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roam at a hotel

  • 14 September 2023
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Roam wouldn’t work at hotel using their internet? 

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Best answer by melvimbe 14 September 2023, 18:54

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15 replies

It won’t work on any network that requires a user sign on, which is most hotels, and needs to allow peer to peer communication between phone/tablet and the Roam, which is not allowed in most hotels.  You can get around this by using a travel router.

Of course, you can always just use it as a bluetooth speaker in those situations.

Hi Danny, thank you, yes I had found that information, thank you for confirming.  
however I couldn’t connect to my Bluetooth even on 4/5G ? 
thank you 

Chris 

Hi Danny, thank you, yes I had found that information, thank you for confirming.  
however I couldn’t connect to my Bluetooth even on 4/5G ? 
thank you 

Chris 

 

Bluetooth is a private connection between your phone/tablet and the Roam, it has nothing to do with how your phone connects to the internet.  You can probably have your phone connect the the hotel internet (if mobile network (4/5G) isn’t strong enough, and then connect Roam to your phone.  You won’t use the Sonos app at all in this scenario, just use whatever music streaming app you want.

I will have to give it another try, the last time I tried to connect to Bluetooth it didn’t come up at all ? 

Something seems wrong, Then. As Danny suggests, there’s essentially no connection between the hotel’s Wi-Fi signal and the ability of your phone in connecting to the device using Bluetooth. The Roam does need to be ‘set up’ first, of course, you wouldn’t be able to connect if you hadn’t already set up tHe Roam on your home network. 

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Did you set up your Roam on wifi first? It won’t connect to bluetooth without being set up on wifi. Set up can also be doen with two phones - one for using the Sonos app and one for providing the wifi connection.

Hi it was set up at home on wifi and worked off Sonos app . 
took it on holiday it wouldn’t connect to wifi in hotel so then tried to connect to Bluetooth, but wouldn’t connect even when I disconnected from wifi in hotel and went on 4g? 

Ok, so it was set up at home first. That’s great. At that point, all you should have needed to do is connect to it using Bluetooth, completely ignoring any WiFi, and it should have worked (I’m doing the same right now with my Roam). 
 

What do you mean when you say you ‘disconnected from wifi in hotel and went on 4G”? What did you disconnect, your phone, or some connection the Roam had? The Roam should never see any 4G connection, and using Bluetooth on your phone has nothing whatsoever to do with wifi connections, either.

Hi I’m not sure what happened on holiday? 
but I’ve managed to connect via Bluetooth now . 
thank you for your help. 

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I have had this problem in the past and am currently having this problem again now.

A lot of the commentors clearly don't understand the problem.

The problem is that when we power up our Roam at our holiday destination, the Roam automatically starts searching for a wifi connection and, since it cannot connect to wifi it keeps trying (flashing green light).

You cannot turn on the Bluetooth connection because Roam won't let you override the endless  installation cycle. 

Weirdly - the Roam works just fiine outside, but if you take it to a hotel it goes nuts. 

I do know there is a work-around which involves changing my Sonos network to the Hotel's wifi, but to do so I have un-link all the Sonos devices in my home, and then reconnect them in a few days when i get back home. What a ballache. I am not even interested in using wifi- happy to play music off my mobile data and phone downloads. 

Why can't I just override the Roam's wifi signal and link directly via Bluetooth?  Stupid. 

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Badge +22

Next time that happens send Sonos a diagnostic, contact support and explain the issue to them.

If they can see it in action there is a far better chance of getting a fix than just mentioning it here in the user forums.

I have had this problem in the past and am currently having this problem again now.

A lot of the commentors clearly don't understand the problem.

The problem is that when we power up our Roam at our holiday destination, the Roam automatically starts searching for a wifi connection and, since it cannot connect to wifi it keeps trying (flashing green light).

You cannot turn on the Bluetooth connection because Roam won't let you override the endless  installation cycle. 

Weirdly - the Roam works just fiine outside, but if you take it to a hotel it goes nuts. 

I do know there is a work-around which involves changing my Sonos network to the Hotel's wifi, but to do so I have un-link all the Sonos devices in my home, and then reconnect them in a few days when i get back home. What a ballache. I am not even interested in using wifi- happy to play music off my mobile data and phone downloads. 

