Google Mesh network with Google wifi used as points keeps dropping

[KWar]

I read in a forum dated pre-April of 2022 that was describing my problem and no one was providing any solutions. I had a Google Wifi network that was working well for some time. When it started dropping points or disconnecting from the modem regularly, I decided to upgrade to Google Mesh and to use my Google Wifi pucks and points in weak spots. I reconfigured my network to use a Google Mesh as my main router and add two more at points in the house. Then, I added my Google Wifi pucks after that. The network continued to drop offline and fail constantly. I am restarting my modem many times daily and it’s crap. Today, my fiber company came out and replaced the modem at my insistence that my Google Network couldn’t be the problem. He did and it tested immediately to have screaming speed. But, alas, my Google Mesh is failing just like before. We’ve had months and months of crappy wifi and can’t even finish a movie before it drops off. Now, I’m even more frustrated, knowing that my modem is delivering amazingly….but my Google network sucks. 

PLEASE ADVISE!!!!

[clb]

I echo this. Seems to be worse in the last few weeks. I had the regular wifi points (pucks) before, then upgraded to the fancy nest system. I only have 3 nest units, one main, and 2 points, one on each floor of the house. They are listed as "great" connection, but sometimes my wifi will just go to total crap and I'll do a speed test and get 10 down and like 0.4 up. Normally when connected to my main point I get 400Mbps down and up. I do a speed test through the home app and everything looks fine (900+Mbps) but the wifi is just garbage. I restart the network, and it's usually ok for a bit (100+ when connected to a point and 400+ when connected to the main) but eventually returns. I find that I have to restart multiple times a day. 

I don't have any other router in the system as my modem runs straight into my main point. 

Looking for ways to debug this!

[AbigailF]

Hello folks,

Thanks for posting. I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing this issue. We're happy to help out. To confirm, aside from rebooting, have you done any other troubleshooting steps? We'll wait for your update.

Best,
Abi

[GregEpps]

I'm having the same issue, recently upgraded to Nest Wifi and seemingly every night the points disconnect from the router and everything is slow as dirt until I reboot the network.  I've tried a hard power cycle on all three (router and 2 points), and turned off IPv6, but nothing seems to improve things. 

[AbigailF]

Hey GregEpps,

I'm sorry to hear you're having this issue as well. Let's see what's going on.

A few questions: are you using a modem/router combo from your Internet Service Provider (ISP)? How many devices are dropping from the network? Also, do you have any paused devices?
 

Give these steps a try:

If you're using a modem/router combo, set that to bridge mode to avoid double NAT issues.

Make sure that there is minimal to no interference (concrete, bulletproof glass, metal, mirror, etc.) and the points are no more than two rooms apart.

Remove any special characters in your network name and password.

Change your DNS server into 8.8.8.8 on the primary and 8.8.4.4 on the secondary server. Hit the save/ floppy disk icon on the upper right.

If the issue persists, try factory resetting your network.
 

Let us know how it goes.

Best,
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hi GregEpps,

Checking back in should you still have some questions here. Let us know by replying to this thread. 

Regards, 
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hello everyone,

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within 24 hours. If you have any new issues, updates or just a discussion topic, feel free to start a new thread in the Community.

Cheers, 
Abi

[clb]

> If you're using a modem/router combo, set that to bridge mode to avoid double NAT issues.

I'm not using a router separate from my google nest router. The modem runs straight into the main google nest. 

> Make sure that there is minimal to no interference (concrete, bulletproof glass, metal, mirror, etc.) and the points are no more than two rooms apart.

I can't tear walls down as a way to try this, but I will say that everything works fine (400+Mbps on the remote nest points) for many days, then without changing *anything* (including not building new walls in my house) one of the remote nest points just "goes offline" and I'm notified through the app that this has happened. 

> Remove any special characters in your network name and password.

I have 50+ devices connected to my network and it would be impractical to change the network name or PW. That being said, the network name doesn't have any special characters, and the PW should have no trouble with special characters and so I'm leaving them in. I can't imagine why special characters in the PW would suddenly cause a network that's running just fine to stop working or suddenly lose connection with the main router.

