nest 2nd gen doorbell cam repeated wifi outages in hurricane land--terrible product!!!

[valc22]

I had the Nest 2nd gen doorbell cam professionally installed by ADT in Sept 2024. We had 3 hurricanes right after and the wifi tower was dead, no power for days. Went to reset everything and it was a disaster. Had to delete the Google Home app and re-download it anew with a new fsctory reset of the doorbell. Took me 2 days to get the thing pried off the wall---so I called ADT again to come out and help. The tech had to do the factory reset again, I had to create a new Google home app user and name, after deleting the app and re-downloading it again, and now here we go again....lots of tropical thunderstorms have fried my router/wifi so I got a new one again at Xfinity and the doorbell cam had to be factory reset by me again and I cannot put in the new wifi--I kept the same network name and password but it will not sync with my phone. This device is such a weak piece of garbage!! so badly configured and engineered!!! and totally incompatible with hurricane or tropical storm wifi /power outages like FLORIDA, the 3rd most populous state!!!

[valc22]

I'm going to update this by saying that you literally have to ram a flat head screwdriver into the top of the doorbell and then pry down to get it off the brackets--do not disconnect the wires--then using your 2.5xmag readers locate the TINIEST pinhole, bend a paperclip and jam the tip into the hole  continuously for 15 secs , do not release it--listen for the little jungles then the yellow light, while looking at the front light below the camera--it has to flash blue--THEN you can start sync ing your phone--it works best if you the QR code, it was not taking the 6 digit product code manually so literally have to photograph the QR code while quickly holding the doorbell in your other hand while the light is flashing blue--who created this POS device with incredibly difficult resets? you have to change the app to drive wifi changes through the app and put the reset where the crack at the top flathead screwdriver will go--NO THIEF IS GOING TO STAND THERE AND DO THIS!!!! put the reset button at the top FFS!!!! this is a disastrously designed anti-human doorbell from hell!!! WWhen the next hurricane comes I am going to let this die and recommend that NOBODY EVER GET THIS!!!!

[GabrielaG]

Hi @valc22,

Thanks for reaching out to the community. I'm sorry to hear your Nest Doorbell (2nd gen) is having repeated WiFi outages after the hurricane. I understand how frustrating this situation might be. I appreciate your effort in troubleshooting and I'd be glad to share more details with you.

We are always here to improve our products. Please consider sharing your thoughts directly with our development team through this feedback form. Your input will help us prioritize features and ensure that we're meeting the needs of our diverse user base.

Thank you @MplsCustomer for your help.

Feel free to keep us posted if you have more questions.

Best regards,

Gabriela

[valc22]

The Nest and Google teams need to get together and read thru all of my comments and replies in threads--y'all assume this gets installed once and it's done. WRONG. When hurricanes hit all power and wifi goes dead, sometimes for days. THIS HAPPENS IN FLORIDA EVERY YEAR SOMETIMES 3X IN ONE YEAR.  I am on my 3rd new wifi tower in less than 1 year. Yes, same network name and password, it does not matter. The newer towers have to be synced with the Nest doorbell de novo. This doorbell is supremely difficult to reset, having to pry it off the wall with a flat head screwdriver poked in at the top, and the "pinhole"--seriously? a bent paperclip?? I felt like MacGyver. Yes probably before all of you were even born. This has to become easier to install and reset, you need to think of the customer doing this..... I will never again get this nor endorse it. A friend down the street has an old ADT no-name doorbell cam that has never crashed , it just resets itself and no hard resets needed. 

[MplsCustomer]

@valc22 

If your Wi-Fi router gets fried again, set the network name (SSID) and password on your new router/modem to the same values used on your old router, and you won't have to do a factory reset on your Google Nest cameras and doorbells.  That's what we did when we got a new Xfinity router/modem a couple of years ago, and our Google Nest cameras, doorbells, and Nest Hubs reconnected without any updates.  It's Google Nest's first recommendation here:

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9223711

[valc22]

Thanks! but I did that already since it was my 3rd wifi tower in a year, been to this rodeo already...same network name and password and it wouldn't sync with 5x attempts so then I decided to reset everything--  I reset the wifi tower, then uninstalled the doorbell from the Google Home, then did a hard factory reset on the doorbell. This took all afternoon. It's a cowardly technology and I cannot endorse for hurricane/tropical storm areas.