About ready to give up

[jonstrong]

I'm SO disappointed in Google WiFi. It was rock solid, if just "somewhat speedy" for several years. Then the instability started in September, and I've been caught up in all their issues since. They keep pushing new firmware, and the experience keeps changing radically. It might be ok for two weeks, then become unusable, then fantastic for a week, then dead. I check online in the support forums here, and I've shared my experience a few times. What's incredible to me is how the experience was rock solid for years, and starting in September just a couple of months ago it's been fluctuating all over the place.

Without me changing ANYTHING, my speeds over WiFi might vary from day to day from 600 Mbps to 300, then down to 25, and just now crawling at about 5Mbps. Tonight it also kept dropping device connections, I had to reconnect various devices to it...what a horrible experience. I'm just amazed that this seems to be such a mystery to Google engineers that the issue simply can't seem to be resolved.

I have a gigabit FiOS service and verify the speed from that gateway. WiFi is turned off from the gateway and my Nest router is plugged into the FiOS gateway LAN port. No double natting, no competing WiFI channels / frequency bands. A few weeks ago I was getting 650 Mbps. Then for the last couple of weeks it's dropped to about 300Mbps, but it seemed stable. Tonight -- all my IOT devices have been experiencing dropped connections, stuttering (TV over Wifi was awful tonight). Right now the best WiFi speed I can get -- sitting about 8 feet from the Nest Router that's plugged into a 900Mbps gateway (verified), is about 45 Mbps.

I've power cycled everything - Nest Router, 3 Nest points (2 of them are actually Nest routers acting as nodes), I've turned WiFi on my phone (Pixel 7 Pro) off and on to make sure the phone is connected to the base router I'm sitting so close to. Still -- 45 or 50 Mbps at best.

So amazingly disappointing.

[AbigailF]

Hey jonstrong,

Thanks for posting — let's see what's going on.

How many devices are dropping from the network? Also, do you have any paused devices?

Give these steps a try:

Make sure that there is minimal to no interference (concrete, bulletproof glass, metal, mirror, etc.) and the points are no more than two rooms apart.

Remove any special characters in your network name and password.

Turn off IPv6.

Change your DNS server into 8.8.8.8 on the primary and 8.8.4.4 on the secondary server. Hit the save/ floppy disk icon on the upper right.

Unplug the power from your Google Wifi devices for 2 minutes.

If the issue persists, try factory resetting your network.

Let us know how it goes.

Best,
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hi jonstrong,

We’d like to check in again in case you have any further questions or concerns. Feel free to reply to this thread and we’ll help you out.

Regards, 
Abi

[jonstrong]

Hi Abi -

First reaction to your comment - a big sigh, shaking my head. I appreciate the challenge you have in trying to support a myriad of remote and anonymous users, but this advice is exactly the same boilerplate that's been shared with virtually everyone posting here. I've tried it all and much more.

For reference: I've got well over 30 years professional IT experience, in all roles from developer / architect through CIO / CTO, and I'm currently CTO at a rather well known educational institution, leading an IT organization that supports many many thousands of users. At home, I've been through virtually all generations of home Wi-Fi, I understand the technology, understand MESH, understand network.

I've reported details on my situation that, if you were to take the time to read them, would make it clear that nothing you've suggested is relevant to what I'm reporting. I've had Google WiFi for several years - and it was FINE all that time, if never spectacular. I replaced my Google WiFi units with Nest, hoping the better transmitter and antennae in the new units would improve throughput. It was stable, but still never spectacular.

In September the whole thing took a nosedive. The system became unreliable, dropped connections, and wound up horribly slow. I searched the web thoroughly, re-read Google documentation, and decided to try simplifying my configuration, bringing it back down to 4 units -- all Nest branded devices now. I made sure the physical configuration was appropriate: Base router on the first floor, elevated, no metal / concrete / etc between it and the next WiFi node. The physical layout should be ideal: no more than 2 rooms apart, no heavy furniture or obstructions in between, no competing electrical / RF components. For a short time, this was fantastic: I was getting over 300Mbps over WiFi pretty much everywhere in the house. At my desk, one of the wireless MESH nodes (actually Nest router acting as a point) sits nearby, and I have an ethernet cable from it to my work laptop. For a few glorious weeks I was seeing speeds of 600 to 650 Mbps at my laptop from this setup.

