Why can't Sonos Roam work for phone calls? I want an answer.

I took quick look at Best Buy (US tech retailer) 

They sell  167 bluetooth speakers.  Of those, 40 have microphones. 17 can be used as speakerphones.  I understand why the assumption is made that a bluetooth speaker has a microphone built in, and that microphone can be used a speaker phone...but it’s not a very good assumption.

USB has become very common for any device requiring DC 5V regardless of whether any data transfer is required.  Assuming that it a USB connection can be used for data, and that the data is audio in some format...also not the best assumption.

If all you need is a portable bluetooth speaker, I wouldn’t call it the worst option out there, as there is some really cheap junk out there, but it’s not the best bluetooth speaker.  If you want a bluetooth speaker that works as a WiFi speaker as well that works with other Sonos speakers, then I don’t think you could find a better option.

Yes all the smart ar___ are correct but as the original post I assumed it would.

Its not exactly rocket science to have this function.

I like the speaker apart from the rubbish switch.

I will sell sell it and buy something with this function.

How would you know?

Maybe Bose portable smart speaker has the old feature as of make and the calls. Looks that in the marketing. This is a must for me, to automatically answer calls on samsung phone when connected via bluetooth speaker.

Buy one more thing, its waste sooner or later, so if sonos think of climate, integrate bluetooth conference call.

Anyone knows any other brands who have all that roam has and the blutooth call function? Seem maybe bose has a portable speaker doing it.

No it seems you cant use bose expensive thing either to phone calls, incredible stupid to buy another speaker just for that.

Can you make phone calls with the Bose Portable Smart Speaker?

You can make phone calls with the Bose Portable Smart Speaker, but it’s not via your mobile carrier. According to Bose, as long as you use Amazon Alexa and the person you’re calling also does on a compatible product, you can place calls using the speaker. This only works over Wi-Fi, and it doesn’t work with Google Assistant. I could not test this feature, however, because I do not know anyone who also has Amazon Alexa.

ANYONE? who know a smart portable speaker that you can make phone calls and take calls via bluetooth the old fashion way?

The market economy should solve this problem.

Or do you have to buy to speakers?

You may want to ask your question on a more generic forum, rather than one dedicated to support for Sonos. 

i understand where twinsdad is coming from i also get where everyone else is coming from telling him to research first buy second, and how sonos doesn’t advertise this. 

With that being said, i have sonos all throughout the house garage and sunporch…….the roam is a great speaker to take on the beach or into a breakfast area with a work team.  I do a conference call everyday at work and wanted the roam to play the conference call loud enough i could get in the shower walk in to the closet brush my teeth etc and still be able to hear the whole call. Because it doesn’t have the much needed feature i would have this blue tooth speaker for beach pool etc and i have to carry another with me for when i have 10 people in a meeting room listening to the same call or if i’m in the shower and want to listen to that call on something louder than the phone………...i think THIS was twins dads point …...just give us the feature and a way to turn it off…..

example. on an android phone i used to go in to the bluetooth settings of the phone and i could select phone audio or media audio toggled on or off if i wanted to. Sonos could give us this feature….

its better to have and not need than to need and not have. 

great for audio -- yes…...will it replace the functionality of other bluetooth speakers --no.  so either carry two bluetooth speakers OR BUY SOMETHING ELSE…..hope you’re listening SONOS…..ironic if they weren’t good listeners ;)

It is clearly reasonable to assume that the majority of people would want this feature, or are indifferent, with only a handful of people not wanting the feature.  I can’t imagine that Sonos isn’t aware of this and would implement ASAP if it was as simple as flipping a switch in the firmware.

In your examples, you’re using the Roam as a standalone speaker, not considering that it’s actually part of a multiroom audio system over WiFi.  So when your Roam is currently grouped with other speakers in your home, and you receive a phone call, what should happen?  Should the phone call audio play for the whole group or should the Roam disconnect from the group to take the call?  If it stays grouped, are you expecting every mic in the home to be listening? Are you going to be ok with the buffered audio delay inherent in Sonos?  If it disconnects from the group, are you going to be annoyed if you don’t want to take the call, and your group got disconnected for nothing? Should the Roam only “take the call” if it’s currently playing bluetooth audio? Maybe it should be disconnected from WiFI to take calls?   Can you group the bluetooth audio after taking a call? Do you think Sonos should provide the user with options on exactly how they want it to operate in these situations?

I do suspect Sonos is looking at these issues, as there rumors that Sonos will be release headphones later this year.  Ability to take phone calls is surely an even more desired feature in headphones, even over the ear, than in portable speakers.  Although, it’s far from a given, and I wouldn’t be surprised either way.  There is also a rumor, though much more vague, that an update Roam will be coming out too.  If these features require a hardware change, it makes sense that new tech in the headphones would be port over to a “Roam 2” if it could benefit from the same features.  Again though...very far from a given and just speculation.