My Roam (called Vortex) connects to Bluetooth immediately when away from Home with the Sonos Bluetooth ‘Always Auto Connect’ feature - don’t need to manually do anything - it’s all automatic. Maybe an issue with your chosen paired device, or perhaps it’s user error. I have another Roam and that works in the same way too with the Sonos feature enabled. It simply auto-connects over Bluetooth whether I’m away from Home or at Home. The attached shows it working when I’m away from the Home network and no intervention from me. I just simply power on the Roam. 

Sonos Product Managers, maybe introduce a Sonos Roam BT (think: SL line, but you take away home network capability and the need to use the Sonos app)? It might help stop the bloodshed on this thread. Plus, you got a strong audience willing to buy from this conversation alone. I'd buy it, even for the same price, because I solely use my Roam when travelling for the sound quality in a compact package. In other words, I wanted "just a bluetooth speaker" and was willing to throw money at you knowing full well I was going to use roughly 2% of what you painstakingly designed it for. In my mind, what's another $200 when I already spent $20k with you furnishing my home with speakers I've been desperately trying to hide behind couches and picture frames so my wife doesn’t see it?

I know what you're thinking, this probably could be done with an optional software update, but f- that, make that money. I'll be ready to checkout when you introduce it. You're welcome.

I’m thinking you’re perhaps not up-to-date with Sonos current features - just enable Bluetooth Always Auto-Connect in the Sonos App, when away from Home, the Roam will always auto connect to the paired nearby BT device. It’s a feature you will find available in the Sonos Room Settings in the current version of the S2 Sonos App. It makes the Roam work, rather like a BT speaker when out and about.

Now you can go buy your Roam.

Thanks for this and the link to the Support article - much more helpful than the vague and non-descript in-app setting name.

Still kinda wish they didn’t have this option and make a less-functional Roam. I probably would have shelled out $200 to avoid hours of reading to finally make my Roam just a bluetooth speaker. Either way, really appreciate your involvement in the forums and willingness to help out idiots like me. 

Hear! Hear! I have two other Sonos products that work well. But the Roam SL is PURE TRASH. 2/5 times it will not connect to my system. What’s more, when I contact tech support it’s ALWAYS the same response. “Hard Reset the entire device” which obliterates all your settings and registration. I love Sonos, but I hate this Roam SL. 

Completely agree, the Roam  is the worse Alexa / Google / Voice controlled  Smart Speaker I’ve ever owned, terrible connectivity, it disconnects from the app and it’s a hustle to make it play music reliably because even using AirPlay and Bluetooth  the music is cutting out, and forget  about Google assistant compatibility, it never worked for me, forget about Alexa routines and droping  features, they aren’t even supported, Alexa often has connection issues, is slow to respond  and gets stuck, and this never happened to my blue Echo 4th gen which still works absolutely fine,  music stops and skips using Apple Music, and I’m tired of not being able to pair it with Bluetooth using the rear button since the recently released 15.1 update.
Whatever it is, it might be a network problem, it might not, I’m not a technician to solve networking problems and I made a network test: Results?  0 buffering, great video resolution and all other devices work absolutely fine, so no, it’s not a network interference problem, at least that’s what I’ve seen. 
I’ll return the speaker, I’m sad because it sounds amazing, but I’m tired of playing games from  Sonos blaming the network. What a $250 paperweight this is, unfortunately    

Dude!!!! Struggled with all the same issues… I wanted to throw the thing against the wall. And finally after a year… Sonos Support telling me to restart… that just what I did. I restarted with BOSE!! Problem solved! Sonos is pure garbage!! ~Mike USA! 

Absolute Crap!!! Read all these reviews and sympathise with everyone who has had problems! So easy for the Sonos muppets to log in and pretend all is ok and try to trip up frustrated legitimate customers who based their allegiance on the other decent Sonos products that can work very well! ….and I’m sure I’ll get another employee telling me I haven’t given enough information and how wonderful it really is for them ….even though they probably haven’t got one or paid the extortionate money that so many have for what can only be described as a pile of useless crap! 

lIts the last time I rely on Sonos ….Bose all the way in future!

Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.

