2

Latest firmware update - How's it going?

Noticed an update was pushed last night. So far things are looking good {fingers crossed}. Just wanted to see what others experiences are.

I have a pfsense firewall and double-nat setup - the main eero controls my home subnet. Originally was getting quirky connection behaviors (SONOS issues etc) but simplifying my network - removing excess switches on the eero's subnet / relocating devices like my slingboxes AND now this update seems to have stabilized things. Am hoping this also resolves some android wifi connection issues I've encountered. Time will tell I guess but woohooo for now ..

Thanks again for all your hard work!!!!!

55 replies

    • eero Community Manager
    • Jeff_C
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Official response
    • Reported - view

    Hi everyone!

    Thanks for all the great discussion taking place here. It is really awesome to see everyone trading tips to help optimize their networks.

    If you are having any trouble with Sonos (or anything for that matter) since updating to eeroOS 2.1, we ask that you contact support so that our team can take a look into what you are experiencing. Feel free to give us a call at 1-877-659-2347 or email us at support@eero.com.

    You shouldn't be having any trouble with Sonos on an eero network, so if you are, let's definitely open a ticket with our support team so they can take a look. We are more than happy to work with Sonos support to help get everything working so you can stream music with no issue.

    • Patrick_L
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Not good.  I updated firmware yesterday and my Sonos now disconnects from the network intermittently.  I didn't have any problems whatsoever prior to the update.  If you have Sonos, I wouldn't recommend the update if you can prevent it.  I will now see if I can roll back the update.

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    That's interesting - I had very similar SONOS issues - speakers dropping out, having trouble grouping, music skips/pauses. My trouble was either a secondary switch hanging off of a primary switch I had and/or maybe other wired devices like sling boxes. I simplified things to just one switch + relocated unnecessary devices to another subnet. Everything started working including the SONOS speakers and this was before the update.

    I haven't really been using my full SONOS setup since the update except for the playbar/rear play:1's and subwoofer - which worked fine tonight. Will check out the other speakers tomorrow and report back if that helps.

    • Patrick_L
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Just to provide a bit more information, my set-up is extremely simple.  All I have is a Sonos Connect hardwired into my unmanaged switch that is connected to my main Eero.  When I initially installed the Eeros I had zero connection issues with my Sonos.  I held off on updating any firmware for two weeks to test the compatibility of everything.  No issues.  Immediately after I updated to the new firmware (Thursday), my Sonos application cannot maintain a connection with the network.  Everything else with my network has remained constant (aside from the firmware update).  I thought that maybe by updating the Sonos app to version 7.0 might help, but no luck. I have no Playbar, Play, SonosNet, etc., just a Connect. The problem definitely lies with the Eero.

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Ah okay  I have a Boost and my Connect is connected wirelessly via the SONOS Mesh - that's the main difference I guess. For giggles you might try connecting via wifi instead. Also maybe reserve the IP. Other than the whole mesh thing (!) the Eero's routing capabilities seem a little lacking but my net foo is somewhat weak. I am testing my setup right now..

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    When I went to kick off SONOS I noticed that my speaker groups were gone - forget when I set them last. This may be a SONOS issue though - they just had a "stable" firmware update as well - I'm not part of their beta. All my speakers are there, was able to group them again and so far it's been playing well - listening to "radio paradise" on tunein radio (eclectic rock). Will see how this progresses over the next hour or so.

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Okay just to followup - I've been running my SONOS all day and everything seems to be working fine.

    • Patrick_L
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Glad to hear you're not experiencing any issues.  That's encouraging.  I talked with Eero support today and from their end, everything looked fine.  However, I'm still having intermittent disconnections between my Connect and my Sonos app.  I'm seriously going to try to see if I can roll back this firmware update on my devices.  It worked flawlessly prior to the update.  I haven't tried going all wireless yet.  It sounds counterintuitive, but I'm sure I'm pretty sure I read about that as a potential solution somewhere else.

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    That sucks. Does the SONOS stop playing or can you not access it via your phone? I was having issues on my phone where I could not connect - stuck on "obtaining ip address" or some such. This happened at least once on all of our android devices - 2 cell phones (Nexus 6 & Galaxy S7) and a Nexus 7 tablet. For now things appear to be okay. Not sure if it was my network tweaks or the update.

    It may be that the eero manages wireless connections slightly better or differently than wired but I don't really know. Should be easy to test though - quicker than trying to get them to rollback the firmware - your call of course.

