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Sonos Roam keeps disconnecting while playing

R
Userlevel 1

We use our Roam to play white noise in our daughters room. The speaker is set up in her room on the wireless charger. Previously it always worked fine, and then now it randomly just drops out and appears as “not connected” in the Sonos app. It’ll play for an hour or so, and then it disappears. 
 

Hard rebooting the speaker via the button on the back returns it to the app and makes it usable again, but it’ll play for another hour or so and then randomly stop and disappear. 
 

For reference: my home sonos system runs on Sonosnet channel 6

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 4 January 2023, 14:39

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Ken_Griffiths

Even with WiFi Power Saving mode off, the defective Roam continues to disconnect from Sonos.

From your earlier post, QOS is not enabled.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated.

Is the Roam actually dropping its IP address and/or shutting down completely, with no status LED showing when it goes offline? Or is it simply going into ‘sleep’ mode, where you can wake it with the press of the power button - or is it in ‘standby’ and still ready to play with its status LED showing, can you just clarify what you are seeing.

J
Userlevel 2
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The Roam is actually dropping its IP address. It does not shut down or go to sleep. It shows a solid white status LED. It stops being available through Sonos direct and Airplay.

After over 3 weeks and over 7 calls to Sonos support, they finally swapped the defective Roam with a replacement

J
Userlevel 2
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The replacement unit arrived on Saturday and I haven’t had any disconnection problems yet. If I get past a full week without any disconnections that will be a very good sign. I will keep you posted.

J
Userlevel 2
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It has now been 9 days since I connected the replacement unit and I have not had any disconnections.

Sonos support needs to reevaluate what it considers a good, working unit. They consistently blamed my network for the problem even though I tried every solution they offered without a resolution. Honestly, I tried many of their solution more than once. Phone support was persistent in believing the problem was in my network settings and ignored the fact I had another Roam that was working properly. If I wasn’t comfortable with tweaking my network settings and I didn’t have another Roam that did not have the issue, they probably would have intimated me to just give up and assume my network couldn’t handle this Sonos Roam. That would have created an unhappy customer for simple reason they were to stubborn to think the problem was with the Roam.

Thank you to everyone who offered suggestions to try to fix the problem.

 

J
Userlevel 2
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I would like to add that once Support agreed to swap my defective unit for a replacement unit, the process was very quick and simple. They quickly sent me a replacement unit that arrived in a few days. They also emailed me a prepaid return postage label and then notified me when they received the defective unit.

Is was a straightforward, quick and easy process. I only wish it was easier to get to that point.

O

Hello there

 

I am a brand new Sonos customer, I received 2 Era-100 and a Roam for Christmas. 
 

The Era-100s have been great, but the Roam is the biggest piece of Chinese garbage I’ve ever used in my entire life. 
 

Our house has fantastic prosumer grade WiFi and signal is so strong I can connect to WiFi half way down my street. 
 

With the Roam, every night I put it on 10 hours of rain falling etc. on Spotify and every single morning, the Roam is dead silent and completely unreachable by the system. There is a red dot in the app indicating it’s offline. Trying to do the repair process fails, says it can’t find the device. Only fix is to manually reboot this piece of absolute junk as it’s not even capable of reestablishing its WiFi connection. 
 

The unit is plugged into the wall adapter and has never dipped below 100%

 

My only solace in this is knowing I’m within my return period as it was a Christmas gift.  I am calling for a refund first thing Monday, I’ve had enough of this.

 

Sonos this is an embarrassment and a pathetic product that should not be for sale. What a disgrace. 

O

The Roam is actually dropping its IP address. It does not shut down or go to sleep. It shows a solid white status LED. It stops being available through Sonos direct and Airplay.

After over 3 weeks and over 7 calls to Sonos support, they finally swapped the defective Roam with a replacement

This sounds like what’s happening to me. System just goes dead although still powered on with the solid white LEDs, yet is unrecoverable without hard reboot. I’m pushing for a refund or exchange hopefully because this is just horrendous

Ken_Griffiths

The Roam is actually dropping its IP address. It does not shut down or go to sleep. It shows a solid white status LED. It stops being available through Sonos direct and Airplay.

After over 3 weeks and over 7 calls to Sonos support, they finally swapped the defective Roam with a replacement

This sounds like what’s happening to me. System just goes dead although still powered on with the solid white LEDs, yet is unrecoverable without hard reboot. I’m pushing for a refund or exchange hopefully because this is just horrendous

Normally when a Sonos speaker drops, or loses, it’s IP address the top status LED will flash white as it tries to get an IP address, so perhaps lookout for the flashing LED and also try pinging its address over the network.

