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Sonos Roam and Traveling with Wi-Fi

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
July 11, 2023
52 replies
4979 views

Hoping to get some clarity from the community on how painful this is supposed to be…

I am travelling with a couple of Sonos Roam between my home and various office locations. I’m one of few very oddball people that like STEREO, you see. And I understand that the roam is intended as a Bluetooth MONO system when roaming, but since I am a difficult customer I tend to hook them up using the Wi-Fi network to get STEREO. Like we have had since the 1930s.
So far, this has required a factory reset of the speakers EVERY TIME to connect to a new Wi-Fi network.
Today I contacted support and asked how to do this without factory reset, and was told that this was not possible, I needed to factory reset. Pain.
The experience at every location so so far has been, step by step:

Start Sonos app, it finds the system missing and select the change network option.
Attempting to find the system fails with “Sonos not found”. Surprising, since it's already connected via bluetooth, but apparently it's incapable of finding what it is already connected to. (Unlike my camera, my car and everything else that seamlessly configures network over Bluetooth and switch to WiFi transfer mode as required...)
Disable bluetooth on my phone in the hope that it will connect over WiFi.
Being told by the Sonos app to turn on Bluetooth, in which case it again connects to the Sonos Roam over Bluetooth, and still “Sonos not found”.
Give up, and perform factory reset of both Sonos Roam.
Detect both Sonos roam, this is hit and miss and sometimes a royal pain.
When they are found, the funny thing is that I am already logged into the app, but now I need to re-enter my user name and password to log in again. More needless pain.
Attempting to add the speakers back to my main system will not work, since I am not on my main wifi network. Therefore have to set up a new system.
Hooray. Now finally able to use my roam speakers. In STEREO. But all my settings, favourites, playlists and music services are wiped out. So I don't have anything to listen to anymore.
I can now start the process of reconfiguring the system from scratch.
Tomorrow I am going to another location with another WiFi network, so I look forward to having to set up all settings and music services from scratch again.

Did I get this right? Is that how the Sonos ownership experience is supposed to work? What is the point of having a Sonos account? Did I miss something?

I have been a Sonos customer since 2006, and have two houses full of Sonos gear, but it's becoming increasingly harder to justify the huge investment in effort to keep these systems running.

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Ken_Griffiths

I honestly have no issues adding a WiFi network to my Roam/other speakers - I can goto any holiday destination and get the Roam setup on the local wifi network there …and not have to reset the Roam. It’s about taking the Sonos Household with you and you do that by adding a mobile network hotspot to the System or a MiFi wireless network, or a travel router - they’re all a similar thing. It’s then simple to transfer the Roam to the destinations nearby WiFi network… and then run the Roam on that local network.

Imagine I just arrived at my AirBnB destination which has a WiFi network called ‘ThoriumP’ - it’s easy to add that network to the list for the Roam to use - see attached screenshots as I’ve just added such a network to my Roam (called MotorRoam)…and I have not reset the Roam and still have all the playlists and music services.

T

Thorium PrimeAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I honestly have no issues adding a WiFi network to my Roam/other speakers - I can goto any holiday destination and get the Roam setup on the local wifi network there …and not have to reset the Roam. It’s about taking the Sonos Household with you and you do that by adding a mobile network hotspot to the System or a MiFi wireless network, or a travel router - they’re all a similar thing. It’s then simple to transfer the Roam to the destinations nearby WiFi network… and then run the Roam on that local network.

So it is not possible for the Roam to roam onto a new Wifi network unless you have your existing network with you? You need to bring a mobile router or hotspot with you in order for this to be possible, this is what you are saying?

Ken_Griffiths

I honestly have no issues adding a WiFi network to my Roam/other speakers - I can goto any holiday destination and get the Roam setup on the local wifi network there …and not have to reset the Roam. It’s about taking the Sonos Household with you and you do that by adding a mobile network hotspot to the System or a MiFi wireless network, or a travel router - they’re all a similar thing. It’s then simple to transfer the Roam to the destinations nearby WiFi network… and then run the Roam on that local network.

So it is not possible for the Roam to roam onto a new Wifi network unless you have your existing network with you? You need to bring a mobile router or hotspot with you in order for this to be possible, this is what you are saying?

Dunno🤷‍♂️ - I’ve just always chose to go that route described, because it means I have a backup network anyway (a mobile hotspot) no matter where I go - sometimes a destinations wireless network may require payment and a ‘login screen’, so obviously those type of networks cannot be added to Sonos under any circumstances .. so I then revert to using my own hotspot instead. Plus it means I always have my Sonos Household wherever I go - So it’s always made sense to me to operate the Roam in this way. I’ve never factory reset it - that is the last thing I would ever do.