    On my phone I installed an app called "decaf monitor" and set it to check for the main eero (in my case: 192.168.7.1) and port 1900 (PNP). I STILL get periodic disconnects from MY phone but as stated earlier the hard wired SONOS seems fine. Since I am running a custom ROM on my phone I'm not sure if that isn't my fault somehow - at any rate it doesn't really impact me all that much.

    Good luck with your troubleshooting. I hope it works out!

    E.

    • Richard1864
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Not sure if this helps but have you checked the Sonos Support Community?  There are a lot, and I mean an awful lot, of Sonos users having issues in the last week or two. It's very possible your problem may lie entirely with Sonos and not Eero. 

    It looks like ever since Sonos released 7.x, users have had more issues with Sonos disconnecting from their networks (every router system not just Eero) or otherwise having the same issues you guys are having. 

    Sonos Support Community

    https://en.community.sonos.com/

    • Richard1864
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thread from Sonos Support community that seems to help other Eero users with Sonos; have you guys tried this?

    https://en.community.sonos.com/troubleshooting-228999/eero-setup-hints-6735956

    • Richard1864
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    From what I can see in the Sonos Support Community, Sonos creates its own mesh network, operating entirely in the 2.4 GHz band. Lots of users report getting interference from other 2.4 GHz networks and devices (microwaves, other networks, radios, etc.). Most seem to have found the most success setting their Sonos Net to channel 11 in the Advanced Settings and playing with the wiring in shown in the links I provided above  

    These issues don't appear to be specific to Eero, as Luma, Netgear Orbi, and Google Wifi, and regular wifi users are having the same problems, switching Sonos to Channel 11 seems to be helping the most.

    I also saw that those with 3 or more Eeros or Lumas (or wifi extenders), having fewer issues with Sonos. I don't know why that would make a difference. 

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I think you only get the wifi mesh if you have a BOOST. Otherwise it uses the existing wifi network so no conflict. I don't know if eero placement effects things - will the connecting devices have trouble if the signal is equal strength coming from 2 different eeros? Also might be a good idea to add an ip reservation for each SONOS device.

     

    To your point I have 4 eeros, a bunch of SONOS speakers AND a smartthings hub - other than usual IOT instabilities I have not noticed any issues lately. My eero setup is probably way overkill for the size of my house but due to the age of the house + plaster walls worried about signal propagation etc.

    • Richard1864
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    erktrek unfortunately I don't have Sonos myself, so have to research it the old fashioned way, so to speak. :)

    I've also got 4 Eeros, after originally having just the Eero three pack. One thing I noticed with having 4 Eeros was an average increase in data throughput between my devices:  215 Mbps originally to 300 on 2.4 Gbps band, and 712 Mbps originally to 928 Mbps on 5 Gbps band. 

    Could that improvement in throughput with 4 Eeros make that big a performance improvement for Sonos?

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I dunno but it makes sense if you are giving more pathways for the mesh route through? Maybe the Eero guys can chime in here if they are following this...

    I have actually done 3 of these eero installations - one for my uncle (3 pack) about 8 months ago, one for a client (3 pack) about 2 months ago and one for myself - (3 pack + 1) just recently. With the 3 pack installs I used a powerline adapter to hard wire the eero furthest from the main eero which was also hard wired of course. My thinking there was that using wired eeros with a wireless eero in between would result in a more stable maybe faster overall network. Both installations are working great and everyone's been very happy. I do not know if this was/is really necessary but I think it helps..

    It should be noted that my uncle also has several SONOS speakers including a Boost and has not experienced any issues at all at least I haven't gotten any phone calls.

    As an aside I admit that when Google made their home wifi announcement I had a twinge of buyers remorse.. especially since the price was better for seemingly similar features/functionality. However I am a little leery of Google's commitment to supporting products over the long term.

    • Richard1864
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    erktrek that's a smart idea using powerline for the furthest Eero. I need to remember that for myself for work and at home. I'm glad to hear your Uncle isn't having issues with his Sonos system too

    As for the Google Wifi, I've seen several technical  reviews which show that it isn't a true mesh network, as the only access point in the system is the unit connected to the consumer's cable modem/ gateway, and the others acting as glorified extenders. Eero, in those same reviews, does better than Google Wifi; so does Luma. 

    Here is one Google Wifi review:

    http://www.smallnetbuilder.com/wireless/wireless-reviews/33038-google-wifi-reviewed

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thanks for that!

    It's interesting to see that the Eero has a lot more going internally - like 2 5 Ghz radios (one for wireless the other for mesh). That means more flexibility for future usage.