Check your router too to see if the Roam is actually connected, as it might in fact just be a ‘discovery’ issue by the App.

You could also try it on the ‘other’ WiFi band, as the Roam will operate on either the 2.4Ghz WiFi band or the 5Ghz band. If using the 2.4Ghz band (which is more penetrating and has longer reach) then try it on a fixed non-overlapping channel of either Ch.1, 6 or 11 and set the channel width to 20MHz only as that will reduce any interference and will likely improve its connection.

You could also go onto reserve it’s IP address in your router configuration pages and make its address static, as that may help things too.

L

I have 3 Roams. One continues to disconnect while the other two always stay connected. If someone ever finds a fix, please post. I have tried everything people mention in this thread.

Ken_Griffiths

I have 3 Roams. One continues to disconnect while the other two always stay connected. If someone ever finds a fix, please post. I have tried everything people mention in this thread.

Maybe check your router/access points to see which WiFi bands/AP’s each Roam is using, as that may perhaps provide you with some answers.

Airgetlam

There is an S2 update today, to 16.1, which claims in the release notes to affect the Roam’s connection process, you may want to update to see if it helps. 

Bruce
L

I have 3 Roams. One continues to disconnect while the other two always stay connected. If someone ever finds a fix, please post. I have tried everything people mention in this thread.

Maybe check your router/access points to see which WiFi bands/AP’s each Roam is using, as that may perhaps provide you with some answers.

Ken, this is a great idea and I did just confirm the faulty one was connected to a different access point so I shut that down to force connection to the same as the other two. I will check back in a week and see if this works.

L

There is an S2 update today, to 16.1, which claims in the release notes to affect the Roam’s connection process, you may want to update to see if it helps. 

Mine all run 16.0. Can I push a firmware upgrade to the Roams? I do updates as asked by the Sonos controller SW and I guess I though that handled the firmware.

Ken_Griffiths

There is an S2 update today, to 16.1, which claims in the release notes to affect the Roam’s connection process, you may want to update to see if it helps. 

Mine all run 16.0. Can I push a firmware upgrade to the Roams? I do updates as asked by the Sonos controller SW and I guess I though that handled the firmware.

Once you get the latest Sonos controller App v16.1 installed on your mobile device, just goto the Apps “Settings/System/System Updates" and choose ‘Check for Updates’ and let it install all updates on your powered-on products. If any device(s) are powered off at the time, and/or not connected to the local WiFi, then you can always re-run the update process again later via the App, when the device(s) become available. 

L

I have 3 Roams. One continues to disconnect while the other two always stay connected. If someone ever finds a fix, please post. I have tried everything people mention in this thread.

Maybe check your router/access points to see which WiFi bands/AP’s each Roam is using, as that may perhaps provide you with some answers.

Ken, this is a great idea and I did just confirm the faulty one was connected to a different access point so I shut that down to force connection to the same as the other two. I will check back in a week and see if this works.

There is definitely a correlation between between either the access point in my basement, or the Pelton bike or Google Nest Mini Gen 2 conflicting with my one troubled Roam and causing it to disconnect. Just not sure which one or combo is causing the issue. For now, I have unplugged the basement access point and I have maintained connection for over 24 hours on the Roam. The Google Nest Mini Gen 2 is on right now and I will be using the Peloton soon. If I maintain connection to Roam for another 24 hours, then I will have better data.

Ken_Griffiths

There is definitely a correlation between between either the access point in my basement, or the Pelton bike or Google Nest Mini Gen 2 conflicting with my one troubled Roam and causing it to disconnect. Just not sure which one or combo is causing the issue. For now, I have unplugged the basement access point and I have maintained connection for over 24 hours on the Roam. The Google Nest Mini Gen 2 is on right now and I will be using the Peloton soon. If I maintain connection to Roam for another 24 hours, then I will have better data.

Is the access point a wireless range extender, a WiFi mesh hub, and/or is it wired back to the router? If it’s a wireless range extender, then note that those devices/AP’s are not part of the Sonos system requirements as mentioned HERE. Although some extenders ‘may’ sometimes work if they operate to mimic the same WiFi band SSID’s as your router and use the same channels (which should be fixed and non-overlapping i.e. Channel 1, 6 or 11) and have all you access points set to a channel-width of 20Mhz only for their 2.4Ghz band. Note that this will likely give the range extender the best shot at working with Sonos, but there’s still no guarantees as they are not ‘officially’ supported.

