Google Nest Wifi Packet Loss

[Alex4]

Hi,

During mid Dec (~12/20), I have been experiencing frequent wifi instability. Packet loss (~30 seconds) for every 10 to 15 minutes of good connection. This is very noticeable for latency sensitive activities (playing games, discord, etc). 

Some background on the setup:

- ISP: Sonic Fiber

- It is a Nest Wifi Router + 1 point combo. Device uses TP-link Archer T4U Plus wifi adapter.

- Router is 1 room away from the point, and the device used is in the same room as the point.

- Router Model: H2D, Software version: 13729.57.27

- Point Model: H2E, Software version: 1.54.275951

- Issue happens even when there's only 1 device connected to the wifi (directly to router and/or point).

Tried many fixes:

- Restart network, Reset wifi adapter (failed to resolve the issue)

- Turned off Nest Cloud Service (suggested by some forum, helped a bit the packet loss happen less often but still comes back every 40 to 60 minutes).

- Power cycle both router, point, and the ONT provided by Sonic which connects to the router. (failed to resolve the issue)

- Disconnected the point (the packet loss issue went away for couple days and came back on 1/3, I suspect it was due to device switching back and forth between connecting to the point and router. However currently the issue is reoccurring even when only the router was used and point is unplugged)

- Called Sonic ISP to reset on their side (MAC table etc), still no help.

Read many forums and this seems like an issue that exist in Nest Wifi for a long time?

Purchased the device and the adapter during Black Friday and there wasn't any issue using it until some time around 12/20.

I think some forum also mentioned that the Nest devices sends a huge chunk of packets every once a while which could cause the connection to be dropped on all device for a brief period of time. This description somewhat seems like it could cause the issue I am having but not sure how to confirm this.

It was frustrating using Nest Wifi at this point. Did not have issue using Netgear router (provided by Sonic ISP) before.

Is this a known issue with an ongoing fix?

[DSPoh]

I have not tried a Wireshark analysis, but happy to if you can provide instruction. 

[Vilayanur]

Google nest when do you plan  to fix this? 

[mashhadi18]

Same problem here. I returned two Nest WiFis to Costco and chatted with Google about my package lost problem. They examined my router carefully and sent me a replacement. I just received the third Nest WiFi router and started pinging 8.8.8.8. 

Still have package lost issue!

Note that I have three points spread throughout my house.

[Justinmurray]

Google…when will you fix this issue? After 2 years of stability, the last month has been unbearable. We need an immediate fix 

[lord_nosey]

I've been experiencing these issues the past month. I used to have a stable connection, now my Zoom and Teams calls have connection drops every 10-15 minutes. It's absolutely unbearable. Direct connections to my Uverse gateway prove it's not my ISP or gateway's fault, but something with Nest wifi.

I've got family members complaining to me – the pseudo-Internet expert - about their unstable connections for weeks and it's driving me insane. I'm about ready to dump this system. It's unacceptable.

[Jeff]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the issues you're seeing with connection hiccups and packet loss. I'm sure that's been quite frustrating to deal with. I have a few things to have you check and report back to help us start to narrow down possible causes.

• Are you using a VPN or web filtering service?
• Do you have IPv6 enabled in your advanced network settings in the Home app?
• Does anything change for wired connections vs. wireless connections?
• Do you see the drops on specific devices or is it across all connected network devices?
• Do you have WPA3 security enabled?

If you can give me any more info you feel is relevant, it would be greatly helpful. 

Thanks,

Jeff

[MG7]

Interesting observation. I changed Internet Provider and the protocol from DHCP to PPoE and the problem disappeared.

[robert-66]

I logged this bug with more info in March!

https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/223970159

Has more info

I worked around the issue by using a ethernet connection to my workstation

[Lelander]

• Are you using a VPN or web filtering service?
  • No
• Do you have IPv6 enabled in your advanced network settings in the Home app?
  • No, but have just enabled this. Guess it's off by default? Will see if these changes things
• Does anything change for wired connections vs. wireless connections?
  • No, I plugged in overnight and left ping logging to a text file and had ~150 packets lost over 8 hours, in clusters of 2-10 packets at a time. Not a lot but will kill a video call.
• Do you see the drops on specific devices or is it across all connected network devices?
  • I've tested on 3: 2 Win laptops and a TV and all experiencing it.
• Do you have WPA3 security enabled?
  • No

I narrowed it down to the G WiFi router by logging pings to various points and seeing where dropouts occurred. I experience packet loss just running pings to the router gateway IP, and these correspond with hiccups/drops in streaming conference calls and video.

