Roam setup nightmares.

When you add a functionality like bt and advertise it as a bt speaker feature ontop, it's unreasonable for a new customer to expect it to work as such is silly.

To defend it ontop and not see the customer benefit to do this with no loss/sacrifice in product quality/cost or use is silly.

I think I'm done here. 

It feels like I'm making good points to a bunch of Sonos fan boys / Sonos employees that can't give one (good) reason for this

There’s no denying this would benefit some, but Sonos must have had good reason to do this. I do not see why this is such a big problem though. Why be so passionate about a one time only set up?

I suppose that users who have previously purchased Bluetooth only products and ROAM is their first SONOS product are surprised by the requirement to load the SONOS App. Long time SONOS users would expect to use the SONOS App to integrate ROAM with their existing SONOS system and would be confused and upset if ROAM seemed to be a Bluetooth only product. I’m not sure if there is a “win” situation here because the issue is so “obvious” to both sides.

Full disclosure, while Bluetooth capability came bundled with my pad, phone, and recently my new computer, MOVE was my first Bluetooth enabled player. As a longtime SONOS user, installing both MOVE and ROAM seemed straight forward. I have only used MOVE and ROAM’s Bluetooth in a “kick the tires” setting and it seems to work OK. I now have a Bluetooth headset that I use regularly and I’ll say that it can be frustrating to use. ROAM is a much friendlier Bluetooth player.

It is unbelievable to me that people are defending Sonos here. Like others, I just bought the roam “bluetooth” speaker via amazon and like others I am traveling and don’t have a private wi-fi connection. It’s 2021 - something advertised as bluetooth should be able to connect to my phone straight out of the box via bluetooth. Period. At *most* I might have to download an app to control it. 

Things that can connect to my phone via bluetooth straight out of the box: My Denon amplifier. My subwoofer. My TV. My shower speaker. My computer. My Car. MY MOTHER FREAKING TOOTHBRUSH. 

Things that can’t connect to my phone via bluetooth straight out of the box: Sonos Roam. 

And I am absolutely going to crap myself if anyone suggests this speaker is of sufficient quality to be used in a home theater system and therefore networking must be the top priority. Not that I’ve heard it, mind you, but first of all a simple look at the specs will tell you this is a reasonably nice portable speaker that has NO place is even an entry level home audio system. Secondly, it’s a false dichotomy to presume that a “wireless speaker first” approach means bluetooth has to be a nightmare to setup as has been argued. 

I am returning this hunk of junk having never been able to use it. Some of you would have me believe that’s just because I’m just a bad customer. Let that concept sink in for a minute. A bad paying customer. Yikes! Sonos has been teetering on the edge of bankruptcy for a while now. Gee, I wonder why. 

I’m also surprised by people defending Sonos here. Unless there’s a security concern with allowing people to connect to bluetooth without pairing via the app first, I don’t understand the logic.

Being able to pair without the app/network while traveling is key. Case in point: I knew of this issue and prepared for the situation by setting up Bluetooth on mine & my partner’s phone, but we’re now visiting family and are the only ones who can connect to the device. (Note that this behavior dose not mirror networked functionality in any way, since anyone connected to my home WiFi can stream to Sonos via AirPlay 2 regardless of whether they have the Sonos app.)

Unless it’s impossible to address this issue due to technical limitations and/or security concerns, I see no reason not to. I doubt making bluetooth connection easier would undermine Sonos’s main business as a network speaker company. If anything, it could help draw in new customers by introducing them to the ecosystem.

“Connect to bluetooth without pairing via the App first”? - Note you only need register the speaker one-time only to an online Sonos account, then anyone in proximity with access to the speaker can connect to it over Bluetooth - exactly the same as you would pair every other Bluetooth speaker - you just have to disconnect it from one Bluetooth device and pair it with another. The paired mobile device (as an example) doesn’t even need the Sonos App installed to Bluetooth-pair to a registered Roam.

You must be doing something wrong here - any member of your family can connect to your Roam over Bluetooth. Disconnect the speaker in your mobile device Bluetooth settings and switch it to pairing mode to allow a relative to pair with the speaker using their transmitter device. (Mobile/Tablet/PC/TV etc.)

A registered Sonos Roam can behave almost like every other Bluetooth speaker - I think you have perhaps misunderstood how to operate the speaker in this instance - there is quite a lot of information of how to use this speaker in Bluetooth/WiFi mode etc on this forum, YouTube videos and through various online searches. 

@Cranial 

Maybe see the  Sonos Support document linked below. It details how to Bluetooth pair your Roam to ‘different’ devices. Hope that assists…

https://support.sonos.com/s/article/4989

Nightmares all around is so right :-( Already boxed it back up this morning and returning this POS tomorrow.

Got it for my wife for X-mas and wasted most of a day trying everything I could find on these forums where nothing worked. Factory resets, etc. etc. Never ever had so many issues during basic setup, staying on the network, keeping any reasonable battery life, on & on. Yes, I know about the power saving feature in the app.  All it did was cause it to completely drop off the app needing a factory reset to have it return. 

I am very technically savvy and have eight other different Sonos speakers, being a loyal customer dating back as long as they have been around. Never ever had so many issues during basic setup, staying on the network, keeping any livable battery power on & on. Can’t get over how they released such an awful product not ready for market. 

My only question now is how to clean up the Roam entry in my system listing. Just states ‘offline’ now.  Read someplace a factory reset would work but guess not.  When I want it gone, of course it’s there.  LOL

The now offline Roam device will disappear after 72 hours if it’s not connected again. You can force it to disappear sooner by rebooting all your other devices and the router, as well as force closing the Sonos App. HTH

I too was just bitten by this problem.  I have been a Sonos user for 18 years!  Just grabbed a Roam and sent it to my son in college - he and we were excited but then I got texts about what a royal PIA the thing is to connect to BT.  I guess I made the assumption that a BT speaker with the form factor of the Roam - could connect to BT right out of the box.  Even having read reviews before purchasing, none said,  be sure you have a private wifi to set up etc before you try to use BT on this small BT speaker. 

VERY BAD Sonos!  

Question - can a person use the Wifi hotspot on their iPhone to setup it up the first time?  Same iPhone would be running the just downloaded Sonos app.  ??