L

There is definitely a correlation between between either the access point in my basement, or the Pelton bike or Google Nest Mini Gen 2 conflicting with my one troubled Roam and causing it to disconnect. Just not sure which one or combo is causing the issue. For now, I have unplugged the basement access point and I have maintained connection for over 24 hours on the Roam. The Google Nest Mini Gen 2 is on right now and I will be using the Peloton soon. If I maintain connection to Roam for another 24 hours, then I will have better data.

Is the access point a wireless range extender, a WiFi mesh hub, and/or is it wired back to the router? If it’s a wireless range extender, then note that those devices/AP’s are not part of the Sonos system requirements as mentioned HERE. Although some extenders ‘may’ sometimes work if they operate to mimic the same WiFi band SSID’s as your router and use the same channels (which should be fixed and non-overlapping i.e. Channel 1, 6 or 11) and have all you access points set to a channel-width of 20Mhz only for their 2.4Ghz band. Note that this will likely give the range extender the best shot at working with Sonos, but there’s still no guarantees as they are not ‘officially’ supported.

I have a Google mesh.

Ken_Griffiths

There is definitely a correlation between between either the access point in my basement, or the Pelton bike or Google Nest Mini Gen 2 conflicting with my one troubled Roam and causing it to disconnect. Just not sure which one or combo is causing the issue. For now, I have unplugged the basement access point and I have maintained connection for over 24 hours on the Roam. The Google Nest Mini Gen 2 is on right now and I will be using the Peloton soon. If I maintain connection to Roam for another 24 hours, then I will have better data.

Is the access point a wireless range extender, a WiFi mesh hub, and/or is it wired back to the router? If it’s a wireless range extender, then note that those devices/AP’s are not part of the Sonos system requirements as mentioned HERE. Although some extenders ‘may’ sometimes work if they operate to mimic the same WiFi band SSID’s as your router and use the same channels (which should be fixed and non-overlapping i.e. Channel 1, 6 or 11) and have all you access points set to a channel-width of 20Mhz only for their 2.4Ghz band. Note that this will likely give the range extender the best shot at working with Sonos, but there’s still no guarantees as they are not ‘officially’ supported.

I have a Google mesh.

Then you shouldn’t need to switch off your mesh access points… Sonos should work fine with most mesh WiFi setups - but if the Google system allows you,  maybe steer your Roam onto the 2.4Ghz band and set a channel-width for that band of 20Mhz only. If you can fix the channels too, then select a non-overlapping channel as mentioned earlier.

T

Unfortunately, I’m also experiencing these issues. And while I am by no means a networking guru I will try to be very specific about what I mean by “disconnecting”. First some background. I have a Sonos Roam which I’m controlling via my iPhone 14 Pro. I already tried making an IP reservation and updated to the latest firmware. Neither of which had any effect. Private Relay is also disabled on my home network. I’m in the process of moving to a new home which has whatever router Spectrum Internet uses for its 1 Gbps service. This is temporary though as it will eventually be replaced by my eero 6 wifi system from my current home. But at the moment “mesh” wifi is not a factor. The router is in a large, open great room just a few feet from the Roam. As we haven’t completely moved in the only other devices on the WiFi are a few Ring cameras, a smart thermostat, and a few smart phones. IOW, it’s hardly being taxed. And the only device “disconnecting” is the Roam. My observations over the last few months …

  1. When I enter the new home my iPhone automatically connects to the WiFi. I power up the  Roam and within 15-20 seconds the solid white LED is visible and it shows up as a device in the Spectrum app and in the Music app as an AirPlay target. However, neither the Sonos app nor the Music app is ever able to connect to it at that point. I have to toggle off the WiFi on my iPhone, wait a few seconds, then toggle it back on in order for the Sonos app or the Music app to actually “see” it. Essentially, the Roam has to be connected to the WiFi first before the iPhone connects to the WiFi in order for either app to be able to control the Roam. 
     
