Google Nest WiFi connectivity issues

[AnbaOz]

Around five weeks ago I started experiencing WiFi dropouts on my old Google WiFi system. Thinking my Google WiFi, first gen, was perhaps at the end of its lifespan I went and purchased a brand new Nest router and two points. Unfortunately my issues remain - the only change being that on the Nest I can see an orange/yellow light come on between 15-20 times per hour every day.

In consultation with my ISP (Aussie Broadband), confirming the NBN signal into my house is fine, and Google Support I have tried the following:

• ethernet cable directly from NBN box/modem to laptop - works fine
• ethernet cable directly from Nest router to laptop - works fine
• tested different ethernet cables from NBN box to Router and from Router to switch - no change 
• spent an obscene amount of money on switches and ethernet ports in the house so we can hardwire as many devices as possible - everything wired works fine
• Completed several restarts of WiFi using Google Home app - no change
• power cycled NBN box/modem, router and nest WiFi points - no change
• factory reset using home app - no change
• factory reset manually - no change
• Google support have escalated to tier 2 support three days ago - no response so far

We’re getting pretty desperate to resolve this. As much as we’re lucky we can hardwire some devices our kids’ school laptops don’t have ethernet ports and with school back on Tuesday we need to get this fixed ASAP. 

Would appreciate anyone who have any ideas I can try!

Thanks in advance 

[cotonvague]

I’m having same issues. Set up new around 20 July with Google nest router and 3 points. Worked beautifully for a few weeks then about 4 weeks ago WiFi just keeps dropping out. Even a hard wire from the router to my computer also drops out but have tried everything you’ve mentioned above plus I got a loan Netcomm router from Aussie Broadband to test and the WiFi was perfect for 4 days without a single drop out. So then I under warranty just put in a new Google nest router yesterday and the problem still persists. There must be a serious issue with the latest firmware. It’s dropping out every 20 minutes now 

[AnbaOz]

I feel your pain, my wifi drops out every couple of minutes, at least wired I am ok. I’d stop using the wifi if I could but to add insult to injury Optus are making “network upgrades” in my area so my phone is a lousy backup. 

I’ll post here when I hear from the Google Support guys, let me know if you somehow manage to fix your issues. 

[cotonvague]

sounds like we are living the same life. I'm also in an area that Optus is busy with network upgrades and they are my mobile provider too. I'm with Aussie Broadband for my NBN though. And also have kids COVID home schooling (one in year 12). As a matter of interest how many wifi points do you have connected to your nest router? 

[AnbaOz]

Fabulous life isn’t it! I’m spared the lockdowns (Queensland). I have 2 Nest points and then I have also connected one of my older Google WiFi points.

The first Google rep I spoke to - lvl 1 in the Phillipines - said three was not a problem, if that’s what you’re thinking.

[Familyman11]

I, and several others are also having the same issues.  My home network worked great for almost 2 years then this summer, it started randomly going out for 5 to 15 min randomly during the day.  The Home app couldn't connect to wifi either.  However the internet worked via Ethernet cable.  I purchased a new Nest, then a new Modem, the cat 7 cables.  Removed 1 puck from my network and....it didn't fix it.  

Hard reset.  Nothing.  

I ended up buying Asus wifi router (2 unit set). My speeds are faster (650mbps) vs 150 with nest, per Ookla speed test.  I suggest you give up as well.  We had to have stable connectivity for college, work at home, etc.  

[AnbaOz]

Thanks Familyman, I might have to do that. Do you find the coverage with the two points is similar to the Nest?

[Familyman11]

Yes.  I was worried too.  2 story 4600sqft home.  

It works great.  Outdoor cameras connect just fine.  And, my speed according to Ookla is more than 2x what I was receiving. 

I purchased the zen. 

[Jeff]

Hi, everyone.
I just wanted to check in real fast to see if anyone still needed any help on this. If you're still needing assistance, please just let me know and I'll be happy to continue helping.
Thanks.

[cotonvague]

Hi Jeff

I have discovered that the wifi mesh is only constant when I remove one of the points. I have my router plus 4 points and 2 of the points show a weak signal when I do the mesh test. When I remove the point that is furthest away then I don't get the wifi drop outs. As soon as i connect that point it creates drop outs even though the signal is still running well off that point. so my question is: does each point have to have a strong connection for the mesh to work and be stable? 

[kasz]

Jeff

I need a password reset.  I request one but never get the email or link??

[AnbaOz]

I’m still having the same issue, but have tested using a different (ASUS ZenWifi) Mesh solution that showed the same result. I’m speaking to my ISP and the National Broadband Network

[Jeff]

Hey, cotonvague.

I responded to your post in the other active thread. Let me know if you have issues with anything in that post.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hi, AnbaOz.

It's been a while, but I wanted to let you know that this was still being looked at. At this time I don't have anything new to share, but I did want to find out if anything had changed in your situation. If you're seeing different results, let me know.

