Google Nest Mesh wifi keeps dropping

[FKref]

My ISP is Spectrum and I have their modem with a Google Nest Wifi router and 4 points. The modem signal is strong and stable but the Nest wifi keeps dropping multiple times per day. I've factory reset the Nest wifi router and points 3 times over the past few weeks and the problem persists. Three or four calls with Google support has not fixed the problem. I've asked if there's a known problem with Spectrum, but no one seems to know. Any advice or feedback would be greatly appreciated. I'm about to ditch the Google Nest wifi setup.

[Teereepee]

Yep. Mine too. Bloody annoying 

[RonZawora]

Same here

[Joat25]

Same here. Family is pretty much demanding I replace this system with something non-google. Honestly, I'm tired of defending it.

[Bobbyman12345]

Weirdly, I went the other way. My nest wifi system started out crappy (like paying for gig internet and getting 15 mbps)

Then I connected directly to my modem via ethernet and completely reset it. 

Also discovered only certain ports in the modem would provide decent speeds. 

After all this it bounces between 800 and 900 mbps. 

Make sure you have the cloud services turned off (oddly enough). 

[ridahoan]

Sounds better than mine which requires a reset every few days.  I'm considering a wired backhaul between two routers.  Out of desperation.  Truly my Google hardware seems to constantly degrade -- the best performance was years ago.

[Joat25]

I agree. It used to be decent for about 2 years. Now it requires multiple network restarts a day.

[No_Wifi]

I've been experiencing the exact same issue with my 6-point setup. Access points randomly going offline during the day, or at night where the yellow blinking light then wakes me up.

Like others have mentioned, these devices used to work flawlessly at the time of purchase and performance has been degrading over the past couple years. 

This problem has been extremely frustrating for me and my family and I have seen no ETA on a fix from Google. 

I will be moving to Ubiquiti access points if I don't hear back from Google soon.

[Bobbyman12345]

What's your set up like?

I have a 3 point set up that never disconnects. 

Have you connected to your modem via ethernet (with wifi off) to completely reset it? I had to do that to get mine to work as solid as my earlier Gen Google Wifi devices worked (I literally did the modem thing as a last gasp and was getting ready to box it up and take it back to Best Buy for a refund). 

[FKref]

Yes, my iMac is connected to the modem via ethernet with wifi off. The Nest wifi router connected to the modem via ethernet always shows good download and upload speeds but wifi signal throughout the house keeps dropping completely or gets very low.  The points keep changing when doing a mesh test from low to disconnected and sometimes OK without moving them. All this happens throughout the day intermittently. 

[Bobbyman12345]

Mine used to do that too (especially the one in my office, which is annoying on days I work from home). 

I changed a bunch of settings on the Google wifi side and it stopped. (Like turned off cloud services, turned off 160mhz etc) .  

Are there any Bluetooth speakers, headsets, smart watches etc near the points that keep dropping on you? I know my smart watch sometimes messes up my bedroom point because it connects to my phone over BT. 

[FKref]

I do have an Apple watch with Bluetooth but the wifi drops even when I'm not home. When not at home I constantly get Google Home notices about wifi points being offline.  No other Bluetooth devices around. 

[Yarseyer-]

Same issue here. I have the older router. 4 points. Spectrum as an ISP.

Horrible speed and the new home app isn’t tracking devices correctly and reporting bad data download rated (2.2 TB over a 24 hour period).

Spent some time with Spectrum to find it’s my google routers.

[Bobbyman12345]

Did you completely reset the modem from the modem administrator interface? (Accessed via ethernet directly to a the modem)? I had this same problem with WAVE/Astound. They tried saying it was all my routers (paying for 940 mbps but only getting 15). 

I did the reset over ethernet and tried different ports on the modem. 

[Yarseyer-]

Yep. Not the modem. I have a spare Linksys wireless router. I swapped it out and I have normal speeds. My speed is throttled when I switch back to Google Mesh routers.

[WKEIII]

I'm done with mine after 6-7 years.  Just purchased a TP link system.  Google had their shot with me but after months of exceeding my cell phone data cap for fast speeds because the home wifi kept disconnecting from my pixel 7 pro, I'm making a change.  Good bye nest wifi.

[Bobbyman12345]

That's a Pixel issue. I had that issue when I had a pixel phone years ago with an Xfinity router. It disconnected quite frequently. 

[Mrdeep]

I thought I was alone on this... Same problem with slow or non functioning WiFi.

