Answered

Roam - On-line, then off-line. Lather, rinse, repeat.

  • 28 November 2022
  • 16 replies
  • 361 views

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

I honestly do not understand what is wrong with my Roam. I have a pair of Play 1 speakers and a Connect:Amp, and none of them have the problems that the Roam has. 

The Roam is constantly falling off of the network. It disappears for weeks at a time, then returns and says it is off-line. How does the system know it’s there if it’s offline? A power cycle on the Roam and a reboot of the router help briefly, but then the problem returns -- the Roam has roamed away somewhere. 

I get that 2.4 GHz signal interruption and constrained bandwidth may cause connectivity glitches, but neither the Play speakers nor the Connect Amp have a problem adjusting to this. I have moved the Roam to the same room as the router, and it doesn't help. Also, I have not changed any router settings. 

It is seriously frustrating and infuriating to be forced to diagnose this problem every time I want to use the Roam. Other Sonos products just work, and work well, which is one reason I opted for the Roam as my third Sonos purchase. 

The Roam has not delivered on its promise of service and I am tempted to send it back to Sonos for a refund. It’s too late for that of course but this experience has me seriously reconsidering the Sonos experience. 

Is there anything I can do to prevent this poor behavior? 

icon

Best answer by edge306 29 November 2022, 21:49

View original

This topic has been closed for further comments. You can use the search bar to find a similar topic, or create a new one by clicking Create Topic at the top of the page.

16 replies

Userlevel 7

The Roam is a portable speaker so it won’t behave quite the same as your other non-portable speakers in the Sonos app.

When the Roam is powered on, the Sonos app will detect and show it on your system like your other speakers. If the Roam is in idle mode or completely powered off, the Sonos app will show it is offline. It the Roam is powered off for a long period of time, it will disappear from the list of devices on the Sonos app until it is powered on again.

Do you keep the Roam powered on all of the time? Do you use the charging base? Do you ever completely power off the Roam by holding down the button on the back for about 5 seconds until you hear a descending chime? Do you have Battery Saver mode enabled in the Sonos app?

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

The Roam is a portable speaker so it won’t behave quite the same as your other non-portable speakers in the Sonos app.

When the Roam is powered on, the Sonos app will detect and show it on your system like your other speakers. If the Roam is completely powered off, the Sonos app will show it is offline. It the Roam is powered off for a long period of time, it will disappear from the list of devices on the Sonos app until it is powered on again.

Do you keep the Roam powered on all of the time? Do you use the charging base? Do you ever completely power off the Roam by holding down the button on the back for about 5 seconds until you hear a descending chime? Do you have Battery Saver mode enabled in the Sonos app?

 

Thank you for your reply. Yes, those are germane questions to this issue. And yes, I do keep it plugged in (but not on a charger base). The charger is a standard USB power block; Sonos says it won’t charge as fast, but it still shows 100%. 

The power recycle does involve a five-second button hold-down waiting for the tones. 

As for battery saver mode, I will have to check that, but I suspect not. 

The Roam is shown as being off-line (or absent) but the the power light on the unit is on (and not orange or blue). I don’t use it as a Bluetooth box so I don’t think that’s affecting it either. 

I really like the sound and design of the Roam, and it’s a shame it’s so troublesome to use. 

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

I’m having exactly the same issues with my 10 day old Roam. Sat on the charging base, Battery Saver and WiFi Power Save both turned off (no difference off or on), and the damn thing keeps falling off the network if not playing anything for a while. Only way is to force a reboot.  Not good enough Sonos!!  Getting very frustrated already…

I’m curious as to what Sonos Support said, when you submitted a diagnostic and called in with the diagnostic’s number?

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Hmmm…. set the Roam to a fixed IP address in the network mesh (and a new Beam also added last week), as I’d done already with the rest of the Sonos kit in the house.  Roam was rebooted and is showing as now linked with the new, fixed IP.  Since then (several hours ago), it’s remained online and connected, despite not being used to play anything.  MIght be worth trying, if you’re having the same problem…???… (Battery Saver & WiFi Power Save also both still turned off in the app, and the Roam is sitting on the charger base which is plugged in and switched on)

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

set the Roam to a fixed IP address 

Interesting. Can this be done on a non-mesh network?

 

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

set the Roam to a fixed IP address 

Interesting. Can this be done on a non-mesh network?

 

Yep.  You can assign fixed IP’s to attached devices on any network.  You will likely have to reboot the network and device after doing so but then any time after that, your router should assign the same IP address to that device.  I’ve assigned fixed IP’s to all of my Sonos kit (and much else too!), makes for a more organised system...

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

By the way, my Roam is still online and available several more hours later without being used.  So far, so good…

 

For what it’s worth, a “bad IP” address issue is due to a failure in the router. I have had that issue before with my NetGear, which normally is an OK router, but assigning reserved IP addresses has been a godsend for me for years now.

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Almost 24 hours in now, my Roam is still online and available in the app.  Looks like the reserved IP has resolved it for me anyway...

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

set the Roam to a fixed IP address 

Interesting. Can this be done on a non-mesh network?

 

Yep.  You can assign fixed IP’s to attached devices on any network.  You will likely have to reboot the network and device after doing so but then any time after that, your router should assign the same IP address to that device.  I’ve assigned fixed IP’s to all of my Sonos kit (and much else too!), makes for a more organised system...

 

Excellent. I assume that’s done through the router admin console (192.168.1.1), right? So I am in there and I see several Sonos devices. Ignoring the ones connected by Coax, there is a SonosZP (802.11n), plus a couple of other SonosZP’s connected by Coax.

I suppose I could shut off the Roam and see which one disappears or goes inactive ….

 

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

You can check the IP addresses of each speaker in your Sonos app. Its in Settings somewhere I'm out now so can't say exactly where...

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

You can check the IP addresses of each speaker in your Sonos app. Its in Settings somewhere I'm out now so can't say exactly where...

Settings → System → About My System

scroll down

Thanks for the nudge! 

 

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

That's it... so you can match the MAC address and IP which will be in the router settings and the app. Look for something called Address Reservation or similar in the router admin, that's where you can reserve specific IP addresses for devices using the MAC addresses...

Userlevel 1
Badge +1

Thanks again. I’ve set the ROAM to a static IP to see if that doesn't clear up the problem. I am in a building providing Internet for three separate households and it gets really busy in here sometimes, with so many people at home and increasingly more devices on the network. 

One thing this exercise has done is prompted me to really get a handle on the network (I am the admin) because the downstairs residents are frequently complaining about it, and I don’t want to call Verizon for every little thing. 

I consider this closed (unless the ROAM wanders off again). Thanks everyone.

 

Note that for most routers, duplicate IP addresses do not show up in the DHCP table. All the DHCP table shows is what is connected at the moment you access it, and most don’t show changing connections over time. 

For general consumption, not a specific reply to this situation. :)