Sonos Roam and Traveling with Wi-Fi

If I’m looking at Ken’s screenshoots correctly, he was able to add a WiFi network to the Roam setup without actually connecting to the network. Since in the case, all the typical locations are known, not vacation destinations that can’t be known till you arrive, perhaps pre-emptively entering the network locations while at home is the right answer.

I think (not 100% sure) that if the Roam can’t connect to it’s current WiFi network, it will attempt to connect to other networks in it’s list.  I don’t really think the pre-emptive network settings is required.  I do believe the Roam can connect via BLE or full bluetooth to your phone to get WiFI credentials when it is not currently connected to a WiFi network.

And as far as Support goes, they simply have to be incorrect or misunderstanding of what you’re trying to accomplish. Besides being an idiotic solution for a mobile product, if a factory reset is required whenever changing WiFi networks on the Roam, there would be no need for the Roam to store multiple WiFi network credentials.

Yes I have no doubt it can connect to already stored network credentials. The problem is that there is no way to enter said credentials in advance. It's like a previous suggestion I received… 
It's no problem, just make sure that every network you are ever going to connect to has the same SSID and password. 😄

I do have an old router in a cupboard here (somewhere🤔) - I can go onto set that up if you like with any SSID - I don’t mind if you want to name that SSID.

All I then do, is just simply connect to that new WiFi with my iPhone (which has S2 controller App installed) …I power on the Roam (called MotorRoam) nearby (having never connected to that SSID obviously).

I open the S2 App whilst it’s on the new SSID/WiFi network and wait till I get the message…“Unable to connect to Sonos. Let’s fix it…” I select that link in the App and follow the onscreen instructions and setup the Roam. It adds to the new network and puts the SSID/credentials into the list of networks.

So that’s what happens in my case if I’m not using the hotspot connection method.

If you want me to do this, let me know and I will post screenshots and show the Roam setup on the new WiFi network and post the network list from the S2 App with the SSID added to it. 

When I travel, I can do it the way described above too, but I personally prefer to use the mobile hotspot method and the ‘Update Networks’ option as that’s the old way of adding a WiFi network and that is just the way I’ve always added Networks to my devices in the past, plus it gives me a backup (plan B) option if there is ever a problem and I can’t use the new WiFi at the AirBnB etc. .. but as stated before, either method should work unless there’s an issue with the new router, such as a login screen etc. (or perhaps an issue with the mobile device), but otherwise the Roam should connect to the new network without ever having to factory reset it… I honestly do not recall ever factory resetting my Roam.

Did you also disable the old SSID before you powered on the Roam?

I’m not entirely sure which ‘old’ SSID you mean? if you mean the old routers WiFi SSID that’s in the cupboard, then no I don’t have its original SSID stored, not that it would actually matter, as I would change it to whatever you wanted before starting the test - the speaker would only join that routers network after I hit the ‘let’s fix it’ link in the S2 Sonos App, prior to going through that step, there’s no connection between the Roam and that router. Only the mobile controller device is connected to its WiFi to begin with. You have to connect the controller device to the new WiFi first before opening the Sonos App from a fully closed state, then wait to get the "Unable to connect to Sonos. Let’s fix it…” prompt.

I have the Home SSID, The Bungalow SSID, the Mobile Hotspot SSID’s stored on the speaker. I always keep those stored, as they are used on a fairly regular basis each year as I stay/visit the various places.

As mentioned in this thread earlier, you can store up-to 16 WiFi networks on the speakers in one Sonos Household. However, those WiFi SSID’s that I just use temporarily, when visiting places (and those I used in this thread earlier) as part of the testing ‘ThoriumP’ and ‘ThoriumWiFi’ are of course removed. Any I will likely not use ever again are always removed.

My daughter and son-in law have recently changed their internet provider - so if I were to go visit them  and take a Roam/Move with me to a garden party or BBQ at their house, then I might add their WiFi network to the list and choose to keep that stored, but that’s really just as an example. As it stands, they have their own Move and Roams for use outdoors, so in reality I wouldn’t take my speakers to their Home, but it’s the type of situation where I would hang onto the SSID and perhaps keep it stored in the network list, but if using a holiday destination WiFi - then no I don’t keep those SSID’s

So the adding of a ‘Sonos Roam’ to a new WiFi network is definitely working here okay with the current release of the S2 controller software (v15.5) and an iOS iPhone controller device. Anyhow I hope the information assists and as you can hopefully see my Roam was not factory reset - otherwise the list of networks would have been wiped out in the Sonos App.

The question was if the speakers were connected to (or could connect to) an existing WiFi network at the point of transitioning to a new network.  From the information you submitted, it looks as indeed they were already connected to WiFi (Localnet is in your list), and speakers just needed new instructions passed to them to connect to another one. 

This works for me as well, but it wasn't the problem I was trying to solve. 

The problem was that the speakers seem to be unable to transition to a new network unless they are already connected to the internet where they can be found. So in my case, the problem appears to be the initial handshake between the speakers and the controllers when the controller is on a new network. When the speakers are already connected to the internet they will be reached and setup normally, no surprises there. When they are not already connected to a network (a normal roaming situation) they will respond “Sonos not found.”   

Since the only common response from the community is “just travel with a mobile router” or “just ensure that all networks have the same SSID and password” it appears that others might have the same issue. And that the Sonos roam really can't connect to a new WiFi network without factory reset or a current existing internet connection.  

If you think that is the case,  then just add a mobile hotspot to the list of networks in the Sonos App and enable it whilst you add the new WiFi network at your holiday destination - that should hopefully sort it for you. I don’t personally think it matters, but at least in this way it should work for you either way.

Yes, back to the point that the Sonos Roam always need to have an existing known network available, or it needs a factory reset. 

Has anyone been able to connect to a NEW network without having the Roam already connected to the internet or factory reseting it?