Goodbye Nest Wifi Mesh - No more unreliable network, and no more dissapointing support

[nullsystem]

I am a longtime google device user. I use a large variety of made by google products. Some have their quirks, some just work; while others are just a waste of space and money. Unfortunately, Google Nest WiFi Pro is one that belongs in the last category.

Early 2023, I switched from my single node Google WiFi device to a brand new set of 4 Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E devices. The internet at that time was limited to 250 Mbps, so the speed tests all passed with flying colours. However, I still had issues with network reliability and LAN/WLAN network performance.

Fast forward to the month of this post, internet is upgraded to 1 Gbps. The numbers are still disappointing, but now more obviously so. The access point to main router bandwidth appears to be hovering around 180-300 Mbps and causing huge bottlenecks throughout the network.

Google Nest WiFi Pro Speed Tests 🐌

Internet speed test from the Google Home App	~800 Mbps but largely consistent with occasional drops to ~500 Mbps
WiFi 6 Client Device Speed, device located right next to the base router	~20 Mbps - 300 Mbps
Internet speed test from client device connected via ethernet cable to the base router	~150 Mbps - ~600 Mbps
Internet speed test from client device connected via ethernet cable to the access point, AP is located around 20ft from main router with unobstructed line of sight	~50 Mbps - ~400 Mbps
Internet speed test from client device connected via ethernet cable to the access point, AP is next to the main router	~50 Mbps - ~400 Mbps

The results remained the similar without IPv6, turning off cloud services etc. This lead me to reach out to customer support over chat as this is extremely poor performance.

ISP Router Speed Tests 🏎

To drive the point home further, here are the results for the above scenarios using just the ISP's provided "free" router and their additional mesh AP for 70 EUR.

Internet speed test from main router	980 Mbps - 995 Mbps
WiFi 6 Client Device Speed, device located right next to the base router	957 Mbps
Internet speed test from client device connected via ethernet cable to the base router	980 Mbps - 995 Mbps
Internet speed test from client device connected via ethernet cable to the access point, AP is located around 20ft from main router with unobstructed line of sight	~940 Mbps
Internet speed test from client device connected via ethernet cable to the access point, AP is next to the main router	~970 Mbps

Customer Support Disappointment 😩
The customer support agent proceeded to run me through the basic debugging checklist. While in the process focusing only on internet speed. After reaching the end of the process, I was advised to connect to the main router over ethernet and test speeds. Which I advised will take a few minutes, to which the agent said okay and then while I was plugging in the laptop sent messages suggesting I am unresponsive and proceeded to close the session - no call back, no follow up - nothing.

I tried to open a new chat session and now it keeps saying that I should reach out during support hours - which I tried on several occasions. Same result. Sounds like my case was shelved and future attempts to reach out ignored. I was really disappointed by the support provided - especially considering that I have had paid nest subscriptions as well google one for years.

This was the last straw, I get that product might not be perfect, but as someone who invested in these devices I would at the very least expect some level of support and decency. I am stuck in a place where the devices are unreliable and under-performs consistently. If support had the decency to reach out again, this post might not have been written and I might still be trying to figure out how to improve the performance on these routers.

Goodbye Google Nest Wifi Devices 🚮

And the network was way more stable with lot less packet drops or latency spikes. This definitely sealed the fate of Google Nest Wifi Pro devices at my home. It is comically embarrassing that the results are not even comparable. I get that the Google devices are designed to be for "ease of use" and for a "large audience of varying technical abilities"; but I would argue that this is more so for the ISP devices.

I do not really expect any solutions here, just wanted to put out there my experience.

[PatrickP_Viking]

Hey @nullsystem .

When you were having the speed issues were you also using the ISPs modem/router in the line? If so, was it in Bridge Mode with the wifi and routing disabled?

[nullsystem]

@PatrickP_Viking unfortunately since Nest WiFi does not support VLAN 7 for PPPoE connections, using the modem in bridge mode is impossible. I even tried putting a managed switch, but no dice. So, the setup is double NAT. 

Even with that, the performance is relatively horrible. And to rule out the issue I also tried using an ubiquiti express device instead of Nest WiFi which also gave 900+ Mbps in the speed tests when configured similarly. 

[PatrickP_Viking]

Hey @nullsystem .

