Google wifi unstable connection

[HKO]

Hi.

I bought 4 pucks in summer 2021 for our 4 storey house (############sqm per floor). It has never been smooth sailing. Routers go offline randomly, status on Google Home App mismatching status light on the pucks, mesh test has never been successful. Fiber connection (2.4GHz) from the street is excellent, we even had the telecom company to replace a hardware just to be on the safe side.

My husband and I work from home quite a lot and very often, we both have to video calls on Teams at the same time, and this is often not possible. We often have to turn off videos, and even that is sometimes not enough and one of us ended up using 4G on mobile instead. 

I opened a case with Google customer care and he patiently spent 1.5 hours to troubleshoot step by step to reset every single puck. However problem still persists. CaseID 0-############1548. What more needs to be done? 

[Jeff]

Hi,HKO.

Sorry for the issues you're having with your WiFi connection. That sounds like quite a frustrating experience to have inconsistent performance like that. Let's take a look at things and see how to come up with a fix for you.

You mentioned that you've already been in contact with support and have done quite a bit of troubleshooting. I do have a few questions that might help us get on track with things to try as well.

• Are you seeing the entire network drop at once, or is it a single WiFi point at a time?
• Do you have any preferred activities set up in the Home app, such as video conferencing or gaming?
• Do your mesh tests fail outright, or are you just getting poor performance results on the test?

If you can give me a little more to go on, I'm sure we can get this figured out. I look forward to your response.

Thanks.

[HKO]

Hi Jeff. 
it is often the wifi points at the top floors that drop connection first. The one on the ground floor is more stable than others, but does drop out too frequently to our liking. I can see this on my mobile phone hopping over to 4G. 

No preferred activity is set up in the Home app. 
The mesh test just failed outright every single time “Error occurred during mesh test. Please try again”. Same error and failure even when I brought all 3 points onto the same floor at the main point that has the ethernet cable connection to fiber from the street. Normally the wifi points are placed around the stairwell on different floors so they are as close to each other as possible, in this case vertically. 

Thank you for your attempt to help here. 

[Jeff]

Hey, everyone.

It's been a while since I have been able to touch base here. I wanted to check to see if you were still having this issue so we can pick things back up and look at them again. If you're still seeing the same troubles, please let me know. On the other hand, if all is working now, feel free to update us with what worked for you.

Thanks.

[HKO]

Hi Jeff. About few days after my last reply, all the points were working fine, in fact the best they ever had.

However a few days ago, they started to become unstable again. My teams calls would lose connection, mobile phone dropped off wifi (when it hopped onto 4G automatically), tv streaming impacted, history in Google App showed several wifi offline records in past few days) 

[Jeff]

I'm sorry to hear that HKO. That's frustrating to see it go forward and then fall right back to a problematic state. Is the connection fully dropping out for all devices, or just some? When it drops out, does it come back on its own or are you needing to reboot the network?

[HKO]

Hi Jeff. All devices dropped out. If it’s during day time and it impacts me working from home, I unplugged the network for half an hour and replugged in and it’ll be okay again. Sometimes I only learnt from the priority events in Google Home App that the network went off. In which case it came back by itself. 

[Jeff]

Hi, HKO.

There's an update rolling out to WiFi devices now and it should be hitting your router and points soon. I don't know if that will prove to be the fix here, but I'm hoping it will be. The device will update automatically, so there's nothing you  need to do. If that update rolls onto your network and you are still seeing the same issues after, please let me know and we can pick troubleshooting back up.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hey, HKO.

Just as some added info, the update version for both Google WiFi and Nest WiFi will be 14150.43.80. If you are seeing a different version number when you check in Google Home, you have yet to receive the updated firmware. Let me know if you have any questions about that.

Thanks.

[HKO]

Hi Jeff. Thanks for the note. My software is still on version 13729.57.27. Will check again and report back when it is upgraded. Wifi is on-off again lately. 