Thanks.

[Tomjgardner]

Hi Jeff. A friend and i have the same set up (aussie broadband and nest) and since 4 weeks ago we have both been experiencing connection drops. Any further developments on this? Everyone is pointing fingers at everyone else. If two people have the same issue with the same set up at the same time, something must have changed with network configs. Annoying thing is that aussie bb suggests nest. I bought mine from them. Infuriating. 

[AnbaOz]

Thanks Jeff, 

I’ve managed to get the Nest network set up again, but I am still seeing constant WiFi drop outs where my Nest points flash Orange. 
I am calling my ISP again shortly to discuss and will let you know if I get an outcome from that call (unlikely).

Andreas

[Jeff]

Hi, AnbaOz.

Thanks for the update. The flashing lights do indicate a network error, so there is some sort of interruption going on with your connection. If the ISP doesn't have any insights, please let me know.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hey, AnbaOz.

I just wanted to follow up to see if you had any luck getting info from your ISP and if you still needed help on this. If there's more I can do here, please let me know.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hey, MMP.

Sorry that you're seeing the same issues. Have you done any troubleshooting in your case yet? While I don't have an update on a fix yet, it is something we're still looking at internally.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hey, everyone.

We're still discussing this internally and testing situations and different factors. I have a series of questions and things to check with your intermittent connections. I realize some of this has been answered or checked, but as we're gathering very specific info right now, it would really help us move things along. Thanks so much for your input.

Network Connectivity Questions:

1. How long did the WiFi network work properly before encountering connectivity issues?
2. How did you discover that the network was having connectivity issues? 
3. Did any of the WiFi points give audible errors, such as:

• “I can't reach the internet right now. Check your modem or router connection and try again.
• “I can't connect to the Wi-Fi network. You might want to check the connection settings in the Google Home app”
• Something else? (Please note the error message, or how the issue was discovered)

WiFi Setup Questions:

1. What is your WiFi setup? (single router or multiple access points - how many?)
2. What is the location of the affected WiFi point in relation to other WiFi Access Points/Routers? (please note distance, in same/different room, same/different floor, any major obstructions/interference like walls, floors, cabinets, appliances etc?)
3. Did you change yourWiFi setup recently / was it was working fine before / what did they use before and what did they swap to? 
4. If you know any of this info, please provide it as well:

• Router brand (make and model)
• Router security, such as WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc
• Router software version
• What's the configuration of the network? Are you using a mesh network, WiFi repeaters etc?

[AnbaOz]

Network Connectivity Questions:

1. How long did the WiFi network work properly before encountering connectivity issues? 3 years
2. How did you discover that the network was having connectivity issues? When the WiFi dropouts started
3. Did any of the WiFi points give audible errors, such as: No, there’s a visual error when the Nest flashes orange

• “I can't reach the internet right now. Check your modem or router connection and try again.
• “I can't connect to the Wi-Fi network. You might want to check the connection settings in the Google Home app”
• Something else? (Please note the error message, or how the issue was discovered)

WiFi Setup Questions:

1. What is your WiFi setup? (single router or multiple access points - how many?) NBN box -> Google Nest Router -> Switch (cables to data points in house)
2. What is the location of the affected WiFi point in relation to other WiFi Access Points/Routers? (please note distance, in same/different room, same/different floor, any major obstructions/interference like walls, floors, cabinets, appliances etc?) Located in garage with a internal door between it and the second WiFi point which is upstairs roundly 7m away. Third WiFi point is closer at 5m with 3 plasterboard walls between the router and point. My signal is always strong.
3. Did you change yourWiFi setup recently / was it was working fine before / what did they use before and what did they swap to? I activated my switches which had been dormant. My ISP say that they can see multiple (too many) MAC addresses on the network.
4. If you know any of this info, please provide it as well:

• Router brand (make and model) Google Nest Router. NBN box is a Arris CM8200
• Router security, such as WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc WPA
• Router software version Unsure but considering it’s a Google product most likely latest available
• What's the configuration of the network? Are you using a mesh network, WiFi repeaters etc? Mesh but no repeaters. As mentioned the Nest Router plugs into a switch that handles wired Internet around my house.

[Jeff]

Hey, AnbaOz.

Thanks so much for providing that. I'll get those answers passed along to our internal team. I really appreciate the time it took to pull that together!

[Jeff]

Hey, everyone.

I know it's been some time, but I'm still waiting on a fix. I didn't want anyone to think I had abandoned the thread. In the meantime, if anybody sees any change in their situation, please let us know.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hi, all.

Just a quick check in to see who is still being affected by this issue and to see if anything has changed. If anyone has any updates, please let me know.

Thanks.

[AnbaOz]

The last relevant (perhaps) piece of information they gave me from their constant and repeated diagnostics was that they could see an unusually high amount of of MAC addresses on my network which, they said, could cause the modem to struggle to carry the connection. It sounded odd but beyond my technical understanding so who knows.