  2. I start playing music over WiFi and it sounds great. The Roam really is a fantastic sounding device for its size. A bit better than my HomePod mini stereo pair. Though nowhere near as nice as my OG HomePod stereo pair. But I digress. It may play just fine for minutes or even hours but eventually it will “disconnect” from my iPhone. If I’m using the Music app via AirPlay the app will no longer “see” the Roam and the music will stop playing. If I’m using the Sonos app it will no longer “see” the Roam but the music keeps playing because it’s streaming the music directly. I have to toggle off the WiFi on my iPhone, wait a few seconds, then toggle it back on in order for the Sonos app or the Music app to actually “see” the Roam again. 
     
  3. I never experience #1 or #2 with my HomePods. The Roam is my only Sonos device so I can’t speak to that ecosystem myself. But I have no reason to doubt others who’ve said the Roam is their only Sonos device which has this issue. None of my other WiFi devices are “disconnecting” in any way. Therefore, I have no reason whatsoever to think this is an issue with my router … it’s an issue with the Roam.
     
  4. The Roam doesn’t appear to be disconnecting from the WiFi itself. It’s disconnecting from the controlling device on the WiFi network. 
Ken_Griffiths

@TechBrothaOG,

I see you mentioned Spectrum in your post - if you are using one of their routers, then it might be one that has SSDP ‘multicast’ device-discovery issues. Sonos suggest using ‘wired mode’ (SonosNet) for a number of Spectrum routers, as can perhaps be seen here…

https://support.sonos.com/en-us/article/charter-spectrum-sax2v1s-sax2v1r-sax1v1s-compatibility

Obviously if that’s your case then you’re out of luck, as the Roam cannot be wired/does not support SonosNet. You might be better off ‘bridging’ the router (or using it in modem mode) and then using your own purchased router instead.

T

@TechBrothaOG,

I see you mentioned Spectrum in your post -

We’ll see if things get better or not once I replace the Spectrum router with my Eero 6. But given the posts here, on Reddit, and quite frankly … all over the internet …. I’m not particularly hopeful. It really does appear that there is some sort of bug or design flaw in the Roam’s networking stack.  As I mentioned above, I don’t have these issues with my HomePods. And we can’t even chalk that up to Apple hardware working better with Apple software because the Roam exhibits the same issues with both Apple’s app and its own Sonos app. That being said, I do find it to be rock solid as a Bluetooth speaker. I have no issues in that mode whatsoever. So I’ve found that if I want to be able to reliably control it from my iPhone I’ll connect via Bluetooth. But if I want the best sound quality with music playing in the background I’ll connect via Wifi from the Sonos app … which is “sub-optimal” at best compared to the Apple Music app for a variety of reasons … so the music will keep playing at least when it inevitably disconnects from my iPhone. But TBH I’ve found that I can’t recommend the Roam to a potential customer because of this. I paid the premium for it precisely because it’s an Airplay 2 speaker in addition to being a Bluetooth speaker. I should never have to use Bluetooth when I’m at home on my WiFi network. But it’s so unreliable on WiFi that I’m forced to choose between control and sound quality. 

Ken_Griffiths

@TechBrothaOG,

I see you mentioned Spectrum in your post -

We’ll see if things get better or not once I replace the Spectrum router with my Eero 6. But given the posts here, on Reddit, and quite frankly … all over the internet …. I’m not particularly hopeful. It really does appear that there is some sort of bug or design flaw in the Roam’s networking stack.  As I mentioned above, I don’t have these issues with my HomePods. And we can’t even chalk that up to Apple hardware working better with Apple software because the Roam exhibits the same issues with both Apple’s app and its own Sonos app. That being said, I do find it to be rock solid as a Bluetooth speaker. I have no issues in that mode whatsoever. So I’ve found that if I want to be able to reliably control it from my iPhone I’ll connect via Bluetooth. But if I want the best sound quality with music playing in the background I’ll connect via Wifi from the Sonos app … which is “sub-optimal” at best compared to the Apple Music app for a variety of reasons … so the music will keep playing at least when it inevitably disconnects from my iPhone. But TBH I’ve found that I can’t recommend the Roam to a potential customer because of this. I paid the premium for it precisely because it’s an Airplay 2 speaker in addition to being a Bluetooth speaker. I should never have to use Bluetooth when I’m at home on my WiFi network. But it’s so unreliable on WiFi that I’m forced to choose between control and sound quality. 

My Wife and I have two Roams that we each use - I have a Plume mesh network here at Home and never see single issue with the Roam. It shows up and is always discovered and I can’t recall a time when it wasn’t. It will play all day everyday.