[Jeff]

Hopefully this proves to be the fix. I'm sorry that you're still seeing that fluctuation. Thanks for hanging in there, HKO.

[lusilver]

Just FYI, my software version is also still at 13729.57.27. and am looking forward the new build. Will it be automatically pushed to our devices or we need to manually update them? 

[HKO]

Hi Jeff. My software has been  updated since few days ago. Wifi was very unstable yesterday. Today it works fine. Will continue to report if there is issue. 

[Jeff]

Thanks for the update, HKO.

lusilver, the update will download and install automatically. There's nothing you'll need to do in order to receive it.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hey, everyone.

At this point everyone should have the update. If you haven't seen it install, go ahead and try power cycling your network. Once you've done that, let me know if you see any continued problems with your network.

Thanks.

[lusilver]

I am having the same issue - I'm on Google meet 8 to 10 hours a day. When on Google Meet the connection becomes unstable (has been happening about half the time in the past two weeks), I've had to run a hard wire to the laptop being used. When testing the Mesh later using the Google Home app it never is able to complete the test and shows, "Error occurred during Mesh test [line break] Please try again". This is repeatable. 

My main mesh router is wired into the AT&T DSL modem/router and is about 2 feet from my laptop, so I was surprised that the connection was unstable at this distance. 

We also have two TVs that seem to work well on the mesh. One is on the same floor where the main mesh router is. Every few weeks we have problems with the second TV that is connected to the wifi point, but because the TVs buffer the content it's hard to tell how often this is happening. On the video conferencing, as mentioned, there are more problems, but it is also connected and sitting right next to the Nest router. 

I should note that we show about 25 devices online at any one time. 

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. 

Lu

[robertami8019]

I've just started to experience this problem in the last two weeks. "Unstable Connection" throughout video calls. Software updated to v14150.43.81.  We have the router and two points (one on each floor) in our 1600sqft home, and they worked perfectly for the last year. Then this happened. When I run internet speed test, I get ripping hot speeds. When I run the mesh test, it comes back as "great connection." I've even connected the point in my office by ethernet cable. What else can I try?

[jsroberts]

We are having the same problem! When using router & 1 point it's definitely worse. So we only use the router still have issues just not as bad. Our home is 1200 sq ft with the master bedroom in a former garage, so wall is a thicker but our renter had to hard wire his game console he wasn't able to play his online games in his room. Yes I'm configured for gaming & video conferencing. We also had to hard wire our livingroom tv and it has an unobstructed line of site to the router! 

[johnnyla]

This fixed it for me:

- Disabled IP v6

- Used custom DNSes 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4

[AbigailF]

Hey folks,

@johnnyla, thanks for letting us know about the steps that helped fix your issue. That will greatly help other Community members that may be seeking answers regarding this issue.
To everyone else, I wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help. Please let me know if you are still having any concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Thanks,
Abi

[HKO]

Hi Abi. Thanks for checking in. Though problems occur less frequently now, it is not 100% reliable all the time. Sometimes connections on individual devices stall. We have two iPads, two mobile phones, one laptop, a TV, a speaker in the house. Usually 2-3 devices are being used and we do not game, thus definitely not heavy usage. 

[AbigailF]

Hi everyone,

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

Best, 
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hey folks,

We’d like to check in again in case you have any further questions or concerns. Feel free to reply to this thread and we’ll help you out.

Regards, 
Abi

[TheParisi]

Yes, still having issues! I lose connection every 5-10 mins for like 30secs at a time. When it goes out, my browser says the network might have changed. I have two mesh routers, are they like fighting with each other or something??

[AbigailF]

Hi TheParisi,

I’m sorry you’re also having this issue. To confirm, could you explain your network topology? What did you mean by two mesh routers? Do you have two separate Wi-Fi networks in your home? We’ll wait for your reply.

