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Extending Google Wifi with Nest access point

Markbot
Community Member

I have a first gen mesh wifi setup with 2 access points, and I want to get a third. The nest points/router have much better speeds. Would i get those speed by adding a nest access point or router to the current system or would the speeds be throttled to the first gen speeds since the mesh is mostly first gen points?

1 Recommended Answer

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

If it's an older home, it's likely those jacks are the 4-pin RJ11 telephone jacks, not the 8-pin RJ45 jacks needed for Ethernet. If you have coaxial cabling in place, that can also be used to create an Ethernet equivalent by using MoCa adapters, but that isn't exactly cheap.

I would still try to follow the placement advice outlined above as much as possible. If you do invest in more hardware, keep the packaging and receipt in case it doesn't end up helping as much as you had hoped.

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7 REPLIES 7

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

The Nest WiFi Point units have very similar WiFi specifications to what Google WiFi units have (AC1200 2x2). The Nest WiFi Router units do have more capable WiFi radios (AC2200 4x4), but if you added one of those to an existing Google WiFi system, the performance improvement would be limited by having to talk to the Google WiFi using two streams, although it would be able to talk to clients using more than two streams. But, many clients don't support more than 1 or 2 streams anyway, so whether that would actually be faster might be moot.

An alternative to adding a Nest WiFi Router as a mesh secondary to a Google WiFi system would be to create a new network (with the same SSID+password) using a new Nest WiFi Router unit, and then (after doing a factory reset) add your existing Google WiFi units as mesh secondaries to that. However, similar limitations would apply – only clients with WiFi radios that support more than two streams would see improved performance, and only when connected directly to the Nest WiFi Router. So, whether this would actually be faster or not is hard to predict.

The biggest performance boost you can get would be by running enough Ethernet cables to get your existing Google WiFi mesh secondary units connected back to the primary Google WiFi unit's LAN Ethernet port through an unmanaged Ethernet switch (or switches). That way, they are no longer trying to send traffic over the WiFi mesh that shares the same 5GHz channel as clients are using.

I guess I'd also ask how you have your existing system placed (and whether the primary is in the center with the secondaries one or two rooms away from there in any direction where they can provide coverage to more distant clients). I'd also ask what leads you to want buy another node and where you plan to place it relative to the primary.

I hope some of this helps!

Markbot
Community Member

Thanks so much for the info! 
I’m thinking of a new node because we upgraded from the old Fiber wifi with tv boxes a while ago and I’m getting really poor up and down speeds since the switch, so I’m hoping an extra node thats closer will help me out. We’re in a pretty old house and I know there are little ports in the walls that are shaped like Ethernet ports but I think that’s what we used to connect home phone to, so I’m not sure if they can be used for wiring them together. 

thanks again!

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

If it's an older home, it's likely those jacks are the 4-pin RJ11 telephone jacks, not the 8-pin RJ45 jacks needed for Ethernet. If you have coaxial cabling in place, that can also be used to create an Ethernet equivalent by using MoCa adapters, but that isn't exactly cheap.

I would still try to follow the placement advice outlined above as much as possible. If you do invest in more hardware, keep the packaging and receipt in case it doesn't end up helping as much as you had hoped.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, Markbot.
I just wanted to jump in real fast to see if you saw MichaelP's latest reply and to see if you still needed some help on this or if you were able to get it sorted out. If you are still needing some help, just let us know and we'll be happy to continue helping.
Thanks.

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey, Markbot.

I'm just checking in once more to see if there's any more you needed here or if you're all set.

Thanks.

Markbot
Community Member

Hey thank you, I got the info I needed!

Jeff
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi, all.
As we got our resolution here, I'm going to mark this one as resolved. Thanks to all who helped and contributed. If anyone has any other needs, please feel free to open up a new thread.
Thanks!