[WKEIII]

Definitely not alone.  And I have Google Fi for cell with the Pixel 7 pro and I get dropped continuously.  I've given them enough of my money to have these issues go on like they have.  My nest wifi is out starting next week.

[feedme]

Read this 

This thread is based on the same issue as the above. Google support ran us around for months trying the same steps, getting us to change ISPs and promised OTA updates which have never come.

I'm sorry to share you'll be living with these issues until you buy a different system. I brought a TP-Link mesh that has worked seamlessly. 

TLDR: Google has known about these issues for years and made no progress. Save yourself 12 months of pain and buy from a different company.

[Joat25]

Yes, I just purchased a tplink mesh. It arrives tomorrow. Tired of google's half baked hardware game.

[SufusMaximus]

Have had the same issue. 

7 points in total and on a 1GB fibre connection to the house. When I did what can be the 7th or 8th reset of the network, I only set up the point connected to the router provided by the ISP. ISP’s router was the same distance as the Google router, but they were about 4 feet apart and connected via an Ethernet cable. ISP’s router consistently achieved 900+mb, the Google router barely achieved 400mb, I’ve got the second generation by the way. 

Contacted Google and of course they gave me the scripted troubleshooting, and now it turns out they knew about the issue all along. Had I known this was be the case for so long I would have paid for the 500mb connection and save myself some money. 

The Google Wi-Fi is alright, but very temperamental. I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t have patience and willing to entertain them doing ‘experiments’ constantly. 

Still waiting on a fix now a 3 months down the line. 

[SufusMaximus]

Update:

since writing the above post, drop outs have been coming place. The worse was when I was away and pretty much all the points went offline and I lost access to my cameras and doorbell. This is appalling from Google. You would have thought a company so big would invest in this, and they had a good thing going with the second generation by having speakers in the points. With the third generation they seem to have dropped the one decent feature of these devices. Once I get the money together I think it’s time to leave Google l, possibly get some money back from these. 

By the way, to expect some degree of stability it’s become routine to restart all the points at least once a day. Again another feature missed where they could have been in a timed restart at least once a day. It’s not full proof and points do randomly go offline, and the only way to bring them back is to do a physical power cycle (switch it off and on again). 

Also, despite all the points being similar distances apart, at least two bounce between ‘Good’ and ‘Weak’ signal strength without any cause. 

Not doing anything outside of cameras from Google again. 

[FKref]

UPDATE: I finally resolved the problem by replacing my Google Nest wifi and 4 points with Eero.6+. Easy setup and now wifi does not drop. Wakeup Google!

[Dan_A]

Hi folks,

That certainly isn’t the experience we want you to have and apologies for the delay. A few questions: are you using a modem/router combo from your Internet Service Provider (ISP)? Also, do you have any paused devices?

Give these steps a try:

1. If you're using a modem/router combo, set that to bridge mode to avoid double NAT issues.
2. 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.
3. Remove any special characters in your network name and password.
4. Turn off IPv6:
   1. Open the Google Home app Google Home app.
   2. Tap the Wi-Fi coin  and then Settings Settings. 
   3. Scroll down and tap Advanced networking.
   4. Scroll down to IPv6.
   5. Toggle the switch off Toggle button off.
5. 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.
6. Unplug the power from your Google Wifi devices for 2 minutes.
7. If the issue persists, try factory resetting your network. Take note that this will delete all network data.

You may skip any step that you’ve done already.

Let us know how it goes.

Best,

Dan

[Joat25]

Sorry Dan, I think most of us have moved on to a better solution (non Google) at this point. 

[Dan_A]

Hello everyone,

We're sad to see you go, Joat25. We hope we can make it up to you in the future. Send us a message if you change your mind.

Could the other Community members confirm their status? Kindly reply here if you’ve tried the steps provided above, and keep us posted.

Kind regards,

Dan

[SufusMaximus]

I am in the UK. I used the Google second generation devices on a Virgin fibre connection and a EE 5G router connection separately. When one contract expired the second was started in the hopes of sorting this out. It didn't. 

The Google device is connected to the ISP's router and I have disabled the wireless function on the ISPs routers to reduce interference. This hasn't made a difference. 

All the other settings are stated as above and have been. I've also contacted Google supported and sent them all the diagnostics. I get a reply once every week maybe a couple weeks stating 'it's being looked in to'. It's clearly not a isolated individual issue. 

Also these devices are limited to a speed of 500mb max speed. I've done speeds tests on the ISPs router, then Googles device right next to it and the ISP's gives a speed of around 850mb to 950mb, Googles device barely gives 450mb. I connected a Netgear Orbi and it gave the same speed as the ISP's. 

