Sonos Roam connectivity.

  • 20 July 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 133 views

I do feel for the numerous individuals that have struggled to get their lovely new purchase of a Sonos Roam up and running! I purchased a Sonos Roam and a Sonos One at the same time and I am a new user to the Sonos range. I’m retired but by no means incapable as IT was part of my daily work so I’m somewhat familiar with setting up home and office networks. The Sonos one was a complete breeze to set up on my home network. Great sound quality and user friendly.

However the Roam is a totally different beast. You develop lots of patience helping individuals with their computer problems and boy I needed it with the Roam! Suffice to say having tried every logical avenue and followed every instruction I was unable to get Roam to talk to my network and it stalled always part way through the Sonos App setup process. I talked at length to Sonos support twice they too were unable to get the Roam setup to work. Support staff diligently worked their way through each step ( which I had already done many many times) it’s part of the process I know, but their only solution was to go into my router and make changes to my system there. This is where I drew the line! It was pretty obvious to me a product issue and not my router. None and I mean none of any of my other bluetooth enabled devices including speakers have had problems and connected instantly via wifi to my home network (this includes my Sonos One purchase :-) ).

I have deliberately kept jargon out of this post as the average consumer should expect to be able to connect such a device without much difficulty and without the need for a PhD in IT. I haven’t gone into all the issues I encountered (it’s all on file with Sonos support) there’s no need, it seems other consumers have already covered it here.

My Roam is now back at the retailer I bought it from and my purchase price is safely back in the bank where it belongs.

My personal thoughts on the Roam….I think it should be back to the drawing board. Developers have over simplified the exterior (buttons hard to see) and under simplified the interior tech. Think long and hard and do your research before diving in!


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1 reply

Userlevel 7
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Hi @CBenf 

Welcome to the Sonos Community!

I’m sorry to hear you had such a bad experience with getting your Roam set up.

I won’t suggest any possible solutions as you’re clearly past that point. I would like to point out, however, that the reason that your router has adjustable settings is, in part, so that it can be somewhat tailored to specific use cases and their needs, and those needs are often dictated by the devices intended to be on the network. In addition, not all routers are configured in the same way from the factory (and nor can they be, possessing different features from each other). Adjusting settings on a router, therefore, is completely reasonable - especially as Sonos makes use of your network in ways that many other devices do not.

Of course, it may have simply been a fault in the particular unit you purchased - I would certainly expect a Roam to connect successfully to the same network as a One does. Had technical support eventually come to the same conclusion after excluding other possibilities, they would have been happy to replace the unit for you.

I’m glad to hear that you were easily able to receive a refund, and that you are enjoying your Sonos One! Thank you for taking the time out of your day to leave feedback here despite no longer seeking assistance.