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I am good at many things, however wi-fi and internet connections along with all the hi-tec computer jargon is not something I am comfortable with or very interested in unless I have to get a specific task done. Unfortunately this was the night I had to "geterdone". A forced learning curve to me.
Last week I bought a new Sonos multi-speaker system for my home. When I went to connect them through wi-fi I could not get it to work reliably. After a bunch of phone calls to my internet provider, the eero company and the Sonos speaker company I discovered my home had been set up incorrectly by the development's tech guy who was supposed to know what he was doing. My Xfinity box is both a modem and a router. I also have an eero system that is also a router and extends a network throughout the home and strengthens the wi-fi signal with extenders.
So apparently what was happening was the Sonos speakers were receiving two signals with the same name but from two different sources. When the tech guy asked me for a name for my system he used the same name for both routers and since the Sonos speakers are very sensitive and in different rooms they were all picking up different wi-fi signals. Bottom line was they did not work very well and was not a stable connection. Occasionally other wireless devises in my home had issues but not often enough to make me think something was amiss. Well now I know!
I then found out from Sonos and eero that what I had to do is to use something called "bridge mode" which shuts off the router in the Xfinity box and lets it just be a simple modem. Then it bridges over to the eero system which then becomes my only wi-fi signal. After calling Xfinity many times I could not get one single person in India to understand that I wanted to enable bridge mode and they were unable to help me do this from there end which they could have done in seconds if they understood what I was talking about. They wanted me to get a technician here and be charged $100 + tax for them to do it. Well, I then went online and did the research about "bridge modes" on wi-fi. I had to create an administrator account for Gateway which is the manufacturer of the Xfinity modem/router and then figure out how to get into the mode change. After a few frustrating minutes I was able to hit the "enable bridge mode" button - then everything went dead in the house.
After freaking out a bit I disconnected both the Xfinity box and the eero box, plugged them back in and swapped the ethernet cable connecting the two boxes to the port with an orange indicator line on it. That is the bridge cable slot according to what I had read onlne. I held my breath for a few minutes until everything rebooted and BINGO, everything came back online and all devises were listed on my eero home page! All my devises are up and running and tomorrow when I reconnect the Sonos speakers to the eero wi-fi signal all should work well. My wife is asleep and the speakers must be on while being programed so it will get done in the morning.
This may be child's play and common knowledge to some here but for the 3 1/2 years I've lived here I never knew anything about having two wi-fi signals and nothing about how the entire system really works or how to change it. I was pretty proud of myself by figuring it all out since this stuff is totally out of my element. Ask me to fix something mechanical, electrical, plumbing etc. - piece of cake! All this wi-fi and Internet stuff is not something I enjoy so I avoid it as much as possible.
After a week of frustration I finally got to the bottom of this. No big deal for many who are in the know, but for me I'm gonna be a happy camper when I listen to my new speakers tomorrow!
Last week I bought a new Sonos multi-speaker system for my home. When I went to connect them through wi-fi I could not get it to work reliably. After a bunch of phone calls to my internet provider, the eero company and the Sonos speaker company I discovered my home had been set up incorrectly by the development's tech guy who was supposed to know what he was doing. My Xfinity box is both a modem and a router. I also have an eero system that is also a router and extends a network throughout the home and strengthens the wi-fi signal with extenders.
So apparently what was happening was the Sonos speakers were receiving two signals with the same name but from two different sources. When the tech guy asked me for a name for my system he used the same name for both routers and since the Sonos speakers are very sensitive and in different rooms they were all picking up different wi-fi signals. Bottom line was they did not work very well and was not a stable connection. Occasionally other wireless devises in my home had issues but not often enough to make me think something was amiss. Well now I know!
I then found out from Sonos and eero that what I had to do is to use something called "bridge mode" which shuts off the router in the Xfinity box and lets it just be a simple modem. Then it bridges over to the eero system which then becomes my only wi-fi signal. After calling Xfinity many times I could not get one single person in India to understand that I wanted to enable bridge mode and they were unable to help me do this from there end which they could have done in seconds if they understood what I was talking about. They wanted me to get a technician here and be charged $100 + tax for them to do it. Well, I then went online and did the research about "bridge modes" on wi-fi. I had to create an administrator account for Gateway which is the manufacturer of the Xfinity modem/router and then figure out how to get into the mode change. After a few frustrating minutes I was able to hit the "enable bridge mode" button - then everything went dead in the house.
After freaking out a bit I disconnected both the Xfinity box and the eero box, plugged them back in and swapped the ethernet cable connecting the two boxes to the port with an orange indicator line on it. That is the bridge cable slot according to what I had read onlne. I held my breath for a few minutes until everything rebooted and BINGO, everything came back online and all devises were listed on my eero home page! All my devises are up and running and tomorrow when I reconnect the Sonos speakers to the eero wi-fi signal all should work well. My wife is asleep and the speakers must be on while being programed so it will get done in the morning.This may be child's play and common knowledge to some here but for the 3 1/2 years I've lived here I never knew anything about having two wi-fi signals and nothing about how the entire system really works or how to change it. I was pretty proud of myself by figuring it all out since this stuff is totally out of my element. Ask me to fix something mechanical, electrical, plumbing etc. - piece of cake! All this wi-fi and Internet stuff is not something I enjoy so I avoid it as much as possible.
After a week of frustration I finally got to the bottom of this. No big deal for many who are in the know, but for me I'm gonna be a happy camper when I listen to my new speakers tomorrow!