[PA514]

Hi Alex,

I have been experiencing this issue as well.

Here is what I have noticed:

I have a monitoring system on a wired system, my servers that are connected by wire to a switch are not affected at all.

All of my wireless devices are impacted. What I see is that a few times a day the ping time starts going up between 2000 and 10000ms with mostly timeouts in between.

I have the latest Firmware 14150.43.81, am not using WPA3, IPV6 enabled, UPnP disabled.

[Jeff]

Hey everyone,

Sorry for the slow progress on this issue. I do have a bit of an update, however. Rolling out now is a new firmware to the Nest WiFi and Google WiFi devices. The firmware is aimed at improving several aspects of the mesh network performance. While I can't say for sure if it will clear up this issue or not, that update will be coming soon and hopefully we see a fix for this included there. I don't have the new firmware version number yet, but if you are on 14150.43.81, you still haven't received the newest version. I myself am waiting for it still on my devices. If you have any questions about the update, let me know.

Thanks,

Jeff

[Jeff]

Thanks for the info, Lelander. That's definitely helpful and insightful.

I'm going to raise the issue with an internal team to get more insight on this. For anybody else that has any additional observations from troubleshooting, please feel free to share them here in the meantime.

Thanks,

Jeff

[robert-66]

I have complete packet captures - the mesh node cripples the wifi mesh by sending out Linux Packet Generator bursts - see above or bug for more info

Sort of crazy that Google isn't over this or at least providing info. 

[artisticcheese]

When you mentioned cripples the wifi mesh does it mean it affects only WiFi connected devices or wired too? In my case I'm hardwired and still see occasional latency spikes

[syorke]

I'm wired into the router with the same issues, seems to be a routing issue.

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi syorke,

Thanks for the update and your patience. Once the update rolls out, we will need to check if your network will still have the same packet loss issue.

Best,

Mel

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi syorke,

I hope you've got the answer you're looking for and thanks for the patience. If you're still in need of any assistance, feel free to let us know. 

Best,
Mel

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi syorke,

Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.

Thanks,

Mel

[Jeff]

Hi all,

I'm just checking in to see if you all saw the news of the new firmware release going out. People should start seeing that hitting their devices throughout the month. I'll update again once I have the version number for the update.

[syorke]

I hope this fixes the issue. It's beyond frustrating. 

[Jhonleanmel]

Hey syorke,

We hear you ― I suggest that you send feedback by following this link. Every bit of feedback helps a ton .

Cheers,

Mel

[syorke]

I've connected my pc to the wired port on the google nest wifi device and no change to packet loss. So frustrating as I have the 3 pack, it was expensive but is now unreliable/unusable.

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Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=11ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=57
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Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=57
Request timed out.
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=57
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Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=57
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Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=14ms TTL=57
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Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=22ms TTL=57
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Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=12ms TTL=57
Reply from 1.1.1.1: bytes=32 time=13ms TTL=57

[Jhonleanmel]

Hey syorke,

Thanks for the effort and I'm sorry for the inconvenience this has caused you.

The update could land any day. You won't need to do anything to receive the update, it will download and install automatically for you. If you have other questions, let me know. 

Thanks, 

Mel

[Fjeldstad]

Seeing the same issue as above, since a couple of days ago. Have also tried restarting/resetting Google Wifi devices with no improvement. I did experience wired connection as stable when doing a quick test...but wifi is all but unusable. 

[MG7]

Hi, have the same, most noticeable with Zoom. 80+% packet loss. Unworkable. My hunch is it has something to do with incompatible security settings. Thoughts?

[Vilayanur]

I’ve got so frustrated I’m switching to TP-link. Unf Google has dissapointed me .  Crap mesh router now and even their other devices don’t seem to

work so well.. time to switch …

[spieges]

I'm seeing the same exact issue that everyone is talking about here.    I'm running 14150.43.81.  I thought this was supposed to be fixed?  This setup has ran fine for years for me and only recently started with this random packet loss every 5 to 10 minutes or so.  Please google fix this.

[Vilayanur]

Problem solved!!!! 
Step 1: Disconnect all Google mesh  routers

Step2:  Dump Google mesh routers into trash

step3:  replace with TPLink deco mesh

Enjoy clean and fast internet speeds!!!

Google is way too rich and doesn’t care really about its customers anymore …