The Double NAT is what is creating the speed issues when you use the Nest Wifi Pro. I don't know a lot about Ubiquiti devices but I do know they are all-in-one network solutions and it is a lot more powerful which allows for it to self-configure with the plug-and-play design to eliminate the Double NAT; I would assume that it does so by allowing the ISP device to handle routing and the Ubiquiti device is acting only as a DHCP Relay but I have no way of knowing without doing a deep dive into the device.

At this point I don't think the Nest Wifi Pro will be a viable solution considering the VLAN your ISP uses. 

[nullsystem]

@PatrickP_Vikingthanks for the response and your thoughts. However, I fear that might be an over simplification of the root cause here. I still believe the issue is Nest WiFi software/config.

For further context, the ubiquity device was configured in a double NAT configuration for the sake of testing. And to note here, from a hardware specification the unifi express (the device i used for testing) is far less equipped than the Nest WiFi device. The backhaul of the Nest WiFi routers is always below 400 Mbps even when it is next to each other - which is ridiculous for a WiFi 6E device if you ask me.

And even further, the performance issue is also encountered when you do client to client local iperf tests as well. In this case the double NAT should not even be a consideration in the setup - unless I am missing something obvious here - do not know why, but maybe google hairpins the traffic via the ISP router?. And this is my major gripe with the situation, as super fast internet speeds are only really required on rare occassions, but consistently reliable local network is yet another thing.

You are correct that because Nest WiFi only supports VLAN-tagged connections in Australia or New Zealand, and because trying to use a managed switch as recommended there also failed; use of the Nest device might not be feasible without double NAT.

As I mentioned in my original post, I am no longer looking for solutions as I have already exhausted all the options I can try given the constraints. And the experience with support has permanently tainted my impression of this line of devices.

[The_SirFin]

Thanks for your detailed Post Mr/s Null!
I am here as i have exactly the same issue.
Given you are moving on from Googles Pants Nest .. . can I ask what you going to move to instead?
Cheers,
Fin.

[nullsystem]

Honestly, right now the router/ont combo my ISP provided is what I am using. They also fortunately had WiFi 6 capable mesh nodes I could add. The router has a 4x4 MIMO on 5Ghz. No 6Ghz though, but not a major con given range issues and client device support is still lacking. And I am getting 800+ Mbps wirelessly over an access point one hope to root. Used Wifiman for testing (highly recommend the tool, especially on android).

I did briefly try the Ubiquiti Unifi Express as a mesh, but discovered that the mesh node placement was tricky. But, might be an option for most people. 

In the long term I'm likely going to wait for 4x4 MIMO 6E/7 unifi devices to come along before upgrading. 

I have also heard good things about Netgear Orbi from a friend. 

[The_SirFin]

Thanks for the Reply Sir. Much appreciated.
I have been researching for the last 24hrs and my new BB provider has given me a branded Linksys AX4200 Tri-band unit which is actually rather nice and is giving great performance.
I think I will pick up another 2 of these units and keep it all clean and same brand ...
Will report back here how it goes (if anybody is vaguely interested!) 🙂
Thanks again,

Fin.

[nullsystem]

That sounds like a great option. I have always been happy with Linksys devices when I used them last.

[Tradebear]

May I ask what product you bought that now works for you? I'm having the same issues with my Google mesh(I'm now up to 8 and my internet keeps dropping. Tech support from Fidium has been at my house 8 times in one year and they're coming back today. If they cn't solve it, I'm ditching all my Google products and finding something new. Is a new product working for you?

[nullsystem]

My ISP (Telekom Germany) have their own line of devices. I am using Speedport Smart 4 Plus as the base station and three of their Speed Home WLAN devices as nodes. For my use case this works really well. I get easily around 800-950 Mbps from an ethernet line connected to one of the nodes and 600-800 Mbps via wireless. If I am connected to the base station, I get over 900 Mbps over wireless. There are occasional drops as with any wireless networks, but nothing as bad as I was experiencing with Nest WiFi Pros.

As an added benefit, no more double NAT, no more IPv6 issues etc. I'd also add that these have their own quirks - like their mesh roaming is not as great as you'd expect from a more recent mesh system like Nest or any other consumer brands. The only time you really notice it is if you are on a video call while roaming access points.

I am really curious to hear what results @The_SirFin posts with the Linksys Velop devices. As I mentioned before I have also heard good results from using Orbi as well. Hope this helps.