It did make me wonder whether there perhaps was something that could be done from a Nest configuration perspective that would help lift my modem’s apparent confusion.

You might recall my setup goes:

• NBN “modem”
• Nest router
• Switch in garage homehub
• To increase number of wired points another Switch in lounge room
• 2 Nest points connected via WiFi to Nest router

[Jeff]

Hey, AnbaOz.

A lot of connected MAC addresses is essentially a lot of connected devices. Do you have a large number of connected devices on the network right now? When you have done any of your resets, have you tried changing your network password? I know changing the password means updating all your devices, but it could be possible that you have unknown devices connecting. Either way, do you have a rough guess of how many devices you keep connected to the network?

Thanks.

[AnbaOz]

Hey Jeff,

At any given time there are only 4-6 devices connected. When my wifi was working properly you could double that number. The number of devices connected are higher than that and I suspect it’s due to my switches. I’ve done resets, changed passwords and SSID with no changes. 

I think my switches are not installed/configured correctly. It I’ve got no idea how to fix that..

[Jeff]

Yeah, AnbaOz, that's definitely not a number of devices that should be giving you issues based on volume.

[AnbaOz]

Wasn’t quite clear there, that’s the number of actual devices connected but when the ISP ran an IP flooder test they identified around 30 additional “devices”, think perhaps each switch connection is counted individually..

I have no idea.. but resets, changes to SSID and password didn’t change anything so sounds like the devices in question are hard wired rather than connected over WiFi.

[Jeff]

Ok, AnbaOz. Thanks for the added info there. I'll take that into account as we look int this.

[Jeff]

Hey, everyone.

It's been a while again since I've been able to check in. We're still looking at this and I'm hoping things are close to being resolved. I see more people coming into the thread sharing their situations which is always helpful. Until an actual fix rolls out, I'll keep an eye on things here.

Thanks.

[vanfriscia]

Jeff, have you learned anything further on this?  It's hard to believe this has been going on for months and Google hasn't resolved it yet.

[Jeff]

Hey, everyone.
As an update for you all, I wanted to let you know that we have a firmware update coming out now. Some people may have already received the update, but most will see it coming still. Everyone will have it before the end of April. If you receive that update and don't see an improvement in your issues here, please let me know and we can keep looking into things.
Thanks.

[chad3]

What version number should we be looking for @Jeff ?

[bennetyee]

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11993118?hl=en&ref_topic=7681483 says 

14150.43.80 (Nest Wifi router and Google Wifi), 1.54.294928 (Nest Wifi point)

It turns out my router is running 13729.57.27, which is _not_ M89 (13729.57.15 Google Wifi; 13729.57.19 Nest Wifi; 1.54.253765 Nest Wifi point according to

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/10684809?hl=en&ref_topic=6318633) which is... mildly concerning.  i _think_ nest firmware images are signed like android/chromeos updates are, so maybe nest is just pushing out beta images to some people?  i certainly didn't install it myself.

[bennetyee]

https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/11993118?hl=en 22Q1 M94 FWIW

[bennetyee]

the google home app currently says my network is off-line, so i can't even try to find firmware version info from there.  both ethernet and wifi appears to be working, and http://192.168.86.1/ status page says the device is online, so packets are being routed, so it's just connectivity between the router and the google cloud servers that is not working.

last night it did the same thing, but after a few minutes the app says the router is back online (presumably reestablished connection to the cloud servers), and i was able to ask for the network to be restarted; i didn't stay up and wait to verify that it really did restart, however.

if it continues to be in this state, it's time power cycling by unplugging the power cable, which is rather annoying/inconvenient.  but often necessary.  that the status page is unable to do authentication and allow rebooting from there was and is a terrible UX design choice.

[Kkessler85]

Its been 2 weeks since this post stating we should get a firmware update. I still don't see this update on my hardware.

Is there any way at all to manually push this update through the HOME app?

Does this Firmware update specifically address the Wifi performance issues related to this thread?? 

Is this the update/firmware number we should be seeing soon? A more specific Timeline?

14150.43.80 (Nest Wifi router and Google Wifi), 1.54.294928 (Nest Wifi point)

[Sathish1]

Hi Jeff, Please confirm which version of firmware will fix these connectivity issues with Nest router and points with mesh system.

[Kkessler85]

My Nest wifi router finally received the 14150 update yesterday. I got hyped that it seemed to maybe finally fix our issue that's been going on for 5 months. Then today in less then 24 hours its right back to normal. Wifi back and forth all day from perfect to unusable.  Wired connections perfect yet Wifi is useless on our 1gb fiber internet.  This is absolutely a hardware issue. So ready to give up on google hardware at this point.

I wouldn't get your hopes up too much if this i fact the update they think will fix things....