Cannot add Google Nest Wifi Point

[Naicko]

I bought a used Google Nest pack with a router and wifi point. I already had a single Nest router and wanted to create a mesh wifi network. I installed the new router from the pack and added my old router as a Wifi Point. That all works. But when I want to add the Wifi Point, I run into several issues. I did a factory reset before adding it using the Google Home app. 

I get the following message when adding the Wifi Point: "The Nest Wifi point was manufactured for a different country, and may not be compatible with your Wi-Fi network."

The Wifi point shows up as a connected device in my network list, but does not work. 

When I do a API status check, I get the following response:

{
   "dns": {
      "mode": "automatic",
      "servers": [  ]
   },
   "setupNetwork": {
      "ssid": ""
   },
   "setupState": "ONLINE_NETWORK_TIME_AVAILABLE",
   "software": {
      "blockingUpdate": 1,
      "softwareVersion": "1.56.463275",
      "updateChannel": "stable-channel",
      "updateNewVersion": "0.0.0.0",
      "updateProgress": -1.0,
      "updateRequired": false,
      "updateStatus": "idle"
   },
   "system": {
      "countryCode": "FR",
      "groupRole": "none",
      "hardwareId": "vento-b4",
      "lan0Link": false,
      "ledAnimation": "LIGHT_ON_WHEN_MUTED",
      "ledIntensity": 100,
      "modelId": "VENTO",
      "oobeDetailedStatus": "JOIN_AND_REGISTRATION_STAGE_DEVICE_ONLINE",
      "uptime": 325
   },
   "vorlonInfo": {
      "migrationMode": "weave_all"
   },
   "wan": {
      "captivePortal": false,
      "ethernetLink": false,
      "invalidCredentials": false,
      "ipAddress": false,
      "online": false,
      "pppoeDetected": false,
      "vlanScanAttemptCount": 0,
      "vlanScanComplete": false
   }
}

For the router that is connected as Wifi Point, I get this response:

{
   "dns": {
      "mode": "automatic",
      "servers": [  ]
   },
   "setupState": "GWIFI_OOBE_COMPLETE",
   "software": {
      "blockingUpdate": 1,
      "softwareVersion": "14150.883.17",
      "updateChannel": "stable-channel",
      "updateNewVersion": "0.0.0.0",
      "updateProgress": 0.0,
      "updateRequired": false,
      "updateStatus": "idle"
   },
   "system": {
      "countryCode": "fr",
      "groupRole": "leaf",
      "hardwareId": "MISTRAL D2I-A2C-C3Q-I2R",
      "lan0Link": true,
      "ledAnimation": "CONNECTED",
      "ledIntensity": 30,
      "modelId": "MISTRAL",
      "oobeDetailedStatus": "OOBE_COMPLETE",
      "uptime": 1331
   },
   "vorlonInfo": {
      "migrationMode": "voobed"
   },
   "wan": {
      "captivePortal": false,
      "ethernetLink": false,
      "gatewayIpAddress": "192.168.86.1",
      "invalidCredentials": false,
      "ipAddress": true,
      "ipMethod": "dhcp",
      "ipPrefixLength": 24,
      "leaseDurationSeconds": 86400,
      "localIpAddress": "192.168.86.30",
      "nameServers": [  ],
      "online": true,
      "pppoeDetected": false,
      "vlanScanAttemptCount": 0,
      "vlanScanComplete": true
   }
}

Both the Nest Router and the Nest Router setup as Wifi Point the country codes are "fr" in lowercase. For the actual Wifi Point, I get "FR" in uppercase. I'm located in Belgium, not France. The packaging of the Google Nest router is the one for Belgium, both in Dutch and French. 

How do I fix this?

[moralesvicente]

Hello @Naicko, 

Thanks for reaching out to the Google Nest Community Forum. I understand that you purchased a used Google Nest pack, which contains a router and a Google Wifi point. You already have a single Nest router and want to create a mesh network; however, when you add the Google Wifi point, you encounter the message: “The Nest Wifi point was manufactured for a different country and may not be compatible with your Wi-Fi network.” Although the Google Wifi point appears as a connected device, it is not functioning properly. It’s a pleasure to share more information.

I appreciate the time and effort you took to perform some troubleshooting steps. Regarding your concern, this issue usually occurs because regulations vary by country. You may experience performance issues or regulatory violations if you use your Wifi devices in a country other than the one for which they were manufactured. Consequently, Google is unable to offer support for these regional mismatches. For your reference, please check out this article: What is Google Wifi?.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Best regards,

Daniel

[MichaelP]

This answer is incorrect. The original poster has already diagnosed what appears to be the root cause: case-sensitive string comparison of the country codes between the Nest WiFi Router unit and Nest WiFi Point unit ("fr" vs "FR") that were shipped in the same package as each other. Moreover, France and Belgium are in the same regulatory region (the EU).

Please dig a little deeper here, @moralesvicente . I suspect there's a firmware mismatch. Perhaps the Nest WiFi Router unit was upgraded when it was added, and the Nest WiFi Point unit can't get added – and therefore can't get upgraded itself. Catch 22? I don't know if there's anything that can be done if that's the case, but they bought the equipment and it's not working. Help them.

[Naicko]

I live in Belgium, the packaging is the one for Belgium. The country code it displays is France, a neighbour country. Both countries are in the EU. I don't see how there can be any restriction between both countries? The router from the same package works without any issue.

[moralesvicente · Accepted solution]

Hello folks,

Thanks for getting back to me. I appreciate your insight, @MichaelP, regarding the case-sensitivity of country codes and the possibility of a firmware version mismatch during setup.

As an additional step to isolate the issue, @Naicko, please try setting up the Nest Wifi point using a different phone.

Please note that mixing units manufactured for different countries increases the likelihood of issues and is not supported by Google. The 5 GHz band is regulated differently around the world.

Regards,

Daniel

[MichaelP]

Country codes "FR" and "fr" are for the same country. At this point, I think we need another level of escalation to investigate this.

[Naicko]

It finally worked, what I finally did to make it work:

• Another factory reset
• Moved the Wifi Point next to the Router
• Connected the Wifi Point using my wife's OnePlus instead of my Google Pixel phone
• The same message appeared about the mismatched country, but the wifi point was able to be added to my mesh.

So I don't know if it was the other phone or that I moved the point next to the Router.

[MichaelP]

I'm so happy to hear you got it to work!

My money is on moving it closer to the primary being the biggest difference here – there are a lot of reasons why, but suffice to say there's a reason the optimal placement advice has the primary centrally located with secondary/point units no more than one or two rooms away from there in any direction.

Best of luck using your newly-expanded system.