Thanks,
Abi

[TheParisi]

I don't know the correct IT lingo... I only have (or am trying to have) just one wifi network. I have two of the model AC-1304. In the Google home app, one is labeled the "Nest Wifi Router" and the other is labeled "Nest Wifi Point". At first, I only had the one router, but added the second point because the wifi signal couldn't reach my whole house (ranch style).

[AbigailF]

Hey TheParisi,

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.
• Turn off IPv6.
• 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.
• Unplug the power from your Google Wifi devices for 2 minutes.
• If the issue persists, try factory resetting your network. Take note that this will delete all network data.
   

Let us know how it goes.

Best,
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hi again TheParisi,

Chiming in to see if you still need assistance with this. Hope the previous post helped. Let us know if you have additional questions ― we'd love to help.

Regards,
Abi

[TheParisi]

IPv6 is off and I changed the DNS server as you suggested, but the issue continues. I don't understand, the issue is only with our two windows based laptops. Our pixel phones, IPads, and Kindle have zero issues staying connected. They never drop once. But our windows based laptops can't hold a connection if lives depended on it. My wife has online tests for nursing school, so we've had to run an Ethernet from our main modem to the office so she can hardwire or she couldn't function online. And for the record, the laptops never lose Internet connection when hardwired to through Ethernet to the modem connected to my ISP. So I have to believe is the Google mesh router that's the issue.

[TheParisi]

And for clarity (I hope) I have a modem the I purchased separately, not supplied by the ISP. Then I have an Ethernet cable run to the first Google mesh router (that's set to NAT mode) then from that first mesh router I have another Ethernet cable run to my second Google mesh router (set to bridge mode). My Google home app says that the bridge and Nat modes are set automatically. Then from the second Google mesh router I have an Ethernet cable run directly to a laptop. So when the laptop is connected via Ethernet hardline, it never looses connection. But when we disconnect the Ethernet cable, the wifi connection cycles like crazy. Just on and off, on and off. We can't do any online work while connected to WiFi 

[AbigailF]

Hi TheParisi,
 

Thanks for the update. A few questions: has this Windows device been able to connect to the network in the past? Does this issue affect 1 Windows device or all Windows devices on the network? What version of Windows is your computer running?

Thanks,
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hello there TheParisi,

It's me again. Are you still having issues with your connection? Let us know by replying to this thread so we can continue helping you out.

Cheers,
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hi everyone,

I'm just checking in to make sure that you've seen our response. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours.

Thanks,
Abi

[LovelyM]

Hello HKO,

We appreciate the update and we're sorry that the issue continues. Go ahead and toggle the Nest Wifi cloud services off then on. Here's how: open the Google Home app > Tap Wi-Fi and then Settings > Select Privacy Settings > Disable the Nest Wifi cloud services then enable it. Afterwards, restart your entire network and let me know how it goes. 

Cheers,
Lovely

[LovelyM]

Hi HKO, 

I'm checking in to see if you were able to do the steps above. I want to make sure everything is covered on your end, so let me know if you still need help.

Best, 
Lovely

[LovelyM]

Hey HKO, 

It's been a few days since your last reply — we're going to lock the thread within 24 hours. If you have further concerns, please feel free to create a new post.

Regards, 
Lovely

[TheParisi]

I've had very unstable connection over the past couple of days between my laptop to my google google mesh wifi routers. Like my laptop losing connection every 5-10 mins. I just "toggled the Nest Wifi cloud services off then on" and then restarted the entire network as you stated above. I'll let you know if it worked.

FYI: My routers currently have software version 14150.376.32

[TheParisi]

Yup still having issues! This is VERY frustrating. It's kicked me off three times in a matter of 10mins. I'm only offline for 30 seconds or so, but it's long enough to throw off everything I'm working on. I actually have to make this comment on my phone because the connection won't last long enough to type this. I'm seriously on the verge of throwing these routers in the garbage and going with something more reliable 

[HKO]

Hi Abi. It has been quite stable the last 4 weeks. But last week, the routers went offline a few times and came back online on their own.