I recently had need to change my wifi identity and ran in to an issue when trying to reconnect Google Nest devices using the new wifi name. I fully expected that it would be necessary to reset these devices because there is no way to change the wifi they are connected to through the app.
In my home I have the Nest Thermometer, the Nest Doorbell (wired) and 2 Nest Security Cameras with flood lights.
What I discovered was that I could get the thermostat to reconnect but none of the other devices would connect. The app would appear to go through the motions of finding the device and trying to connect. However, without more descriptive messages or a proper log (accessible log) there was no way to really know what was happening.
So, I went back through the steps and examined each to first make sure that I wasn't making any stupid errors. No errors made. Then I tested the network connectivity near each of these devices to make sure that there was a strong signal, no interference found.
I then spent nearly 2 hours with Google Support trying to see if they could figure it out or at least offer ideas on what I should look for. Zip! The only thing they did was refer me back to the instructions for resetting the device.
https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9252162?hl=en-AU#zippy=%2Cnest-cam-indoor-wired
After taking the night to sleep on it, I looked at my router configuration. The cameras with flood lights were initially installed and configured in February of this year; the doorbell had been in place for a few years already.
While I had only changed the name of the wifi network, it turns out that Verizon had made some changes after the installation which impacts the installation of these devices.
If you have the Verizon G3100 router, there is a new setting that allows devices to switch between the 2.4 GHz and 5GHz bands. This is intended to improve the performance of those devices that can handle these bands. The setting is called "Self-Organizing Network (SON)". This new setting is ON by default.
However, in order to connect and install your new or existing Google Nest doorbell and security cameras you need to first disable this setting in the router's admin page. Once the devices are connected and you are able to access them through the app you can go back to this configuration setting and turn it back on.
Hope this helps!