Despite power cycling all the devices today before leaving for work, which I'm now having to do daily so they work, in the hopes that my cameras don't drop out, the Google devices all started bouncing around between offline and online, and then at least one randomly went completely offline until another power cycle. This is awful. 

Whilst I'm happy to see you've responded, I fear it's too little too late. These could have been great devices, but looks like just another experiment by Google. 

[RonZawora]

1. If you're using a modem/router combo, set that to bridge mode to avoid double NAT issues. Been this way since day 1.  In fact Comcast upgraded my speeds re-enabled their own SSIDs and had no knowledge they did this against notes on my account which led me to buying Google Mesh.  I triple checked when this all started and it has not changed, thankfully.
2. 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.  AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE BUT WE LIVE IN A WORLD WITH WALLS.  WAS NOT A PROBLEM PREVIOUSLY.
3. Remove any special characters in your network name and password.  NONE PRESENT.
4. Turn off IPv6:
   1. Open the Google Home app Google Home app.
   2. Tap the Wi-Fi coin  and then Settings Settings. 
   3. Scroll down and tap Advanced networking.
   4. Scroll down to IPv6.
   5. Toggle the switch off Toggle button off. OFF SINCE DAY ONE. CONFIRMED STILL OFF.
5. 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.  COMPLETED.
6. Unplug the power from your Google Wifi devices for 2 minutes.  COMPLETED.
7. If the issue persists, try factory resetting your network. Take note that this will delete all network data.  THIS DOES NOT WORK GETS BETTER FOR A FEW HOURS THEN DETERIORATES.

We appreciate you responding in this cesspool of a post but people are angry at 1-3 years worth of $200-$600 worth of hardware being worthless - imagine the family impacts on these things with kids and people working from home or home schooling or worse running their own businesses or devices connected to the cloud for people's health and well being no longer being able to function - Google only responds with more walled garden approaches and new hardware which conveniently arrives when older generations start having these issues.  Either a hardware/software exploit is being leveraged against these devices or Google itself having no obligation to support older devices is manipulating planned obsolescence for their own benefit/profit.   There has also been nothing new offered here.

[Dan_A]

Hello everyone,

We appreciate all your efforts. We'd like to take a deeper look into this for you. Please fill out this form with all the needed information, and then let me know once you're done.

Cheers,

Dan

[SufusMaximus]

Done!

[Dan_A]

Hi folks,

@SufusMaximus, we got your form — thanks for filling it out. Our team will reach out to you via email anytime soon. Please continue the conversation there for updates.

Thanks,

Dan

[RonZawora]

Done random characters to allow clicking on REPLY

[Dan_A]

Hello RonZawora,

Apologies for the delay but, could you confirm the status of your concern? Have you filled out the form? What do you mean by “Done random characters to allow clicking on REPLY”.

Looking forward to your response.

Cheers,

Dan

[RonZawora]

filled out the form then another and submitted diagnostics and screenshots to your support team

[RonZawora]

I had to type something to click reply so I typed random characters to make my submission 

[Dan_A]

Hello RonZawora,

We appreciate your patience!

Our team has already sent further troubleshooting instructions to your email. Please continue through that channel. 

Best regards,

Dan

[RonZawora]

I see nothing from them.

[Dan_A]

Hi there,

I just verified it from our higher tier of support, and kindly refresh your email to see if it went through. If you got the email, please reply to it and continue the conversation there.

Cheers,

Dan

[RonZawora]

Dan,

I gotta level with you upper support just spat out a bunch of gibberish without really any proof of their claims and only asked me to do an already TERRIBLY inconvenient thing which is a full reset which many people here said does not work.  To me this feels a little scammy.  If I do not comply you abandon my open ticket and if I do comply what is the guarantee I will get anything for my time?  Google offered me a code to upgrade to a future version of Nest Mesh which is now 2 generations old and now I mentioned this a few friends in Discord and turns out a bunch of us are looking to buy another mesh altogether.  This feels like what happened with my Titan key - an exploit was discovered and it was not able to be patched so i got a whole new Titan key.  So was my device compromised or not?  What is actually happened to these units that you will not fully disclose to prevent fully upgraded devices?  Can support elaborate and provide evidence of what was found with the little bit of data that I sent over?  Since this is a walled garden we cannot even get a third party evaluation on these units which I think Google should entertain here.  It FEELS like something is being kept from us.