Best wired / wifi / mesh configuration for a Google Wifi Network

[Sylvain_Cortes]

Hello,

as i am not able to reply on this original post anymore: https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Wifi/Connect-in-wired-Ethernet-the-Wan-of-a-secondary-Go... I start a new one.

@olavrb  @MichaelP @LovelyM 

I'm reopening the topic for some additional information. I've just switched to Fibre Internet and need to optimize my configuration. I'm currently experiencing big, unexplained drops in throughput (on my local network, not the Internet) and I think this is due to my actual configuration.

I have a first question: in config #2 (Check the red square below on the picture), we said that the Google Wifi no longer participates in the Mesh, but we do agree that it's possible to have devices connected via Wifi (but in a unitary/direct way, without Mesh) to this module, and as it's connected to the Internet network, these devices will be connected to the network?

Second question: isn't the ideal situation to have an Ethernet network (connected to the LAN leg of the Wifi Google gateway) and in // Wifi google terminals that do ONLY the Wifi Mesh part?

Thanks for your answers.

Sylvain

[MichaelP · Accepted solution]

Hello @Sylvain_Cortes 

In answer to your first question, yes – while the wired secondary in #2 ignores the wireless mesh interconnect used by the wireless secondaries in #1, they are all still on the same network. All of the devices here are bridged to each other through different paths. So, WiFi devices can connect to any of these (the primary/gateway, or #1, #2, or #3), and can get to the internet or to each other. The WiFi mesh used in #1 is only used to link those units to each other and to the primary/gateway. Since #2 (and #3) are connected to the primary via Ethernet, they don't use the WiFi mesh (and, in fact, can't because it would cause a loop in the bridged network).

I don't think I understand your second question. Can you rephrase it with more detail?

This diagram depicts a rather complex setup, and I'm not a fan of some of the details here (for example, I would swap the switch with Google WiFi #3). If this is what your current network actually looks like, and you're having issues, I would break it down (temporarily, for testing) into a simpler setup and verify everything is working well. Then, add one piece at a time and test again. That way, you can get some indication of where the problem may be.

The usual advice applies, though: make sure a mesh test shows a "great" rating for all secondaries, place any wireless-only secondaries no more than one or two rooms away from the primary/gateway, and use only inexpensive, unmanaged Ethernet switches.

I hope some of this helps.

[Sylvain_Cortes]

Thank you @MichaelP MichaelIP for your feedback.

My second point is that after having experimented with several scenarios and having read a lot about the different architecture possibilities, it seems that the best scenario is to disconnect all the Google Wifi from any Ethernet connection (except for the gateway, of course, which is connected with two legs, one on the LAN and one on the WAN) - In other words, have a Wifi Mesh network managed by the Google Wifi and in parallel have the Ethernet network. - Like in this new image: