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 

[Sathish1]

Thank you. Yes, I am on 14150.43.80 but the issue is still persisting with Mesh system. It's disappointing and there is no clear timeline from Google on when this will be fixed. I am really not sure how to trust future firmware updates for Nest Wifi.

[Kkessler85]

Same here. New firmware and my Nest Wifi router wifi is completly unusable. Using my 10 year old router without one single issue now. Obviously a serious hardware or firmware issue. Been chatting with support for the last month and no replacement or further support can be given. It's now a $200-$300 paper weight. Absolutely unreal.

[masalabee]

I have 14150.43.81 on my Nest wifi router and am also seeing this issue.  Sometimes the router stays connected for hours and then suddenly drops the connection (my ISP is Verizon and I have replaced the VZ router with the Nest wifi router and have 2 addtional Nest wifi points).  This has only started happening since February for me.  We need a fix ASAP.

[Bananamah]

I know how you feel. Tho perhaps i am kinda skeptical the answer that one of their customer tech helpers told me which took about 2hours of trial and error. Which the only reason why i didn't get to try the solution she told me was because modem/router in my country prohibits me from changing settings to bridging mode. She explained to me that i need to put it to bridging mode thats why my speed keeps dropping which i really doubt that. If anyone can confirm this it would be a great help.

[janembarrett]

have almost 20 hours trying to reconnect nest router. Reboot, reset, etc. ad nauseam.

My IT guy gave up...said trash it...my IP provider...COX... said the same...get rid of it. Support completely sucks. Leave a message...no  answer back. No more Google products in this house or business going forward. Huge waste of time for an over priced under performing product. 

[Bonix]

Hi Jeff 

I'm still affected by this issue. I am having the same exact experience. It was working fine for more than a year, now the wifi mesh is completely unstable.

Please help, I'm feeling the necessity of give up and buy a different wifi mesh routers.

[Jeff]

Hi, gsember.

Sorry that you're seeing that too. Thanks for providing the info on your setup. Are you seeing any speed issues along with the connection drops, or is it mostly just connection?

[thingamabobby]

Hi Jeff, 

I'm having the same issues as everyone else now - I'll be providing feedback via the appropriate methods that have been given to me by Aussie BB, but I'll answer these questions: 

Network Connectivity Questions:

1. How long did the WiFi network work properly before encountering connectivity issues?
   A few months 
2. How did you discover that the network was having connectivity issues? 
   Unable to connect to the internet - devices not connecting to internet
3. Did any of the WiFi points give audible errors, such as:
   No audible errors from any of the Google points

• “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?)
   Router from Aussie BB, Google Mesh network with 4 points
   
   
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?)
   
   All mesh points are down, no internet connections throughout the house with the Google network
   
   
3. Did you change your WiFi setup recently / was it was working fine before / what did they use before and what did they swap to? 
   
   I changed over to Google Wifi from D-Link mesh. D-link worked fine with connectivity but I was trying to improve voice over wifi, which Google mesh network gave me. 
   
   
4. If you know any of this info, please provide it as well:

• Router brand (make and model) - From Aussie BB: Netcomm NF18ACV
• Router security, such as WEP, WPA, WPA2, etc WPA2
• Router software version - Unknown currently
• What's the configuration of the network? Are you using a mesh network, WiFi repeaters etc? Mesh network

[MMP]

Hello 

The Same Applies to My Nest. Mesh keeps dropping though Internet is working fine.

[gsember]

Same here. connection is not stable. very difficult to work as I am in the middle of a meeting and I have a dropout. it reconnects automatically within 15 seconds. I have a nest router and two access points with good signal (not super strong though)

[gsember]

Hi Jeff. 

Nope, no speed issues just dropouts. No lights or any abonormal behavior.

Thanks

[Tweak]

I too am having many issues with my nest mesh network. I have the router and 3 points covering about 2100 sq ft total. My internet is a cable connection which registers a wired (to the modem) speed test of over 900 down by 40 up. Over wireless directly after a powercycle of the entire nest system (router and all points) the speed test from the home app will show 713/38 and wireless <10' away I get speed tests that hover around the 380/36. The problems used to start with speeds getting super slow (<5/1) which forced me to reboot the system, as of more recently i just lose internet entirely (wifi connected with strong signal but no internet).

Network Connectivity Questions:

1. It worked great for just over a year and then started having issues in September growing more frequent until the 1-3 times a day now that I have to reboot the router and all the points.
2. This varies but is usually a computer or other device losing internet (but holding a "strong" wifi signal) and then we notice all the devices are out. (the last thing to go are our nest hubs for some reason)
3. There are not usually any audible errors as we figure it out not through the voice assistant but instead most of our other devices. By the time one person starts noticing issues I check the home app on my phone and (even though still connected to wifi) it wont connect to the router/mesh to run any tests.

WiFi Setup Questions:

1. router + 3 points (none of the points are separated by more than 3 solid walls)
2. When one point goes "offline" they almost always ALL go. At the very least, I can rarely troubleshoot anything but the entire network as the home app stops recognizing anything. My router is in the living room (giant room surrounded by windows) point 1 is less than 50 feet away from the router by direct line of sight to the shed in the yard (window in the living room and wall of shed are the only barriers in that 50 feet). point 2 is in the master bath room about ############ feet away from the router with only one wall as the mast bath is directly against the living room. it is also only about 25 feet away from the first point only separated by the shed wall and an exterior house wall. point 3 is in the main bathroom which is about 70 feet from the router. if you were looking direct line of sight there are 3 walls between the router and this point but that door is left open when not in use which if not traveling in a straight line means there are no walls obstructing. (i know that's not how wireless signals work im just trying to provide as much context as possible)  
3. I didnt change the setup until the issues started. I moved the points to be closer together, that didnt change anything. I moved the router and points to all be above our heads and openly visible to be clear of potential electronic or furniture obstructions. i then in a last ditch effort went out and bought an entirely new nest router and points thinking that maybe my equipment was too old and malfunctioning and that's when i went from an every/every other day issue to a 1-3 times per day issue. I will be returning the new equipment and resorting back to my old equipment this weekend. 
4. If you know any of this info, please provide it as well:

• Nest h2d
• WPA2
• 13729.57.27
• 1 nest router, 3 nest mesh points.

[Tweak]

For some reason, the thread put hashed out the forty to forty-five feet number for wifi setup question number 2.

[psg]

nest router + 2 points for 3500sqft house 

multiple internet connectivity issues (completely offline) .. that resolve themselves after a few hours (sometimes a day or so) 

started happening a few weeks ago .. have completed factory reset but problem still persisting

[vanfriscia]

Add me to this issue as well.  I had Google WiFi + two points for about five years that worked wonderfully, then a couple months ago it started to get really flaky.  It had a good run, so I figured it was just time to upgrade.  Since the Google system had been so good to me, I got the newer Nest WiFi + 2 points.  Sure enough, though, within a few weeks it was acting just as flaky as my previous Google system.

There's no rhyme or reason to when it happens.  I have gigabit internet, and the speeds coming off the modem are consistently fine - the Google Home app speed test showed speeds of 752/40 last night, but actual WiFi devices were pulling < 1MB from the Nest router.  Sometimes rebooting the router helps, at least temporarily, but not always.  I'm often able to get at least one device working satisfactorily if I set it as the priority device in the Home app.  Also, I can't confirm this, but I THINK that sometimes when the main router is basically worthless, the point upstairs still works OK.  It's very strange.

I find it hard to believe that his has been a problem since September and Google still hasn't found the culprit.  I'm just past the return period on this Nest system and feel quite stuck.  It doesn't seem like anyone here ever got a resolution.  What's the latest on this?

[Lukegmac]

Been having same issue. It's a pain in the A$$. Only way to remediate is factory resetting and resynching all of your devices back to your network which is very time consuming. This should solve for a month or two until it happens again. It's a shame, time to research a better mesh network.

[vanfriscia]

In case this helps anyone else - I disconnected my WiFi points, and since then at least the main Nest router has been working well.  Time will tell if that holds true.  Still though, the reason I got the points in the first place is that the signal is just barely able to reach the edges of my house.  Mesh networks are supposed to solve exactly this problem so I'd hardly call this an acceptable workaround.  The mesh of portion of this mesh system is completely broken.

Not to beat a dead horse, but I really can't believe this has been going on for so long!

EDIT:  Nope, a day later it started happening again even after taking the points out.  So, I factory reset the network figuring that would buy me another couple weeks of trouble-free WiFi...but nope, a few hours later it was the same old story.  Sigh.

