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I’ve just added a Roam to my setup (so excited to finally have a little waterproof portable, it’s exactly what I have been missing!)

However, I’ve noticed it is being extremely skippy, especially when I try and use it outside (For reference, I live in apartment that is less than 2000 square foot including the balcony, so not a huge space). But it isn’t limited to outside, that’s just where it is most obvious.

My internet is 690mbps download / 205mbps upload on a Linksys Velop system with three nodes so I’m fairly confident that is strong enough ….. 

My setup is:

Beam x 2 Play:1 surrounds on TV

Play:1 in kitchen

2 x Symfonisk lamps stereo pair in the bedroom

Move in study or on balcony 

Roam in bedroom / ensuite / balcony etc

One of the Symfonisk lamps is wired to a Velop node router so all wired Sonos are WM0, and the Move and Roam are WM1.

Roam and Move both cut out A LOT on the balcony in particular, with the Roam clearly worse (cut off three times in five minutes earlier today). In addition, I wanted to group the Roam with the TV surround system and sit it on the coffee table but it was so spotty it was impossible to use! The wired speakers group with it fine, but the Move was also very sporadic. The same cutting in and out happened when I tried to to AirPlay sound from my Mac to either the Roam or Move outside.

As it is obvious on the portable speakers my guess would be that it is a difference between WM0 and WM1.

I have tried rebooting the router several times and also run the Linksys app Channel Finder regularly, which insists my setup is on the best channels possible. My Sonosnet is on channel 6.

Just today I have tried reserving the DCHP for all Sonos hardware on my router as I see some people are advising this, but it doesn’t seem to have made a difference yet. 

Does anyone have any ideas how to fix this? 

(also on another note - I managed to dent the grille on my Roam in less than a week. Sadly it’s not that robust - still not comparable to the UE Wonderbooms I was hoping it would replace. I actually feel safe throwing them for people to catch but I don’t feel I could throw the Roam!) 

Here is a very technical solution - move the wifi source closer to the Roam, or move the Roam closer to the wifi source.  It’s not always a practical solution, but for me it always works.  I too have A very strong, very fast net commectiin, but Sonos, like many other complex products needs a clear, strong, consistent signal - physical closeness is a great solution, even when it limits the intended use of the products portability.

Here is a very technical solution - move the wifi source closer to the Roam, or move the Roam closer to the wifi source.  It’s not always a practical solution, but for me it always works.  I too have A very strong, very fast net commectiin, but Sonos, like many other complex products needs a clear, strong, consistent signal - physical closeness is a great solution, even when it limits the intended use of the products portability.

Hahaha - yeah it kind of doesn’t make the portable products ‘fit for purpose’ if that’s the case I guess. Sadly, that doesn’t always seem to work either - for example, when I try to use the Roam grouped with TV setup - it’s on the coffee table, literally in between the beam and surrounds and the router is less than ten feet away! Very frustrating. Hopefully reserving the DCHP has helped - seems to so far but haven’t tested that thoroughly.

Hi @mrsmcg2018 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I’m afraid we don’t support sharing TV audio across multiple rooms - unlike with music sources, TV audio is played immediately in the Sonos room with the Home Theatre component and other rooms will struggle to get the audio over the WiFi link in time.

If the Roam cuts out when playing music too, I recommend you get in touch with our technical support team, who have tools at their disposal that will allow them to give you advice specific to your Sonos system and network.

Thanks Corry!

 

I have to say I didn’t know that and have not had any issues for years sharing TV audio to my kitchen speaker - but I guess I’ve been lucky (and have an open plan apartment so that’s still pretty near the tv!)

Since I reserved the IP addresses for all my speakers I am getting much less drop out so hopefully that’s done the trick. If it starts up again I will contact the support team as you suggest.

 

Thanks again

Hi @mrsmcg2018 

I’m glad to hear you’ve at least reduced the issue!

Although grouping TV audio is unsupported, it often works - it’s just that the feed must come from the TV, through the connected Sonos device, over to the router (over relatively slow 2.4 GHZ WiFi) and then to your grouped-in speaker. When you use  surround speakers, however, the feed goes from the Home Theatre device straight to the surrounds via a dedicated, low latency 5GHz link.

When this feed is prepped for sharing, it’s delayed by at least 75ms. It’s this delay that makes us say sharing TV audio is unsupported, as the delay is often unacceptable to users (though if you are in a separate room and just want to hear the dialogue/commentary and aren’t bothered about lip-sync then it’s fine).

Ultimately, it relies on the health of your network, like much else on Sonos.

If you haven’t rebooted your router, I’d definitely give that a go. Switch off for 30 seconds, and wait a few minutes for WiFi to return.

Edit: It may also be worth while getting an app that will scan your environment for WiFi signals - you could use this to identify the best channels to use, and to see if a neighbour has a router on the other side of a shared wall - if so, you’d want to keep your devices away from it.

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