Why can't I just override the Roam's wifi signal and link directly via Bluetooth?  Stupid. 

If the Roam status LED is flashing green then you have factory reset the Roam which is not the way to go about these things.

At the destination simply power on a previously setup Roam (previously setup on your Home WiFi and added to the Home Sonos system) At boot-up, its status LED flashes white and looks for your Home WiFi - which obviously is not nearby.

Open the Sonos App on a mobile device which needs to first be connected to the destinations WiFi and wait a few moments until you get the message.. “Unable to connect to Sonos. Let’s fix it…” just simply follow the instructions in this link to add the new WiFi network to the speaker…

 https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/connect-sonos-to-a-new-router-or-wi-fi-network

Then use the speaker. On return Home connect your mobile back to your Home WiFi and power on the Roam and all will connect to the local system like you had never been away.

Edit; Note too that once the destination WiFi has been added to the speaker, you can (if you want) also switch it over to Bluetooth mode aswell and use it when out and about (at the beach/by the pool etc.)

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... 

If the Roam status LED is flashing green then you have factory reset the Roam which is not the way to go about these things.

At the destination simply power on a previously setup Roam (previously setup on your Home WiFi and added to the Home Sonos system) At boot-up, its status LED flashes white and looks for your Home WiFi - which obviously is not nearby.

Open the Sonos App on a mobile device which needs to first be connected to the destinations WiFi and wait a few moments until you get the message.. “Unable to connect to Sonos. Let’s fix it…” just simply follow the instructions in this link to add the new WiFi network to the speaker…

 https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/connect-sonos-to-a-new-router-or-wi-fi-network

Then use the speaker. On return Home connect your mobile back to your Home WiFi and power on the Roam and all will connect to the local system like you had never been away.

Edit; Note too that once the destination WiFi has been added to the speaker, you can (if you want) also switch it over to Bluetooth mode aswell and use it when out and about (at the beach/by the pool etc.)

No none of this is correct.

For a start, I absolutely and emphatically did NOT 'factory reset' my Roam. Not even accidentally. Now if it somehow reset itself, I can't comment on that.

When I turn on the Roam it initially boots with the white light. When I try to connect it it turns flashing green.

When I try to change my network it requests for me to reconnect my system but it obviously can't find my speakers, and I can't skip this step, thus I cannot create a new network and thusly I cannot get to the Bluetooth setting on my Roam. 

Sonos desperately needs to update the Roam (and presumably the Move) software so you don't need the Sonos app or wifi to access the Bluetooth function. This control-freak behaviour from Sonos will kill their brand. I say this a loyal customer (ahem, 13 Sonos devices in my home). 

No none of this is correct.

For a start, I absolutely and emphatically did NOT 'factory reset' my Roam. Not even accidentally. Now if it somehow reset itself, I can't comment on that.

When I turn on the Roam it initially boots with the white light. When I try to connect it it turns flashing green.

When I try to change my network it requests for me to reconnect my system but it obviously can't find my speakers, and I can't skip this step, thus I cannot create a new network and thusly I cannot get to the Bluetooth setting on my Roam. 

Sonos desperately needs to update the Roam (and presumably the Move) software so you don't need the Sonos app or wifi to access the Bluetooth function. This control-freak behaviour from Sonos will kill their brand. I say this a loyal customer (ahem, 13 Sonos devices in my home).

A flashing green status LED means someone has factory reset the device. See for yourself:

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/sonos-led-lights

I have visited many holiday locations with both my Roams and they each connect to the nearby network with no issue (without factory reset). The only time that doesn’t happen, is if there is a login-screen requirement on the destination WiFi network. In that case, I have resorted to a MiFi connection that’s been previously added to the Roam - The MiFi device in my case can also operate as a wired travel router.

Note: @DuranDoranMartell you can’t setup a standalone ‘factory reset’ Roam away from Home with an S2 App that’s configured for your Home System. If you’re doing that, you’re unfortunately going about things in completely the wrong way, by resetting the Roam (accidentally, or otherwise).

Your only option in that situation is to also reset, or reinstall, the Sonos App and create a brand new Sonos Household - it’s just not something I personally would choose to do, as it’s a long-winded process setting up everything again in that way, plus if you want to use a voice assistant, like Alexa for example, you will also need to transfer the Sonos Skill to the newly created HH.