Ability to Add Sonos Roam to Multiple Sonos WiFi Systems?

@James Scott,

Imagine you initially had your main Sonos system setup at Home with the Sonos Roam included, you simply add your ‘other’ WiFi network to that Roam for your ‘other’ location a mile away.

Once that’s done, you can then add the Sonos speakers you have at that ‘other’ location to your Roam, so now all devices are on the same controller/system/HH, otherwise you would end-up having to install all your music services, favourites, playlists all over again if you decided to start with a brand new Sonos system/household at the other location. .. Doing the setup this way, starting with the Roam, you just add the speakers at that other location to the Roam …and only ever set up everything once only.

Hope that helps you to see the easiest way to go about these things … I suspect you chose to setup a new Sonos system in each location and install your music services twice, effectively having two separate Sonos Households, within the same account, and having to then maintain each of those systems entirely separately. It needs to be one system spread across different locations.

So the problem in this case is the Roam will connect to wifi but not to a another household.

Ken, Thank you so much for your help and explanation. We now seem to have gotten to the bottom of this!

As I understand I have one Sonos system / account and have added / registered all my Sonos speakers to the same Sonos account  / system. I can see them all my Sonos products in my Sonos user interface. I simply named the Sonos elements in order to identify their physical location on the single system. However, each distinct wifi system has its own SSID for security and network reasons which are beyond my control (eg at the office).

I called the very efficient Sonos helpline who confirmed that the Roam and Move speakers are not designed to move between separate wifi Networks without resetting the Roam each time. After trying to solve the issue as you have already described they understood my confusion and disappointment. They suggested a work around as you mentioned to update the Network via Settings but the Roam is not detected over wifi in my second wifi location and they said for the time being there is nothing more that they can do - there is currently no available Sonos update to remedy the situation.

To conclude : Rome and Move are not ‘moveable’ speakers over different wifi networks, only over bluetooth. Sonos does not make this clear in the product’s marketing and user manuals. As consumers we are lead to believe as their name suggests they will roam and move over bluetooth and wifi in different network locations (eg wifi in a hotel or office). Sonos’s marketing of these products is at best imprecise and confusing, at worst misleading.  In my opinion a class action for misrepresentation would not be a forgone conclusion, although damages would be minimal. I have been a loyal customer for over 10 years and I feel badly let down. Whatever, Sonos need to clear up this confusion and provide clear information to existing and potential customers regarding their only partial ‘roam’ and ‘move’ products as they are confusingly named and marketed.

John B, You are correct and yes I wasn’t serious. I am just frustrated to have just wasted time and energy trying to figure this out. I’m a plain, run of the mill user and not a network specialist but my different network set ups are straightforward and maintained by a professional. I really think that the Sonos marketing and guides regarding these two products is confusing at best.  The Sonos helpline have confirmed that these products do not ‘roam’ over wifi between different networks (only via bluetooth) - so why they don't explain this in the product information is beyond me.

No, as I understand it they can move between different wifi networks, but not between different households. The speakers in your home and the speakers at the office are different households on the same account.

According to my experience (confirmed by Sonos) the Roam and Move cannot move between different networks (SSIDs) over wifi without a reset each time. So if each ‘household’ or ‘location’ has its own separate network with a different SSID and password a reset will be required at each different location to connect via wifi. It has been suggested that a possible work around would be set the same SSID and PW for each network but this is not always possible.

Please add this. “Roam” in the name you’d think this already existed.

It would be free advertising if as you travel you can show off the Roam across networks easily.

Did Sonos ever figure this out?  I have a Sonos network at both homes. Would understand if you were trying to jump on someone else’s system or Wi-Fi but if I’ve paid for multiple systems, it’s pretty silly to not have that option with a portable speaker. May as well have just bought a cheap one

You have two Sonos households on one account? You could possibly make them into one household so the Roam could be used at both locations. Others might comment on how.

Thanks for the reply! They are set up as two different households, but both linked to the same main Sonos account. I’m not sure how I could make them into one household, since I would need to be on both networks simultaneously to do so… I think. Would love to know if I’m incorrect or there is a work around.