Re: Orbi won't connect to Sonos Wireless

Retired_Member · ‎2020-05-08

Howdy,

Orbi replacing Airport Extreme setup.

So far, meh.

My problem is with Sonos.

Sonos works when connected via Ethernet. But I'm trying to get Sonos to run on my Guest, Wireless network. When I switch to my Guest, Sonos won't connect.

Here's what Sonos told me:

Here are router settings that need to be verified. You can contact your ISP or the manufacturer of the router for assistance.

Auto channel must be set to Off
Choose best non-overlapping channel (1,6,11)
Set channel bandwidth to 20MHz
Both 2.4GHz and 5GHz should be enabled
UPnP should be enabled
802.11 band should be set to b/g/n
Airtime Fairness should be disabled

After all day on the phone, I give up. I went back to my Airport Extreme. Hopefully one day Apple will get back in the networking business.

This is why America is in decline. Because people are too cheap to pay for good support. Instead, we're stuck with foreigners who could care less about us or our products.

Most products are throw aways nowadays. Buying anything, is a gamble.

So this will go on eBay, I take the loss.

BTW. The product wasn't any faster than my Airport network.

timch · ‎2020-05-09

For the record, my Orbi works perfectly with Sonos. Doesn't sound as if you want help but setting up Sonos on a guest network sounds a tricky use case. You will have to make sure your controller (iPhones and iPads in my case) are on the same network along with any source.

michaelkenward · ‎2020-05-09

Your subject says "Orbi won't connect to Sonos Wireless".

A more fruitful way of looking at this might be to deal with the issue "Sonos won't connect to Orbi Wireless".

That's because the Orbi is effectively a passive device that puffs out wifi. It is then down to the various clients to play nice and connect.

Do you have any other wifi clients that are working with the Orbi? If so, that suggests that the wifi source is behaving as designed.

Check the first hit here:

Search - NETGEAR Communities – sonos

Wifi clients can be very picky during setup. Just ask anyone who has tried to set up a Samsung "smart" TV. Grrr.

Retired_Member · ‎2020-05-09

Howdy,

No, I would love help. I would love to get this to work.

But I spent all day on this yesterday. Orbi support was poor at best. They didn't understand the problem, they never understood that I was wanting Sonos to run on the guest network.

According to Sonos, they don't support guest networks:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/126?language=en_US

The Sonos system is a Playbar, 2 Play 3's, and a Subwoofer. The Play 5's and the sub connect to the Playbar wireless, via the Sonos subnet.

The Sonos playbar is connected via Ethernet to my router. Right now the router is an Airport Extreme. But since Apple is no longer in the router/networking business, I figured I'd give Orbi a try.

The Sonos is located in the lock-off apartment in our home. We're renting the apartment. So, I want the the apartment to use a guest network.

Right now the Sonos is connected to our main network. I ran an ethernet cable from the apartment to my router. Then like I say, the rest of the system connects to the network the playbar broadcasts.

So if someone can tell me how to get this to work, I'm grateful.

But after all day yesterday, I'm super frustrated. I was going to try and return the Orbi today, I bought it from Costco. If they won't take it back I was going to put it on eBay, write off the loss.

Retired_Member · ‎2020-05-09

Are you running Sonos on a guest network?

According to Sonos, the system won't run on a guest network:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/126?language=en_US

michaelkenward · ‎2020-05-09

I'm puzzled. You wrote this:

@Retired_Member wrote:

....they never understood that I was wanting Sonos to run on the guest network.

According to Sonos, they don't support guest networks:

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/126?language=en_US

You expect Netgear to help you to do something that Sonos says is not possible?

So if someone can tell me how to get this to work, I'm grateful.

Perhaps @Retired_Member has the answer.

Rather than trying to achieve the impossible, how about looking for another solution?

Topspin14m · ‎2020-05-10

Won't work if a portal page is required to login. Even beyond that, Sonos runs on SonosNet when you wire one of the units -- so the individual speakers don't connect via wifi anymore, but via Sonos's proprietry SonosNet system. So, even if your guest network doesn't require a portal page, you'd have to start by unplugging all your Sonos devices from ethernet to force them onto wifi. As others are saying, your problem isn't with Netgear but with how Sonos works. It'll be the same thing with any other router with a guest network system and the configuration as you've described it.

What I would do is get a separate router for your rental area and have it assign out IPs on a different subnet. Then connect Sonos to that.

Retired_Member · ‎2020-05-10

Yes, the problem is with Sonos.

Even still, I returned the Orbi system. The speed wasn't any bettter than my Airport network. Talking with an overseas call center isn't support, IMHO.

I'm going with a solution where support is right here in the USA. I'll pay more, but it's worth it.

peace and love,