It seems that we also ended up with a Roam paperweight. This speaker has been nothing but trouble since we purchased it at Christmas. It seems like a ton roam speakers are plagued with similar issues. 

I have been a Sonos fan for years. I have gone through app changes and models becoming not usable and needing to upgrade.  I love the tone and the sound they produce.  But I am going to say these Sonos Roams are a piece of crap.  I bought 4 of them. One for me and 3 for gifts.  They cut in and out. Get loud then soft.  Play when they shouldn’t.  I went outside and it was just playing one day.  No music attached to it.  My friends (who I am introducing them to Sonos) are saying Bose is much better.  I am so disappointed in the $150 speakers.   For that price you should get quality.   I tried to call customer service but who has that type of time.  I am so disappointed.   I might just send them back.  
 

roam sucks. i also like the other sonos products but more than half the time the roam does not work. i have two of them and i have to reset the stereo option all the time to get either of the speakers to work. 

I have a pair of roams mainly used as bathroom stereo pair only issue I had was battery drain early on since update they last around a month before I charge them 

I turn them on they pair in stereo and work as intended like the rest of my sonos products 

Very happy with them.. 

Yes same here for me too - the Roams work fine and the new ‘battery saver’ option keeps them both charged for ages. Their stereo pairing has been greatly improved too. If I manually put one Roam into sleep mode - it immediately restores the ‘pairing’ when I wake it up again.  

I unfortunately had horrible problems with my roam. Beyond all the issues discussed in this thread ultimately the roam caused an issue with my entire Sonos ecosystem. After hours of playing with it I decided to return it. And I’m scared to try another one. I’m worried it might ruin / corrupt my entire set up and I won’t be able to recover again. 

The Room is defective---I just returned one it worked once. Took forever to go through replacement process, and I the new one doesn't work either. At first it worked for a few minutes. Then it went to Bluet tooth and I had to reset it to get it off. Then it would not sync with system and said off-line. Did another reset. Then listed to if for an hour. Next day offline again. Reset again, reset router. Was using it tonight for 25 minutes and then powered it off bc I did not have it pugged in bc I was walking around house --now it is won't turn back on just like the one I returned--it was on full batter, but seems like a battery charge issue---this is not a cheap product and is unacceptable 

I also had two Sonos one just go kaput out of the blue, and Sonos won't return on bc out of warranty---

It took me 20 emails and many calls to get the replacement id id get...no great customer care and the hours of operation are not like most companies

I had the same issue, so the problem isn't unique it rampant. The volume reduces everytime I recieve a email or text on my phone. I have a Samsung galaxy s21. The music is still playing thru the roam the volume is so reduced I can't hear it. If I hit thr volume button on the roam it increases. But as soon I recieve another text, the volume reduces again. Sonos DOES NOT HAVE A SOLUTION!! and are unwilling to admit it. I wasn't $168 on a speaker I can't use. So I share your frustration. I was also left on hold for over 30 minutes and just hung up. I have over 6 Sonos speakers but will never but won't buy another again. The customer service is horrid and to release the new speaker without vetting all the issue in beyond redemption.  

As you can see from the thread, and personal experience, these issues ARE common. And continue to be. 

I have had a Sonos system at my 2nd home for 2 years. I have a Beam (I only use it with the television) and a Move, a One and a One SL. The two Ones are paired for stereo. This has worked flawlessly for about a year and a half.

Two weeks ago I bought and paired a Sonos Roam. Since then, I cannot seem to play to the Roam and the Move/One speakers simultaneously or the Ones only play intermittently. I have removed the Roam and added it back. I have done the same with both Ones. I have also unpaired the two Ones but nothing seems to work. There are times when the app shows the Ones or the Move as playing but they aren’t, it’s actually to Roam that is playing. And almost consistently after I try to get music to play on all these speakers (not the Beam) the app shows nothing playing but the Roam is still playing and nothing else. I have made sure every speaker’s software/firmware is up to date but that didn’t help either.

Help!!!

@sherwoodhughes 
Are all your Sonos devices running on your Home WiFi network (with no devices wired)?
What Router/WiFi are you using?

Are the routers 2.4Ghz/5Ghz adapters using separate SSID’s, or are they using the same SSID?

What channels are in use by the routers WiFi adapters?

Besides the main router, do you have any other wireless access points on the same subnet and if so, are they using the same SSID/Credentials and wireless channels as those in use by the main router?

I have had the whole network diagnosed by a BT home technician in consultation with the Sonos technician… The channels have been fixed to minimise area congestion. It is the only device which refuses to stay connected. If you search the net, mine isn’t the only case like this, it’s notorious. It’s a duff product & it’s gone back….. 

I was just wondering if in @sherwoodhughes case, it was perhaps an SSDP discovery issue, as they had mentioned devices were playing and yet were not showing in the Sonos App. It isn't clear if they have tried switching WiFi bands in use by the Roam, or were losing sight of the device if they were on a different network segment/AP and/or operating on a different channel, compared to the mobile controller device.

