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Can I use a 2nd Nest Wifi Router to act as a Point?

krizcrdf
Community Member

Hi, I read somewhere that you can use a 2nd router as a point. I have tried multiple times (and by multiple I mean 30+ times) to setup the new Google Nest Router but selecting Google Nest Point in the Google Home app setup so that I can install it as a point and it keeps trying to connect it as router and it gives me an error message "Connection failed" I assume because I don't have the 2nd Nest Router connected to my internet provider's router via ethernet. Our main Nest router is in the garage because that's where the internet provider installed the router. I have multiple points all over the house but my house is too big and I thought by adding another router acting as a point in the middle of the house, the speed would improve. What am I doing wrong?

8 REPLIES 8

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

Hello @krizcrdf 

You should be able to add a new Nest WiFi Router as a secondary/point, and you should not connect it via Ethernet when doing that. If you've started that process using Ethernet in the past, you might need to do a factory reset of that unit to get it back to a known ready-for-setup state to try again.

That said, I'm not an expert on the sorts of issues that crop up during initial setup. What I mostly wanted to discuss is the implications of adding more points to an existing system. Having your primary/router unit in the garage is very much non-optimal. You really want that primary to be relatively close to the center of the home, with the secondary/point units placed one or two rooms away from it so they can all get strong 5GHz connections to it and provide 2.4GHz and 5GHz coverage to more distant clients. You want all of the secondaries to have "great" ratings in the mesh test. If any of them have "weak" ratings, it can impact the performance of entire system. One Ethernet cable run from the garage to somewhere inside the house would enable you to move just the primary Nest WiFi Router.

It's also important to understand that while the secondary/point units will talk to each other through a wireless mesh, the path they take is selected based on fewest hops. So, assuming most traffic is to or from the internet, if a secondary can get through to the primary at all then it will use that connection even if other secondaries are in between. Hence the advice to place the primary close to the center.

I hope some of this proves useful.

Chessdoc
Community Member

I’m having the exact same issue :(. Following

gyoung24
Community Member

yup, I am having the same issue myself. Unable to set it up and keep getting the "connection failed" error message.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey, everyone.

The additional point failing to add is part of an issue we're seeing pop up right now and our internal teams are working on a diagnosis and a fix for the problem. I know it's frustrating not getting that point to add correctly. And even though the device is new, sometimes doing a factory reset on it and attempting setup again will clear up the problem. Go ahead and give that a try. In the meantime, I'll update the thread as I know more.

Thanks.

Chessdoc
Community Member

I had tried the factory reset 10 times with no luck.

My brother in law just helped me out. router 1 = original router. router 2 = new router you are trying to use as an access point. 

Plug router 1 ethernet port into router 2 internet port, then try the usual set up. it will work now. I don't know why it isn't clear anywhere. You can unplug router 2 and make it part of your regular mesh now.

 

 

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey, Chessdoc.

Thanks for the update on what worked for you! That will definitely prove helpful for others who are trying to clear up their own mesh network problems. I'm glad things are working now and thanks again for sharing your solution.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey, everyone. 

Before I mark the thread as resolved, I wanted to check in to make sure we had everything sorted out here. If anyone still needs some help, please let me know.

Thanks.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, everyone.
As we haven't had any activity here recently I'm going to go ahead and close the thread. If you have more to add, feel free to start a new discussion.
Thanks