topic Re: Google wifi & exsiting router in Nest Wifi

Google wifi & exsiting router

Stevep — Sun, 09 Jan 2022 22:08:58 GMT

So I've just purchase a set of three google wifi things. Really disappointed so far. I previously used a set of tp link s which worked perfectly.

I have the google main router connected vi the WAN to one of my router ethernet ports. Other two via the mesh network. The main internet router is LAN 192.168.1.1. The googles start giving out DHCP from 192.168.86.1

I can't see my NAS drive on the network.

I can no longer connect to half of my network because the main router is using 192.168.1...... where as the googles sit on 192.168.86.1 with their DHCP from 192.168.86..........

Not complete networking expert but how do I get it all 'seeing' each other

Re: Google wifi & exsiting router

MichaelP — Mon, 10 Jan 2022 15:34:54 GMT

Hello @Stevep

The "primary" Google WiFi unit (the one connected via Ethernet to your existing router) is itself also a router (and a firewall) that creates a new "inner" network inside the "outer" network created by your existing router. That's why they are on different IP address ranges and why autodiscovery protocols don't work. If you want everything to be on the same network, then your wired devices will need to be connected through the LAN Ethernet port on the Google WiFi primary so they are part of the same "inner" network as the wireless devices. You may need to pick up an inexpensive (unmanaged) Ethernet switch to make more ports available if you want to connect more than one thing that way. The Google WiFi primary should then be the only thing connected to your "outer" router.

At that point, the question is whether you really still need that outer router or not. It's not the end of the world, but at this point, you will have "double NAT". If the outer router is a combination device from your internet service provider that includes a modem, then you may not be able to eliminate it from the system, but you may be able to put it in "bridge" mode so it is no longer creating an "outer" network, making the Google WiFi primary the only NAT firewall operating. This would eliminate double NAT if you are concerned about that (it's not always an issue, but some gaming applications can have trouble with it, for example).

I hope this helps you understand what's going on.

Re: Google wifi & exsiting router

Jeff — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 20:26:17 GMT

Hi, Stevep.
I just wanted to jump in real fast to see if you saw MichaelP's reply and to see if you still needed some help on this or if you were able to get it sorted out. If you are still needing some help, just let us know and we'll be happy to continue helping.
Thanks.

Re: Google wifi & exsiting router

Stevep — Fri, 14 Jan 2022 23:10:36 GMT

Hi, yes his solution worked perfectly. I just moved my existing switch from router to Google router and its perfect.

Re: Google wifi & exsiting router

Jeff — Mon, 17 Jan 2022 17:57:21 GMT

Awesome, Stevep. Thanks for letting me know.

As we have our solution here, I'll go ahead and close up the thread. If you need anything else in the future, just go ahead and start up a new discussion.

Thanks.