[Lukegmac]

It's a firmware issue with the google wifi. Hopefully they will resolve it soon. For those who don't want to wait months, the TP link Deco X60 AX3000 mesh is a better alternative. Easy to set up 7,000 sqft of coverage, network monitoring and a seamless install took 10 minutes. Pleasantly surprised.

[Lukegmac]

7 months later ppl still having issues. I've had my Deco for last 7 months and not one issue. Also integrates well with Starlink terminals just a heads up. Buy a Deco and stop wasting time with your Google wifi. Ethically I can't even give Google mesh system away cause it's defective.

[Gorilem]

This looks a lot like the issue I have been seeing with my Google Wifi mesh as well. I hate the Google mesh more for every day that passes... Still no updates on this issue???...

[bennetyee]

wifi dies.  ethernet ok.  home app on phone cannot reboot nest, because, well, wifi is dead.  have to power cycle.

if only the 192.168.86.1 page would do auth and then allow reboots.  very annoying.

this has been going on on-and-off for pretty much as long as i've had nest.  every month or so, but not consistent time intervals. 

[vanfriscia]

I literally can't believe there's not even a vague estimate of when this might be fixed.  It's been a problem (a rather major problem) since September!  I replaced my Google WiFi with the Nest system because I assumed the problem was my five year old router (admittedly, it had worked really well for those five years)...only to find out that the Nest had the exact same firmware issue, so I ended up spending a couple hundred dollars for nothing.  It's now past its return period.

This isn't a minor glitch that might be acceptable to drag on for months without resolution.  The sole purpose of a mesh WiFi router is to provide expanded WiFi coverage.  It fails at this task multiple times, daily, and yet Google continues to sell it.

I've been all-in with Google for years now - Chromecasts, WiFi, Pixel phones, Google One, Nest home automation - and so often, despite some streaks of awesome, there's just something with each of these that's so dumb that it's just baffling.  This might be the straw that breaks the camel's back.

There was a gentleman on here going by Jeff that seemed to have some inside communication with Google, but he hasn't checked in in a while.  It sure would be nice to hear something.

[Dianajw]

So glad to find this thread.  We have the newer Google Nest router and 2 APs.  Worked fine until recently.  It constantly disappears.  At first we thought it was an ISP issue, then moved on to maybe a DNS issue because pings into the network were working.  We did move one of the APs to a new (more distant) location and since then it has gotten very bad.  So today, we pulled out our old faithful Linksys WRT54 and got things up and running in minutes.  I'm pretty shocked that in 6 months, Google has not managed to fix this.  Babbling APs with weak signals should not bring the mesh down and then the whole internet access.

[ScottW]

Would like to follow this post. Having the same issues which get much worse in hot weather and improve when it cools down. Have had nbn in a few times, nothing wrong from their end. No issues when connected direct to nbn box (fixed wireless) 

[Jhar]

I’ve had this exact same issue starting a few weeks ago. Originally thought this was a lack of mesh coverage, so invested in another point. Now our network is failing at an almost hourly cadence, despite factory resets, hard reset (all cables removed, 3+ minutes lapsed, modem then router then points), and we cannot maintain consistent Wi-Fi. Hardwired devices work perfectly fine, so this continues to be an issue with the Nest network. 

[carterbr1011]

I have just purchased this router with point and I'm concerned that this issue will not be fixed in an update. I saw glowing reviews of the device before sometime around July-September 2021. Is there a serious effort to fix these devices or should I just be returning what appears to be a faulty device due to firmware? (Or if I just do not update my router out of the box April 2022 then will I be okay?)

[vronks]

Is there anyone from Google that could anwser some of these questions? I was thinking to buy Google Nest Wifi, but I'm about to quit that idea, because it's looks like everybody is complaining about the bug and no-one from Google seems to care. 

[ChecksOut]

Please do yourself a favor and avoid Google WiFi products. You will get your heart broken. If you want to give yourself a solid reason to avoid it, try finding out what the specs on the router is. Good luck. They are very hush hush about the specs. 

