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Forum Discussion
SONOS Compatability with Orbi
Is Orbi compatable with the SONOS mesh network? I have an extensive SONOS system throughout my house (7000 sq ft). It works flawlessly and I have wondered why a mesh network for a LAN application ha...
If you have verified that the stability is with the wifi and not your internet connection, then I suggest doing the same with Ethernet plugged into the satellite. If that speed is stable while playing music, then it's not the backhaul.
The next thing to try is turning off the satellite entirely and see if the issue persists with just the router.
Do you have the 2 orbi or 3 orbi kit?
The next thing to try is turning off the satellite entirely and see if the issue persists with just the router.
Do you have the 2 orbi or 3 orbi kit?
Okay I will try that as well.
I have the Orbi 2 kit.
Dynamiteboy wrote:Okay I will try that as well.
I have the Orbi 2 kit.
I just tested with 9 sonos components actively playing a high-def stream from Pandora. There was no impact on the Orbi wireless throughput.
I have two bridges and 7 speakers, both old and new generation. I also have two CR200 controllers, which use the sonosnet wireless network.
Something must be misconfigured with your system, or there is something else going on that you haven't discovered yet.
I agree, its hard to for me to be entirley sold that they aren't compatiable because of everyone else saying that theres is fine. This is a stock Orbi system though, no strange changes made, no strange configs. I will continue to do more testing later this week, but I can replicate the problem so consistently that something is definitely going on. I thought there may still be a loop going on, but that would cause issues on the network as a whole reagrdless of whether music was being played or not.
When you say wireless throughput you mean testing the backend on the orbi's? Or your internet speed via speedtesting site?
Dynamiteboy wrote:
I agree, its hard to for me to be entirley sold that they aren't compatiable because of everyone else saying that theres is fine. This is a stock Orbi system though, no strange changes made, no strange configs. I will continue to do more testing later this week, but I can replicate the problem so consistently that something is definitely going on. I thought there may still be a loop going on, but that would cause issues on the network as a whole reagrdless of whether music was being played or not.
When you say wireless throughput you mean testing the backend on the orbi's? Or your internet speed via speedtesting site?
OK. I did a couple more tests and found that Sonos components with 5 GHz radios can impact the Orbi backhaul speed. I find the impact inconsequential to me though.
The testing I did was on the internal network, between two Macbook Pros (MBPs), using iperf3. If you don't have iperf, I recommend you download it and use it. It's best to test inside the network anyway, because doing so removes Internet variability.
I get either 100 Mbps, 225 Mbps, 500/580 Mbps, or 940 Mbps throughput, depending on how things are connected. The only thing impacted by Sonos is the Orbi Backhaul.
Both MBPs wireless: 100 Mbps.
One wired to Sat and one wireless to Sat: 225 Mbps.
One wired to Sat and one wired to Router: ~500 Mbps or ~575 MBs depending on Sonos setup. (Pure Orbi backhaul. See details below.)
Both MBPs wired to Sat: 940 Mbps. (Pure GigE switch speeds.)
Impact of Sonos on Bachaul:
With Sonos OFF I get a backhaul throughput of ~575 Mbps.
With all Sonos components ON I get a backhaul throughput of ~500 Mbps.
With Sonos ON but all newer Sonos components that include the 5 GHz radio OFF I get ~575 Mbps again. (That includes: Play:3, Play:5 Gen2, Playbar, Sub.)
So, the Sonos 5 GHz inter-speaker link does seem to impact the Orb'si maximum backhaul throughput by about 75 Mbps. That has zero impact on how I use the network, so it's inconsequential to me. If I need faster backhaul than 500 Mbps I will run a wire.
There appears to be no way to set Orbi's backhaul channel and no way to set Sonos' 5 GHz channel, so it looks like there's nothing to optimize here.
Maybe this information will help you understand what's happening with your setup.