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Adding a second nest router, will it give me redundancy if one router loses power?

gfb03001
Community Member

Hello, as the title says if I add a second router to my mesh would that give me connection redundancy if I were to lose power to one router? I am doing a lot of work around my property and I frequently need to cut power to specific locations but not the entire house. If I were to install 2 routers and one were to lose power would the other take over as the primary router and provide service while the other is offline? or am I just better off moving the router each time I need to cut power to  its current location? Thank you! 

4 REPLIES 4

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

Hello @gfb03001 

The Google/Nest WiFi system requires one "primary" unit to be connected to your internet service via Ethernet. Any other units will be "secondary" (mesh) units, and they cannot be connected directly to your external internet service. By default, they talk to the primary via a wireless mesh connection, but if they do support Ethernet, they can be connected to the primary unit's LAN Ethernet port (so they are still part of the same "inner" network created by the primary). Point being, the primary unit is required for the system to function. However, if you have multiple secondary units, disconnecting one of them won't impact the primary or any other secondary units. If they are close enough, clients should connect to the other secondary units (or the primary) in that case. I hope this helps clarify how the system works and what the impacts are of losing power to primary vs secondary units. Personally, I have my units all on UPS to survive (relatively brief) power outages. I think I can last about an hour before losing my internet connection.

EdwardT
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi folks,

 

@MichaelP, thanks for the help as always!

 

@gfb03001, how's it going with your Google Wifi? Still need our help?

 

Thanks,

Edward

 

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, gfb03001.

I just wanted to check in and see if you still needed some help on this. If you're needing some input, just let us know.

Thanks,

- Jeff

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey, everyone.
It looks like we've slowed down here. We'll be closing up the thread unless anyone else has any input or needs anything else. If so, just let me know and we can keep this open a bit longer.
Thanks,
- Jeff