units connect to the first one. Just connected my wireless devices to the new network and had no problems at all with Sonos, plex or chromo cast.
The Google wifi on the other hand are all individual routers (which can be set up as bridging units, not routers if you want), which means you have to set up your devices again. The google wifi does have 2 Ethernet ports you can hard wire devices too where the BT has only one (ethernet HUB if you want more).
If you have a small flat they say you only need 2 units. £260 for google or £185 for 3 BT units (they don't sell them on their own).
Check reviews of both to see if you need all the "bells and whistles" of the Google or the "just does what it says on the tin" BT.
Just plug the first BT unit into your router, and the rest of the BT units connect to the first one. Just connected my wireless devices to the new network and had no problems at all with Sonos, plex or chromo cast.
The Google wifi on the other hand are all individual routers (which can be set up as bridging units, not routers if you want), which means you have to set up your devices again. The google wifi does have 2 Ethernet ports you can hard wire devices too where the BT has only one (ethernet HUB if you want more).
If you have a small flat they say you only need 2 units. £260 for google or £185 for 3 BT units (they don't sell them on their own).
Check reviews of both to see if you need all the "bells and whistles" of the Google or the "just does what it says on the tin" BT.
+3thanks! Just need a simple access point. Not too keen on limiting myself to 2 Ethernet ports as I need at least 5 Ethernet ports for my servers etc. Looks like bt whole house is the way to go in that case. Might also check out netgear orbi as that has a lot of good reviews
Would you please define what you mean by "BT"? I can think of several possibilities and am unsure about which one might be correct.
+3best I can do is send you a google search page
https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=BT+whole+home&oq=BT+whole+home&aqs=chrome..69i57&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Thanks. I'm guessing British Telecom, but it's certainly not Bluetooth.
@slaphead significantly overstates the technical differences between the BT and Google systems, IMO. They are both mesh networks, the units are capable of pretty similar operations, and both connect to your existing router - essentially using it as a modem.
Routers don't 'control' devices in any meaningful sense. What is true is that to operate in mesh mode the Google system requires you to use it as the DHCP server, whereas the BT system does not force this. That might be a bit of a one-off inconvenience if you have lots of fixed IP addresses but it doesn't seem a big issue to me. I am not sure what @slaphead means by having to set up all your devices again with Google..
Two countries separated by a common language, John B 🙂
John B is quite right in that they are both MESH networks. It's just with the BT whole home you cannot configure any parent controls, firewalls, port forwarding etc. You just plug it in and it provides you with a mesh wifi with your router controlling DHCP, firewall, traffic priority etc.
If you like to tinker and want to replace your router, then the BT whole home won't be any good. You need to use a router with the BT whole home, where as the google wifi can be used with or without a router.
What I meant about setting your devices up again, was that if you have an xbox, playstation or high priority devices (ping rates ,want to stream 4K), you would have to configure all this again if you use the google wifi as your router.
It just depends on how much control you want over the devices connected to your network, and what router controls them.
IMO I would look at all the reviews of the MESH devices.
Two questions I asked myself was
1/ Do I need or want to replace my router?
2/ How many, if any of the functions they provide to I need?
All I can tell you is that I've had no problems with the BT whole home. It just worked straight out the box, with all my wireless devices controlling the sonos (which is connected to my router) with no problems. 🙂
If you like to tinker and want to replace your router, then the BT whole home won't be any good. You need to use a router with the BT whole home, where as the google wifi can be used with or without a router.
What I meant about setting your devices up again, was that if you have an xbox, playstation or high priority devices (ping rates ,want to stream 4K), you would have to configure all this again if you use the google wifi as your router.
It just depends on how much control you want over the devices connected to your network, and what router controls them.
IMO I would look at all the reviews of the MESH devices.
Two questions I asked myself was
1/ Do I need or want to replace my router?
2/ How many, if any of the functions they provide to I need?
All I can tell you is that I've had no problems with the BT whole home. It just worked straight out the box, with all my wireless devices controlling the sonos (which is connected to my router) with no problems. 🙂
+3thanks guys. A simple WAP is all I need. I guess I don't need to use a BT home/smart hub with the BT whole house - any router should work?
@slaphead - thanks for helpful info and clarification.
@cinek2. If you think all you need is a WAP, why not buy a relatively inexpensive WAP? Or if the issue is with Sonos, a Boost or a Bridge (cheap on eBay) might be the answer. The point is, what is the question? What problem are you trying to solve?
@cinek2. If you think all you need is a WAP, why not buy a relatively inexpensive WAP? Or if the issue is with Sonos, a Boost or a Bridge (cheap on eBay) might be the answer. The point is, what is the question? What problem are you trying to solve?
+3need to get rid of dead wifi spots in the flat. Might look into getting a boost for sonos but a cheap WAP is out of the question as that'll limit the speeds. I'm on a 1Gbps up/down and the last thing I want is a rubbish WAP that won't be able to handle much traffic
Well I don't think I suggested getting a rubbish one. And for all we know your dead spots may be caused by having a rubbish router. Anyway, to answer your original question, Sonos is being used successfully with Google wifi and BT whole home so you need not worry about compatibility.
+3that's also possible but a mesh network solves that problem and BT whoie house which is £189 isn't that expensive
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