When we go out & about in the camper van, we connect the Roams to a D-Link dwr-2101 mobile WiFi 6 router and that works well too if we have either a 4G or 5G mobile LTE connection - If no mobile signal, (or we are away from the camper) then we may use Bluetooth in that situation with some limited tracks stored on the iPhone via the Amazon Music App.

The Roams have always worked well here. So I suspect it’s the multicast device discovery issue in your case, or I guess we can’t rule out that you may have a faulty device, but in that case I would have expected the device to have dropped off the network completely, rather than it just not being discovered using the  mobile Sonos controller App. You can always go onto reproduce the discovery issue however, then immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support via this LINK to discuss the matter in detail and see what the Sonos Staff say about the matter.

T

@TechBrothaOG,

I see you mentioned Spectrum in your post -

We’ll see if things get better or not once I replace the Spectrum router with my Eero 6. But given the posts here, on Reddit, and quite frankly … all over the internet …. I’m not particularly hopeful. It really does appear that there is some sort of bug or design flaw in the Roam’s networking stack.  As I mentioned above, I don’t have these issues with my HomePods. And we can’t even chalk that up to Apple hardware working better with Apple software because the Roam exhibits the same issues with both Apple’s app and its own Sonos app. That being said, I do find it to be rock solid as a Bluetooth speaker. I have no issues in that mode whatsoever. So I’ve found that if I want to be able to reliably control it from my iPhone I’ll connect via Bluetooth. But if I want the best sound quality with music playing in the background I’ll connect via Wifi from the Sonos app … which is “sub-optimal” at best compared to the Apple Music app for a variety of reasons … so the music will keep playing at least when it inevitably disconnects from my iPhone. But TBH I’ve found that I can’t recommend the Roam to a potential customer because of this. I paid the premium for it precisely because it’s an Airplay 2 speaker in addition to being a Bluetooth speaker. I should never have to use Bluetooth when I’m at home on my WiFi network. But it’s so unreliable on WiFi that I’m forced to choose between control and sound quality. 

My Wife and I have two Roams that we each use - I have a Plume mesh network here at Home and never see single issue with the Roam. It shows up and is always discovered and I can’t recall a time when it wasn’t. It will play all day everyday.

When we go out & about in the camper van, we connect the Roams to a D-Link dwr-2101 mobile WiFi 6 router and that works well too if we have either a 4G or 5G mobile LTE connection - If no mobile signal, (or we are away from the camper) then we may use Bluetooth in that situation with some limited tracks stored on the iPhone via the Amazon Music App.

The Roams have always worked well here. So I suspect it’s the multicast device discovery issue in your case, or I guess we can’t rule out that you may have a faulty device, but in that case I would have expected the device to have dropped off the network completely, rather than it just not being discovered using the  mobile Sonos controller App. You can always go onto reproduce the discovery issue however, then immediately submit a Sonos system diagnostic report from within the Sonos App, note it’s reference and then contact/chat with Sonos Support via this LINK to discuss the matter in detail and see what the Sonos Staff say about the matter.

So I checked out that Sonos support article and then fired up the Spectrum app to see what kind of router I have. I’ve only had it a few months and it was brand new out of the box. But turns out it is a model SAX2V1S which is listed as being incompatible with Sonos products. The behavior I described above certainly fits what’s mentioned in the support article … 

“Issue

When your Sonos system is in a wireless setup, Sonos products disappear from the Sonos app.”

So thanks so much for the info! This has been driving me nuts and it’s nice to at least have some sort of explanation. When I swap the Spectrum router out for my eero 6 I’ll report back on my experience with the Roam using that mesh router system instead. 

Airgetlam

As I’ve said before in other threads, I’ve tended to use Spectrum devices as a gateway, providing an Internet signal to my own router via the WAN port, and then essentially turning off everything WiFi related on the Spectrum, and using my Netgear router. 

The cable based internet signal I got from Spectrum in CA was good enough, but their WiFi hardware was the pits, mostly, I assume, due to penny pinching bean counters. I had much better control using my own router. 

I did the same thing when in TX, and on AT&T’s DSL. I’m now doing the same thing using T-Mobile in WA. I just don’t trust devices provided by services. If you’re not stretching your WiFi system much, they’re probably OK. But Sonos exercises the networking standards fairly well, and I prefer a ‘designed for’ device, rather than a ‘cobbled together’ device. 

Bruce

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