Adding a second Next Wifi Router to my mesh.

[RandyMcLovin]

Question.

I currently have a Nest Wifi and one point at the back of my house.  My house is cabled with ethernet in each room. Our walls are pretty thick, so wifi range is limited in some rooms, especially at the front.  If I add another Point at the front, it'll be better, but still limited in bandwidth.

I want to increase the wifi range in the front rooms, and add another Nest Wifi router connected by ethernet to my main Nest Wifi Router.  Essentially in bridge mode?  

At the moment, my connections are --> NBN HFC Connection Box --> Nest WIFI router --> Ethernet Switch --> Cabled Devices 

I'd like to add the new Router to the switch, will this work, and use the same Mesh network?  

Cheers in advance.

[MichaelP · Accepted solution]

Hello @RandyMcLovin 

Yes, you can add a Nest WiFi Router unit as a wired secondary/point by connecting it to your existing Ethernet switch. Also, yes, it will extend your existing network (same SSID, same password, transparent hand-off between access points, etc.). A couple things to keep in mind:

1. When a secondary is wired, it does not extend the wireless mesh to more distant wireless-only secondary access points. It sounds like this will not impact your system, but I wanted to make it clear.
2. As long as your Ethernet switch is a simple, unmanaged model, you shouldn't have any issues. However, if it's a smart/managed switch, you may need to perform more configuration to make things work with wired secondary Nest WiFi Router units.

I would buy a new Nest WiFi Router unit and set it up as a wireless point near the primary first. Then, after it's up and running and has had a chance to update to the latest firmware, unplug it and connect it to the Ethernet switch. Let it power up and then check the details for it in the Google Home app to ensure the connection type shows as "wired". Run a mesh test and make sure it shows "great".

For more details, here's a support page: https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7215624?hl=en 

[RandyMcLovin]

Thanks MichaelP, much appreciated!