This post relates to issues I have been having with the Nest Doorbell (battery) and the Nest Cam (outdoor or indoor battery) x 2. Essentially, the doorbell and cameras have been suffering the same issues:
- They go offline
- Hard resetting occasionally works before the doorbell, and cameras refuse to complete the setup procedure. All items get stuck on the final part of the installation procedure, i.e., “installing update”. The update process does not get beyond 0%.
I have been through all of the troubleshooting tips Google suggests and have spent hours talking to technical support at Google or through their online chat. One techie from Google logged into my Nest/Google Wifi system to check if that was an issue, and he reported no problems.
I am aware that I am not the only one to have these issues.
My set up
I live in the UK, and my broadband is fibre to the premises (FTTP), and my speed into the house is 1GB, so relatively fast. The FTTP connects to a socket (ONS) provided by my ISP. The ONS connects to a Fritzbox 7530 modem/router. Until recently, the WIFI on the Fritzbox was turned off. I recently enabled it just for 2.4 GHz, and I will explain why below. The Fritzbox connects to a Nest WIFI point and five Google WIFI points. Each point is connected via ethernet to the Nest WIFI via 1GB switches, so I have blanket coverage for WIFI within my house.
Further, in addition to several Home devices and a Nest 1st Generation thermostat, I have five Google Nest Outdoor Cameras (1st generation, wired), two first-generation indoor wired cameras and one Nest Cam (indoor, wired).
I have never had any issues with the Google Nest Outdoor Cameras (1st generation, wired), two first-generation indoor wired cameras and one Nest Cam (indoor, wired). They connect wirelessly and work as they should.
My only issues relate to the Nest Doorbell (battery) and the 2 x Nest Cam (outdoor or indoor battery). I am on my third doorbell and third set of Nest cameras. Google has been very generous in this respect.
Troubleshooting
The troubleshooting steps have included (for all three items):
- Soft resets
- Hard resets
- Removing and re-installing the Google Home App
- Changing to 2.4 GHz
- Moving the items closer to the router and Nest WIFI point.
I have even tried putting the doorbell in my airing cupboard to warm it up in case of a cold temperature issue. I did this even though the cold weather had not been an issue in previous years. The doorbell remains offline!
Sometimes troubleshooting works, but then the problems re-surface. So, last week (w/e April 1st 2023), Google sent me my third set of cameras. The doorbell was in early March. The cameras are now set up, and for now, they work. The doorbell went offline on April 1st.
So, is my setup the issue? I am not technically minded, but given that none of the other Google-related (and Philips Hue) products suffer any problems, and my setup is reasonably fast, so can cope with the demands, I don’t believe so.
Also, I mentioned above switching on the 2.4 GHz connection on my Fritzbox. Since the doorbell was delivered around 15 days ago, I decided to try something different. Those with Google Mesh systems will know they broadcast in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, but there is no way to manually choose which tech connects to which frequency. It is done automatically, and through the Home App, I can see what is connected to 2.4 GHz and what is connected to 5 GHz. Unsurprisingly all of my cameras and the doorbell showed as connecting to 2.4 GHz.
Nonetheless, having switched on the 2.4 GHz on my Fritzbox, I connected the doorbell to the Fritzbox, and for the last 15 days, I had no problems. Then the doorbell shows as offline on April 1st! Nothing else is connected to the Fritzbox, so bandwidth etc., can’t be an issue.
As I said, I contacted support at Google and spent many hours trying to get a solution. Everyone I have spoken to or chatted to has been helpful but to a point. They take you through steps already taken (i.e., troubleshooting); sometimes, things work, and other times they don’t. As you may have guessed, more often than not, troubleshooting ends up with the issue I first outlined above, i.e. cameras and the doorbell getting stuck in the setup process.
No one at Google support appears remotely interested in resolving the technical issues – or so it seems. I do not know what they do after each call. I have read endless forum posts (which the moderators seem to want to close off quickly!), so it is clear others have the same issue and have not found any solutions.
I would be interested to know what steps others have taken and if anything works, no matter how short-term. Perhaps we can pool our collective knowledge.
I am reluctant to try resetting the doorbell in case it gets stuck during the setup process because it still functions as a doorbell, records video, and allows me to view history. However, it does not show a live view, and for the moment, I can live with that. The same comment applies to the cameras when they show as offline.
Here is the thing. Even when the Google Home App shows an item as offline, the connection details on the App show that the offline item is, in fact, online and indicates a solid connection to WIFI and on 2.4 GHz. The same comment applies to the Fritzbox and the doorbell. That shows as connected, has a strong signal, and identifies the IP address and other technical data from the doorbell.
As I said at the outset, I am not technically minded, but it seems this is a Google-side issue. Are there problems with their servers? Is the Google Home App broken?
NB: One thing I forgot to mention is that I tried replacing my Fritzbox with the router that Vodaphone provided to see if the issues were down to the Fritzbox, and the same issues occurred with the Vodaphone router.
UPDATE: 16 04 2023 - The two cameras and the doorbell no longer allow me to view history. They stopped doing so at roughly the same point. Is anyone from Google going to bother commenting? There has to be a connection between (a) the issue only affecting the newer types of cameras and doorbells; (b) products failing to work at the same time.
Thank you for reading.