T

Thorium PrimeAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

So it’s always made sense to me to operate the Roam in this way. I’ve never factory reset it - that is the last thing I would ever do.

It's strange that the official position of Sonos is that I need to factory reset to change the WiFi network.

I guess I need to get used to the idea that I have to always have the thing connected to a mobile hotspot. I have done this in the past, but had no idea it would resolve the current issues. (To be frank I had no idea that their software was this poor, when I am surrounded by other devices that can configure their WiFi network when bootstrapped from a Bluetooth connection.)

Well, now all my configuration, services, Sonos playlists etc are all gone. Thanks Sonos.

Ken_Griffiths

@Thorium Prime

In fact I’ve just tried it without involving a mobile hotspot and was able to add the Roam to a new WiFi network by first connecting the controller device to the new WiFi network and opening the Sonos App and choosing ‘let’s fix it’ and the controller scans and finds my system. It then allowed me to select the Roam and invites me to press the play and volume-up button. It plays a chime and it connects to the new WiFi network. So it is possible to do it without the hotspot method, it seems.

Ken_Griffiths

So it’s always made sense to me to operate the Roam in this way. I’ve never factory reset it - that is the last thing I would ever do.

It's strange that the official position of Sonos is that I need to factory reset to change the WiFi network.

I guess I need to get used to the idea that I have to always have the thing connected to a mobile hotspot. I have done this in the past, but had no idea it would resolve the current issues. (To be frank I had no idea that their software was this poor, when I am surrounded by other devices that can configure their WiFi network when bootstrapped from a Bluetooth connection.)

Well, now all my configuration, services, Sonos playlists etc are all gone. Thanks Sonos.

I think you ‘perhaps’ must be doing something wrong - it’s working okay here for me.I just connect the Roam to a new WiFi network without using the mobiles hotspot method. I just connected the controller to the new network and selected ‘let’s fix it’ and followed the instructions onscreen - the process is actually mentioned/documented in this Sonos support link too:

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

T

Thorium PrimeAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I think you ‘perhaps’ must be doing something wrong - it’s working okay here for me.I just connect the Roam to a new WiFi network without using the mobiles hotspot method. I just connected the controller to the new network and selected ‘let’s fix it’ and followed the instructions onscreen - the process is actually mentioned/documented in this Sonos support link too:

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

Please read my original post, this is what I am already doing. And it fails every time. And according to Sonos support I need to factory reset it to add to another Wifi network.

J

John B

I feel disinclined t help someone as sarcastic as you, but…

I believe Ken is correct in saying that a factory reset is unnecessary to connect the Roam to multiple networks. This is indeed destructive - of playlists, services etc, as you are clearly aware.

I believe the confusion lies in not distinguishing between switching between WiFi networks and using the Roam on multiple Sonos systems. Using the Roam on multiple Sonos systems (i.e. systems with different Household IDs) does require a factory reset each time, because it has to accommodate the existing, and potentially differing, playlists, settings, services etc.

This confusion clearly extends to Sonos Support, and it seems you were badly served there.

The best solution, as others have said, is to carry a piece of “network infrastructure” with you, in the form of a a travel router about a quarter of the size and weight of one of the two speakers you are happy to lug around with you. There are many advantages outside of Sonos to this approach, but I can’t be bothered to set these out.

Good lluck.

Ken_Griffiths

I can assure you it works here for me @Thorium Prime

I just select ‘let’s fix it’ when opening the controller (mobile controller device is already on the new WiFi network)
The app scans my online Sonos account and finds my system(s) - I have more than one.
I select the Household with the Roam and then select the Roam to add to the new WiFi network.
It says Roam will play a chime - It does that and I bring my mobile controller near to the Roam and it detects the playing chime.
App asks me to press Play/Volume-Up buttons
I then add the new WiFi credentials/password and it informs me that other devices in the system/household will not be updated or words to that effect.
Setup is complete and Roam then appears in the Sonos App and is running on the new WiFi network.

T

Thorium PrimeAuthor

Trending Lyricist I

I can assure you it works here for me @Thorium Prime

I just select ‘let’s fix it’ when opening the controller (mobile controller device is already on the new WiFi network)

Yes, this is what fails in my case. Rather consistently. And support says the remedy is factory reset.

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