By
pk1
As LUMA's wireless mesh devices start to roll out, I imagine this topic will come up more than once so permit me to relate my experiences getting LUMA to play nicely in the sandbox with Sonos. Because there is so little literature on the topic at this point, my experience (and ultimate success) was mostly the product of trial and error. My setup is the ubiquitous antiquated MI424WR Verizon Actiontec cable modem/router. I have the following paired Sonos components: 2 sets of paired Play 1s, 1 set of paired Play 5s (1st edition), and 2 Sonos Connects. With the new wireless network, I had previously removed the Ethernet cable from my Play 5 located closest to the router. Once I installed all 3 LUMAs from my newly arrived 3-pack, and without any adjustments to my Verizon router settings, my Sonos app could no longer find the Sonos network. I tinkered with a variety of solutions, getting one pair of Play 1's to be recognized when my phone was in close proximity to them. However, as soon as I walked about 30 feet away, the phone app. could once again no longer find the Sonos network.
Well to make a long story short, with several solutions proving to be dead ends, I decided to plug an ethernet cable from the back of one of my Play 5 stereo pairs (the one that had formerly been plugged into the Actiontec router before Sonos went completely wireless) into the OUT port on the back of the LUMA, The In port of that device was plugged into my Actiontec router. All my Sonos components magically appeared. Moreover, I was able to travel throughout the house and even into my backyard without losing the connection to the Sonos components. I note that I did this first without disabling the wireless on the Actiontec router. That's the curious thing about LUMA - although you can run it as your only wireless, it appears you don't have to. Effectively, this means you can have some components on your 192.168.1.XX Actiontec DNS range, and others on the LUMA 192.168.55.XX range.
But my next test was to see if it would still work when I turned off the wireless on the Actiontec router. (I note that keeping the Actiontec wireless enabled effectively circumvented LUMA's ability to cut off internet service; devices would just reroute to the Actiontec router.) So I wanted to see if I could maintain my Sonos connection after disabling the wireless on the router. With the Play 5 now plugged into the LUMA and the LUMA, in turn, plugged into an open LAN port in the back of my router, I was pleased to see that the Sonos app continued to work even after the Actiontec wireless was set to off.
In sum, the simple, if not intuitive, solution turned out to be the best. No resetting the controllers or fooling around with the DNS server ended up being necessary. Just a spare ethernet cord was all it took.
Incidentally, while I am not blown away by the speed of the LUMA (which never seems to change according to the app and seems to be about double what my Speedtest app says it is), I am impressed by its range. I have a 4000 square foot house with very poor wifi range using the Actiontec router. With the 3 LUMAs strategically placed on the left, center and right sides of the houses, I was able to get excellent coverage throughout the house and a good 50 feet into the backyard. That alone has made the purchase worthwhile.
Hope this helps.
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