> Change your DNS server into 8.8.8.8 on the primary and 8.8.4.4 on the secondary server. Hit the save/ floppy disk icon on the upper right.
Ok, this is done, but also feels like the wrong thing to fix. It was set to "automatic" which should be fine. Fixing this to keep an internal wifi-point from dropping off the network seems like an odd thing to do to me.

> If the issue persists, try factory resetting your network.
I have many configurations and IP address reserved for various computers at my home. I just installed my google wifi nest router system upgrating from the the previous google wifi. Honestly, if this is the answer, I'm just going to switch to another meshing device that will work since this one just doesn't work robustly (and honestly the phone-only config has me about 95% all the way there to just dumping these nest units).

[AbigailF]

Hey clb,
 

Thanks for the update. Removing the special characters in your network password and doing a factory data reset are just some troubleshooting steps that we’ve seen effective in resolving issues such as yours. We totally understand that troubleshooting can be frustrating, but these are the most helpful steps to figure out what's going on with your device. Let's give them a try!

Rest assured that if the issue persists after doing troubleshooting, we’ll have your case escalated so that our senior support team can work with you one-on-one to get the root cause identified and resolved. Don't hesitate to tell us if you have any questions or clarifications.
 

Thanks,

Abi

[clb]

Hi Abi -

Thanks for the reply! I'm not trying to be difficult, but I have a lot of network configurations saved (various port forwarding to different servers for little iot projects) and over 50 devices including kids and family members so changing the PW just isn't really a practical option unless I believe it would make a difference. Factory resetting is similarly difficult because of the setup.

Just to narrow down the problem:

• Network works fine and is super fast for many many days (sometimes weeks). The home-network app says that all my connections are "great"
• For no reason (maybe an update is applied and an auto-reboot doesn't work?) one of the points will just "go offline" and I have to power cycle it to get it back up

If I had to guess, it's probably some auto-update being applied, but not restarting the unit. If the nest-wifi had a web-based or computer-based config, I might be able to try and see what's going on, but it's all just phone based, so it's very difficult. 

I might try wiresharking the packets to see if I can see any evidence of an update or anything when one goes down. 

The other reason I suspect an update being the problem, when one goes out, I usually know it's just going to be only a few more days and the other one is probably going to go out. 

Another thing I thought about trying was getting a smart plug and putting them on that since it's not like the entire network has gone down, I could still control the smart plug probably and power cycle it that way. At least that would let me fix it remotely. 

~clb.

[AbigailF]

Hi clb,

It’s indeed a hassle to do the steps as you have a lot of devices and port forwarding rules already in place. We can skip those steps and wait until you’re able to do the other steps you want to do first. However, once we escalate your case to our senior specialist they will still ask for you to do the same thing as they are necessary steps to help isolate and diagnose the issue better. We’ll wait for your update.

Regards,
Abi

[clb]

Yup, totally get it. Feel free to add me to the list of "folks who wouldn't perform the proper debugging steps", or escalate, whatever you think is the right thing to do here. I was just merely trying to note that I'm seeing this problem. If I'm the only one in the google-nest-verse that's seeing this problem, then I'm happy to assume that it's my fault and something to do with my setup. But my hope was that it was not just me and I would be able to help or provide some value or insight for debugging this issue.

Thanks!

[clb]

Both of my nest points have been working fine since I posted here initially. No issues at all. then randomly today (I've changed NOTHING about my home, no new devices, haven't moved anything, nothing) one of my points just "went offline". Even stranger part -- it went offline at 3:40AM according to when I got the notification. So, still feels like some type of update rolls out and tries to reboot and fails. Not really a configuration error. I'm expecting the other one to "go offline" here in the next couple of days, then they'll be fine again for some time.

[AbigailF]

Hello clb,

I understand that this is not the answer you’re looking for. We'd like to make it up to you — could you fill out this form and let us know once you're done?

Thanks,

Abi

[clb]

Just filled out the form and referenced this thread.

[EmersonB]

Hello everyone,

@clb we got your form — thanks for filling it out. Our team will reach out to you via email to further assist you. If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to create a new thread as I will be locking this thread after 24 hours.

I appreciate your help, Abi.

Regards,

Emerson