Best Practices for Sonos Devices

Sonos devices commonly cause network loops, which can cause slow speeds or even total network malfunction.

Background

Many Sonos devices are equipped with SonosNet, a proprietary wireless mesh network on the 2.4 GHz spectrum that enables communication between other Sonos devices. With SonosNet, a Sonos device can connect to a wired network and “extend” the connection to other wireless Sonos devices, without involving an existing Wi-Fi SSID.

Note: Sonos Era, Move, and Roam products do not support SonosNet. They can only be connected directly to your Wi-Fi network.

SonosNet is itself a fully featured network, including spanning tree features. However, this spanning tree implementation is not configurable and can conflict with professional network setups. Together, these things can result in unexpected network loops or STP discarding states on critical switch ports, including AP uplinks.

Fortunately, with some simple tips, Sonos devices can coexist perfectly with your UniFi deployment.

Best Practices

If Sonos Devices are Wired

• Ensure all Sonos devices are wired. None should be connected via WiFi.
• Use the same Network/VLAN for all Sonos devices.
• Connect all Sonos devices to the same switch, if possible.
• Disable SonosNet and Wi-Fi on all Sonos devices.
• Do not daisy chain Sonos devices together using the same LAN port on a UniFi switch.
• Set STP priorities on your switches. 

If Sonos Devices are Wireless

• Ensure all Sonos devices are wirelessly connected. Do not wire any into your network.
• If SonosNet is in use for legacy speakers, ensure the 2.4GHz channel used by SonosNet does not overlap with any existing 2.4GHz WiFi managed in UniFi. This will create unnecessary interference and degrade overall network performance. We recommend using SonosNet on channels 1/6/11.

Note: Lutron devices can also be involved in the SonosNet-related loops if Sonos integrations are used with Pico remotes or other keypads. Learn more.