I have over 40 devices spread across 2 houses. I never understood the purpose of the Roam. A solution in search of a problem. Better bluetooth speakers are available for the price. It doesn't have the greatest reviews either with many people calling it unreliable, charging issues, etc.

i agree. I spent at least 20 minutes trying to get this piece of crap to pair with my system (of three other Sonos products) and it rarely works. I’m glad it’s not just me.

The Sonos roam is a piece of * that frequently loses connection to network. It gets worse with every app update. One of my roam speakers will not reset no matter how long you press the play pause button. If you like constantly trying to reconnect the speakers to your network or like the ability to not make a stereo pair on Bluetooth then this is the speaker for you, if not look elsewhere!!! By the way, I did not see anything on product packaging about issues with dual band networks, from what I read here and elsewhere packaging should have warning about connection issues with these routers because if it did I never would have purchased!!!

*Moderator Note: Modified in accordance with the Community Code of Conduct.*

Totally agree. Whenever I want to add the Roam to my Sonos ecosystem, 50% of the time I have to plug it in and reset it, even if it’s at full power. Even then it takes five minutes of fiddling before it deigns to make an appearance in the Sonos app. The Roam is without a doubt the least reliable Bluetooth speaker I’ve owned in the last fifteen years, and I’ve probably had twenty different speakers. A $20 JBL is more dependable than the Sonos Roam, and at the price point of the Roam, I could buy ten of them. How this made it out of beta testing is beyond me.

(and don’t get me started on the absurd user interface of beeps and whistles. The blinking white, the blinking orange, the blinking blue lights. Don’t have the manual in your pocket? Too bad. Sonos is too cool to put labels on the buttons or include a key on the product itself.)

Why can’t Sonos just admit they released a garbage product instead of gaslighting their customers?

Utter crap this thing.   Can never hold a connection for more than 6-7 songs. Stops out of nowhere and then my phone just starts playing from its own speaker for no reason.  When this happens only full reset restart fixes the issue.  This happens at least twice a day so not a rare occurrence at all. 

The embarrassment with friends when using this thing since it just can’t play music continously.   Just had a friend pull out a normal BT speaker half the price that connected instantly and never skipped a beat. 

Love the rest of the products I own, but this one’s crap.

It should never have been released in such an utterly broken state. 
 

I cannot stand this piece of junk, and it’s hurt the Sonos brand for all of us that own it.  If it’s not plugged in or on a charger it’s ALWAYS a dead brick

Two years in and loads of updates and they still can’t get it to work half as well as a $50 JBL.  

Just want to pile on with confirmation of what others have said. 

I’m a (borderline annoying, just ask my family and friends) long-time Sonos fanboy with 12 devices spread throughout my house. Eleven of them are amongst the very best pieces of technology I’ve ever owned. Annnnnd then there’s the Roam. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes Bluetooth pairing works great. Sometimes it doesn’t work at all. Sometimes it pairs when I don’t want it to. Even though it spends 98% of its life plugged in on wifi, it refuses to join the network on which its 11 Sonos cousins work flawlessly. The one thing I can count on with Sonos Roam is that, without fail, it will frustrate and disappoint me on a weekly basis. 

My Roam was the last Sonos device I bought a few years ago. In spite of my otherwise amazing experiences with other devices I am hesitant to buy anything new from this company due to my poor experience with the Roam. 

I’ve got two Roams, one of which has been replaced. Spent over four hours one day with no joy, then after another 3 hours got a replacement. Spent another two hours last night on to a specialist/tech support to be told that the fact that I couldn’t get the roams back on line was being looked into, so I would be sent an e-mail when the issues were resolved. I even asked if I could return them and get era100s, obviously paying the difference. I was told that that wasn’t possible, wait for an e-mail, and then the agent cut the conversation after I had pointed out that I could airplay to them, but couldn’t set up a stereo pair, couldn’t set up trueplay, or enable voice assistant. Garbage speakers and not much better support.

I’ve tried so many factory resets, and even have had the speakers sitting next to the router. Might look at other options now.

If your roams work, then I am pleased for you, but if they don’t, join the growing club of disappointment.

I have had my Roam for about two years. It never maintained a consistent connection to the Wi-Fi. I am constantly trying to reconnect. It sits about 10 feet from the router and can’t maintain a connection. And when I try to reconnect it constantly asks me to restart the router. Literally everything else works without issue but this steaming pile of garbage.