    • Richard1864
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    erktrek you're welcome!

    I suspect Eero is using the higher gain 5 GHz radio as a dedicated radio for the mesh backhaul and the other 5 GHz radio for the wireless clients (computers, phones, etc); Jeff can you confirm that please. 

    I have an app on my iMac called WiFi Explorer. I noticed that the 5 GHz radios both use 40 and 80 MHz bandwidth on 2 Eeros with my 2 other Eeros being 80 and 80 MHz now.  They used to all be 40 and 40 MHz.  The 2.4 GHz radios are 20 and 40 MHz on two Eeros and 40 and 40 MHz on the other 2 Eeros. They used to be 20 and 20 MHz. Those changes are probably what's behind the big network throughout increases in Mesh 2.0. 

    • Richard1864
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    IDEA!  Sonos speakers are only designed to work with 2.4 GHz radios transmitting at 20 MHz. Could the Sonos issues be caused because they're trying to connect to the Eeros transmitting at 40 MHz on the 2.4 GHz radios?  Devices designed to work with 20 MHz bandwidth are known to drop connections when connecting to 40 MHz wifi. Does that make sense?

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Interesting -  so maybe getting a BOOST is the way to go as it would likely bypass those issues - maybe that's why my system seems to work properly. Could it also maybe be contention between competing eero units for the initial connection if the signal strength is equal? I am not sure how that part works in a mesh environment.

    Patrick L's issue was with his wired CONNECT which makes me think at least for him there is something wonky going on with his network somewhere (flaky switch? weak or bad cables? Weird power issues? Conflict in devices etc? Looping?). He was not experiencing the issue before the upgrade but maybe the newer firmware is utilizing certain capabilities more fully  bringing a masked problem to the forefront. Just a guess though.

    • Richard1864
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Makes sense to me. In the Sonos Support Community, there are a lot of people having issues with the latest Sonos firmware, issues just like Oatrick L's, which don't help matters. 

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Richard1864 

    I posted on that SONOS thread - sadly the issues were mostly on my end. It may be that people don't really consider that these systems are pretty complex underneath the hood. It's a blessing and a curse that the tech is so robust.

     

    Not that I'm letting eero off the hook - My initial setup was a bridged setup (prior to this latest update) on my home subnet and it was a disaster - my wired eero units kept cycling offline and online constantly with no apparent way to figure out why without contacting support. Was annoyed that I had to go with a double-nat scheme but in the end it worked and I gained some extra functionality like the profiles stuff. I would never use the eero as my main switch - it just doesn't provide the flexibility and control I want.

    • Patrick_L
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thanks for the Sonos info....I'll check it out.  My only reason for thinking it was Eero was because I only started experiencing problems as soon as I updated the Eero firmware.  However, you're right.  Sonos version 7.x came our at about the same time.  It could very well be a coincidence that my issues started when the Eero updated OS.  One interesting thing I noticed yesterday was that my laptop seems to maintain a connection to the Sonos more consistently than my phone app.  I'm not sure why that would be.  I'll keep my eyes on the Sonos thread to see how that goes.....

    • Patrick_L
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thanks Jeff.  The more I look into this, the more I think the problem is with my Sonos.  From what I've read on the Sonos forum, it seems the potential root cause is a device on the network with a duplicate IP address.  To remediate and assign new IP addresses, one would need to reboot all devices on the network (modem, router, APs, switches, hubs, Sonos, computers, phones, tablets, TVs, etc.).  Up until this point, I've only rebooted my modem, main router and Sonos.  I'll give this a try in the next day or so and let everyone know if it works.  Stay tuned....

    • erktrek
    • 7 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Patrick L 

    So wanted to chime in on a weird SONOS issue that has just cropped up for me - For some reason periodically (usually the next day) all my SONOS groupings disappear and I just see the individual speakers listed in the app. I can group them again and things seem to work okay but it's odd.

    As a test I unplugged the BOOST from the EERO network but kept the power on and waited a few minutes then plugged it back in. The SONOS group had disappeared! This indicates to me that something is up with the hard-wired connection between the BOOST and EERO. STILL not sure if this is the EERO's fault though - could be something in the SONOS firmware update or the way SONOS handles network disconnects.

    Maybe I will test unplugging the internet connection to see what happens.

    E.

Content aside

  • 2 Likes
  • 3 yrs agoLast active
  • 55Replies
  • 4743Views
  • 9 Following