Then it all collapsed again without me touching my home configuration at all. Google apparently pushed yet another firmware update (several?), and performance has been a disaster again ever since. WiFi speeds that had been over 300Mbps barely hit 100Mbps now if I'm lucky. The connection at my desktop that had been 650Mbps is all over the map. On occasion is hits about 500 Mbps down and up, but most days it's back in the 250 Mbps range. EACH day that I check this, I also check the speed from my gigabit FiOS connection to my base Nest router -- and those speeds are solid in the 800 to 900 Mbps range, consistently. But that NEVER translates to consistent or sufficiently fast speeds across the MESH.

PLEASE - before copy/pasting the standard "solutions", read the details of what we've been posting. The major variable in all of this truly seems to be the firmware that's been getting pushed to our devices. Many of us here really do know what we're doing and have serious knowledge of the technology.  Please treat us accordingly. To date, I have see NO information at all from Google acknowledging the issue, what the theory is behind the problems, and what the attempted solutions are. The only output from Google seems to be "advice" that suggests you think the issue is really due to us placing our nodes in the wrong place or using a slow DNS server. Well...that's simply not accurate.

I really hope we can get some more informative and helpful input from you or the rest of the support team. After years of having been a loyal and happy fan and supporter, I'm ready to give up on Nest WiFi. Please give me a reason to believe in this system again!

[djg5027]

Jon,

You’re not alone. I’ve been experiencing literally the same thing.

I’ve owned my Google Nest Wifi for over a year now, and in the first year it worked beautifully. Amazing speeds, amazing coverage, no issues. Since September, I haven’t gone a week without some inexplicable issue happening with my wifi. Whether it’s dropped connections, sporadic changes in speed, points unable to connect to main router, or the router unable to connect to the internet. Each week is a new problem that I spend hours - if not days - trying to fix.

I have Comcast as my service provider, and normally I’d blame them as they’d usually be the culprit. But in all my efforts to fix this, Comcast was the most helpful. The not only checked the fiber connection into the house to ensure no breaks or loss in service - but they also took the time to rewire the patch panel, each coax wall outlet, and provided new CAT6 Ethernet cables. We tested the coax at the wall, and tested a direct wired connection to the modem - each performed flawlessly and returned gigabit speeds. But when using the Google Nest Wifi, I’d get 300Mbps at the main router, 50Mbps at the points (on a good day).

After numerous amounts of resets, the problem still persists. It’s gotten to the point where the router cannot negotiate an IP Address or Internet connection when plugged directly into my modem. The same modem it’s been connecting since I purchased the Google Nest Wi-Fi. Right now I’m using an old Apple AirPort Extreme (wifi off) to connect to my modem, then connect to the Google Nest Wi-Fi via wired connection to broadcast the Wi-Fi signal throughout my home.

I’ve read through multiple forums and community sites - Reddit posts and blogs. Many people have reported the same issue, with no one receiving any actual help or acknowledgment from Google. One thing each had in common was that the user noticed the issue after their nests updated to firmware version 14150.43.80 or version 14150.376.32.

Two software updates that were months apart garnered the same reaction depending on the model. Earlier models were affected by “…43.80”,  newer models were affected by “…376.32”.

A lot of those who reported the issue only found resolution by buying a different mesh system, moving away from Google Nest. I’ve hit the same wall. I made this post simply to let you and everyone else that may come across it - that there is no solving this. Google has ignored this issue, and they will likely continue to ignore it. Maybe because they’re trying to force everyone into the new Nest Pro suite of products…or it could simply be because it’s Google. Everything they touch eventually dies. Some faster than others. I could list all the products and services that they’ve scrapped over the years to make my point, but I really only need to list one….Stadia.

Please don’t waste anymore of your time on this. Buy Netgear’s Orbi system and don’t look back. I’ll see you on the other side. ✌️

[jonstrong]

Thanks for the validation... this is SO disappointing. I really had high hopes for this. I have been looking at Orbi - just wishing their 6E option wasn't so wildly expensive. But at this point it might be worth it. 😞

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry to hear that you're still having an issue with your Nest Wifi devices. We'd like to take a deeper look into this — could you fill out this form and let us know once you're done?

Thanks,
Mel

[Jhonleanmel]

Hey there jonstrong,

We got your form — thanks for filling it out. Keep your lines open as our team will reach out to you via email anytime soon. 

Also, please continue the conversation there as this thread will be locked after 24 hours.

Cheers, 
Mel