However, I would also have maybe expected that the ‘other’ Sonos products might have stumbled upon the same/similar issue too, if all the ‘non-portable’ devices are running on the local WiFi signal too, rather than SonosNet. However thats likely to be less-frequent when devices/controllers are fairly static.

Just posted in reply to maybe glean more about their actual local network configuration.

I’m not sure what SSDP discovery is but all of the items are running on a 2.4ghz network band. I always heard this is preferable to 5ghz?

What WiFi channel are you using? Try the three non-overlapping channels 1, 6 or 11 to see if one of them may work better for you (assuming no Sonos products are wired to your LAN.

Sonos uses SSDP (simple service discovery protocol), multicasting via UDP to 239.255.255.250:1900 and, for good measure, broadcasting to 255.255.255.255:1900 to discover your devices on the LAN Subnet. Thereafter communication is unicast.

If the devices are not being discovered and not appearing in your Sonos App, but you can still ‘ping’ them, or they continue to play etc. then something is perhaps going awry with that protocol or the multicasting. It often occurs where users have multiple wireless access points (extenders etc.) perhaps operating on different WiFi channels, or network switches perhaps not correctly forwarding the multicast packets  across the LAN. Also see this useful link aswell re: IGMP snooping: https://community.fs.com/blog/what-is-igmp-snooping.html

   … so as some of your devices were disappearing from the App, but still playing, I thought it worth highlighting that there ‘maybe’ a problem in these areas with your local network setup and to maybe take a closer look at those things too, just to see if there is anything that might be causing you some problems with the discovery of your devices.

Another important area in regards to this to look at, is security/software on the mobile controller device as that can impact on these things too, for example I’ve see some users mention ‘Private Address’ (MAC Spoofing) or ‘WiFi calling’ VPN/Firewall/Antivirus software etc. has caused them some Sonos device-discovery issues.

Thanks for all the info Ken! I’ll try a different channel as you suggest. Although, the weird thing is that today all of the speakers are playing just fine with no intervention on my part, and that is a first since I added the Roam.

I completely gave up with all the troubleshooting and factory re-setting required of this expensive item.  I just sent mine back to SONOS.  Bought it direct less than a month ago.  I understand there was a bad batch of these shipped out.  After I receive my refund I MAY consider trying again.  When it worked it was great, but that isn’t good enough.  It should always work.

Which Roam did you have and send back? Only your online profile mentions you have/had both a Roam and a Roam-SL. It’s quite unusual to encounter two ‘different’ faulty Sonos products, or is one of them still working okay for you?

This is the first I’ve seen of a ‘bad batch’. Can you provide more details about you found this out?

Same issues with a new Roam. Prior one works great. This one won’t stay connected to Wifi and requires constant resets. Doesn’t seem to charge properly on 220 or with a 100 adapter (I bought it in the EU).  I have re-booted, updated, re-connected etc. to no avail. Been waiting for a chat agent but no responds here in France. 

Are you able to try it on a different WiFi band? If you have the 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz bands broadcasting different SSID’s on your router, then perhaps switch the Roam to the ‘other’ band and see if that resolves your issue.

I am having the worst time as well. Guess I need to return it. Hours with cs. Brand new out of box two days ago. Charged up. No matter what I do I cannot get it to connect even though it shows up in the app. I've tried everything. Have 7 other Sonos products with no trouble. Roam is definitely a dud. 

Good luck getting Sonos to replace anything after the 1 year.  2 Roam units both with major issues playing continously, dropping out, charging, connecting.. you name it.  They are both bricks now after the suggested reset due to charging issues.  400$ worth of equipment rendered useless due to poor design of battery charging system.  Next up is a laywer.. Yes, I may spend a few thousand dollars but it will be worth it to expose Sonos and the lack of support for the roam.   The roam is Junk and Sonos knows it.

The few Roam battery issues I’ve personally seen reported online are because some folk either use under-powered 5w (5v x 1A) phone chargers, or their chargers are not PD certified and have a 5V x 3A capability and if the voltage fluctuates above the 5v, then my understanding, from reading about the PD spec. is there is a possibility of damage to the device.

Some people it seems  have managed to recover their devices through the power-reset option you mentioned and by using a certified charger, but it seems some have unfortunately damaged their devices, perhaps beyond repair.

12 months manufacturers warranty is probably about average for such a small portable products, but there are extended warranty options available online for those that wish to extend that period. Some offers online are quite cheap too - I just covered a 32” Kitchen TV for 4 years for less than £30, which is a bargain, I think, and it helps to provide some peace of mind if it ever breaks down in that period.

You might have been better looking into that option of taking out an extended warranty perhaps, rather than spending a few thousand dollars on a lawyer now, after the horse has bolted.