[Kkessler85]

Same issues here for last 4 or so months. Device worked great for almost 2 years but now its unusable as a Wifi router. My Nest WiFi Points never fully go "Offline" but Wifi sporadically becomes unusable throughout every single day. Wired connections works flawlessly running on my 1GB fiber internet here and wired connected consistently pull those speeds.  Wifi connections however will sporadically throughout everyday dip to unusable speeds. Rebooting points and applying any troubleshooting doesn't seem to help but for a couple minutes maybe. 

Multiple chats with Google support have gotten me nowhere with them usually saying to talk to my ISP.  However if all my wired connections are flawless and nothing constantly works on WiFi it is absolutely isolated to a Google Nest Wifi issue. ISP has been out twice due to this issue and nothing has been found. Google Nest Wifi is a far too expensive router to now be utterly useless for wireless connectivity.

PLEASE SUPPORT YOUR PRODUCT GOOGLE

[chad3]

I finally got fed up and factory reset all my Wi-Fi points and the router. I named my network to something new with a different password. I had to manually add everything back to the network, but has been working flawlessly again like it did when I first bought it. Totally worth the time and effort

[ChecksOut]

Lucky you, I cannot even get the system to reset to factory settings! It lights up when you plug it in and then shuts off. It doesn't even provide any signs of life besides that. AC 1304 is my model. I miss the parental controls.

[kronosodin]

Our nest mesh has been dropping off more than 8-10 times an hour at around 15-30 seconds each time. this has been going on for the last 4 months. Reset everything but still the same. I know its the google nest since we can connect to our router with no hassle and at speeds of around 500mbps. Will change our mesh system to another more reliable one soon enough,

[bennetyee]

I've recently seen wired ethernet stop working, and no wireless failures.

The symptoms are similar -- no connectivity, but occasionally (and rarely) some packets get through.  Just swapping interfaces is not a great fix.

[ChecksOut]

I'm not even sure Google cares, honestly. I bought new WiFi routers that are up to date (Google's WiFi is probably 4 generations behind) I bought WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 is next year. Google's not even at WiFi 5, I bet. They don't even say what standard they use. Is it IEEE 802.11ac perhaps? 

[bennetyee]

did these routers always require the use of a crossover cable to use with an ethernet switch, or does it have auto MDI-X in hardware that was recently disabled by a firmware update?  i was switching stuff around in trying to determine which component might have gone bad, and either i swapped in a regular cable for a crossover cable at one point, or some update frobbed it.  with a crossover cable between the router and the switch, my devices are much happier now.

[masalabee]

I'm not using any crossover cable.  Just regular cable from router to switch.

[bennetyee]

maybe it's your switch that has the MDI-X?  if neither end has it, presumably a crossover would be needed; though if both has MDI-X i wonder if it's a race to see which switches over first.

[doog]

I was having some of the same issues and noticed that my Nest WiFi router was sitting on top of my ATT gateway and was feeling a bit warm.

I rebooted everything and relocated my WiFi router so that it wasn't collecting the heat from the gateway anymore and it is feeling much cooler.  My wifi is much better now after a couple of days.  Not sure this did the trick or not, but so far so good.  

[astronomer_bh]

Just want to add to this thread.  I was having similar issues, and resetting the router to factory settings seems to have (at least for the moment) alleviated any issues.
Specifically my issue was my Nest wifi mesh router system dramatically slowing speeds every hour-ish. I'm talking "loading images line by line" slow (and/or speeds actually going to zero)
Here is what I did:

• Factory reset everything from the Google home app (it's just one button to factory reset all of the points)

• Unplug all the points except the main one.

• Just used the main router for a while and made sure it was fine. (For me the issue was that communication would drop to nothing every hour or so. Frustratingly difficult to test. Most obvious in video calls. I tried to test it by watching livestreamed content). After the factory reset and unplugging everything else, it streamed Twitch with no issues for ~4 hrs and I called that my "test"

• I then plugged in a single remote access point, the one I decided was most important. Currently I'm using my network like that, and the problem seems to have gone away. I'm planning to slowly build the network back out.

Bonus tip: If you name the network exactly the same (capitalization included) and give it the same password, you won't need to reconnect most of your devices.

[Duckboy]

Google needs to fix this even though their wifi6 is coming out soon.  This is ridiculous.   We're dropping connection almost every minite.  Google if ur actually reading this forum (which I doubt) ur losing customers left and right without any remedy to ur own issues.