Adding Eero or other mesh to network, trying to get Roon to recognize new wifi?

Support
#1

Nucleus+

Comcast modem/router, wired cat6 to main endpoint, NOW ADDING EERO MESH

Cat6 wired to Cocktail Audio X45Pro

Description Of Issue

I’m trying to add mesh to the house to get better wifi coverage. My Comcast modem/router is plugged into a Netgear ethernet switch which runs to every room in the house. I have my main endpoint hardwired, which is a Cocktail Audio X45Pro.

When I initially set up Roon, as you know, it is necessary to connect to the wifi that is broadcast from the modem/router that feeds the hardwired network, otherwise the Remote will not show the attached devices.

Is there a way to get the wired ethernet (and therefore my whole house) on the same network? Is it as simple as unplugging the ethernet switch from the Comcast router and plugging it into the back of the Eero?

Thanks in advance!

#2

I had the same issue, and couldn’t solve it, so I just connected Roon to my Verizon Ethernet network (didn’t have to connect it to the actual router (though I did that briefly)) and it’s fine with other Roon end points connected to the Verizon wifi network.

If you could or others could solve the problem, I’d be very interested.

#3

I’m hoping to avoid that, since the router lives in a closet and I have about half of the interior walls in my house are concrete. Fingers crossed!

1 Like
#4

I use a Comcast system and it all works for me on an Orbi Mesh (well, doesn’t work at all at the moment due to a problem in Roon, but that isn’t due to networking, which worked fine until Roon just stopped.)

What I have is the Orbi base router direct connected via ethernet to the Comcast Modem. The Comcast modem is then in BRIDGE MODE and the Orbi handles the router duties. So, instead of connecting to the Comcast/Xfinity WiFi, I connect to the Orbi mesh WiFi.

So, if the Eero works the same as the Orbi (a base unit which is a router and sattelites to expand coverage) you would do the following: Where your Netgear switch is, place the Eero base unit (the router part) and plug it directly into the Comcast Modem. Then, plug the Netgear switch into the Eero. Now set up the Eero (and any satellites) as it says to in the Eero documentation. At least I think that should work!

#5

This might work for me too. How did you put your Comcast into bridge mode?

The issue being that when I log onto Eero on my laptop (as roon remote) the endpoints won’t show up unless I’m on the Comcast wifi. So by putting your Comcast router into bridge mode and having the Orbi as your only wifi, which is basically what I’m wanting to do, your endpoints show up on your orbi network? (obviously; I’m just not having luck with this last part.)

Thanks!

#6

Yeah, I have 6 Sonos endpoints around the house (Play 3, paired Play 1s and two Connect and a Port) as well as powered speakers connected to my computer that serves as a remote. They are all on the Orbi mesh network, I have the Comcast wifi network turned off and really the Comcast modem in Bridge Mode acts more or less like a wire from your Eero to the outside internet.

To put the Comcast modem into Bridge mode you have to log in to the modem (using the browser interface) and there is a control to do that on one of the settings pages. Do your research BEFORE you try this, as if you mess it up you will lose Internet connectivity (since the Comcast modem provides that and when you set it to bridge mode it will no longer work as a router for your local devices.) If your Eero is not set up right at that point, you won’t have any internet. You can also work with Comcast support to do the change for you, they can log in remotely to do it (that may be safer if you are technically not that savvy about these things.)

Hope that helps.

#7

I tried bridge mode with the Eeros once upon a time and it was not pretty - couldn’t get it to work. Not to say you shouldn’t try, and I’d love for you to be successful and report back, but I got deep into the muck and had to reset everything as I recall.

#8

Hi @Matthew_Partrick

I just wanted to check in and see if you were able to get things up and running with bridge mode on the router. Let us know!

#9

Well, yes and no. I was having a whole-house internet problem, and found a better way to kill three birds with one stone.

I was getting terrible signal to my streaming 4k TVs, and they would intermittently lose the network. Similarly, gremlins caused my main wired ethernet streamer to fall off the network, sometimes taking the NAS with it. As above etc.

What I ended up doing was swapping out a bunch of hardware–ditched the Netgear Nighthawk, which was probably a part of the issue, since it was working as both modem and router, and rebooted every 24h with the NAS perhaps to some unaccepted network updating from Comcast. I just got the regular Comcast modem/router, and plugged the Eero into that. With two additional Eero satellites, I’m getting fantastic signal throughout the house with 550 Mbps downloads.

I also ditched the unmanaged 16 port Netgear switch and bought two 8 port managed Cisco switches, one for the TV/Family and one for Roon Nucleus, NAS, and Endpoint. The non-Roon switch is plugged directly into the back of the Comcast modem/router, and the Roon switch is plugged into the Eero base station. So when I booted everything up again, Roon instantly found the Nucleus and NAS when the remote was using the Eero wifi. Lastly, I ditched my crappy power supplies and bought two Audioquest Niagra power conditioner/supply units

All in all, a much more elegant solution to the problem, and only by a happy accident did I think to hardwire the Roon switch to the Eero base station. I’m about as happy as a Pig in Shoot. :slight_smile: