How to schedule reboot of Google Wi-Fi

[DoubleOhZero]

The forced migration to the Google Home app (which is an inferior version of the Google Wi-Fi app) seems to have been the turning point when my rock solid Google mesh turned to sludge. Nothing I can do about that since Google isn't listening to anyone.

I've seen hundreds of these posts asking for help with speed degradation in Google Wi-Fi and Google Nest routers. What I haven't seen are any answers. As simple fix would be a way to schedule a reboot, since rebooting every day or two is what I'm doing manually right now. So... How can I schedule a reboot. The logical solution would be to set up a routine in the Google Home app, but the option seems to be completely missing. Is there a way to send an HTTPS POST to the router to request a reboot? I'm assuming that's how the Google Home app requests a reboot. 

[mschwarzzz]

Hey Google, for all of us like DoubleohZero who have set up store-bought timers to turn off power/turn power back on after a minute on our Google Wifi devices late at night, why not add a reboot scheduler to your app as suggested above.   Seems like a good work around while you continue to ignore the hundreds/thousands of us that have shared our frustrations with you not fixing the slow wifi speeds of your products.  (and Mel - please don't even think of replying to this thread)

[AbigailF]

Hey folks,

I'm sorry to hear that you have issues with your Google Wifi network. This is not the experience that we'd like you to have. May I know all the other troubleshooting steps you've tried so we can check if there is anything else that isn't exhausted yet?

Also, we appreciate your interest, but we don't have any news to share about a scheduled reboot feature for Google Wifi networks. We're always looking for ways to improve and we'll take it as feedback. I also suggest that you send feedback by following this link. 

Best,
Abi

[RomanSeano]

We bought our Google Mesh 3-pack in September. We noticed a couple of access points go offline randomly early on, but figured it was a fluke.

November was the month of reckoning. Access points falling offline, extreme throttles to outright disconnects of Windows PC's (but nothing else - ?) ... the solution, after combing forums like these, always power reset the router. 

Then I see that these issues have been going on for the past YEAR without an actual solution, just with people in your shoes, having to tell consumers it's all being discussed, that these things take time, and to please wait.

All said and done, we need to power reset our router at least 3 times a week. Last week, I ordered a TP-Link mesh 3-pack to replace the Google mesh. It's too late to return the Google set, so I figured it's an expensive loss. If I'd only combed these forums before....

Today I see here DoubleOhZero mention a no-brainer workaround: a scheduled daily reboot of the router. No, it doesn't reveal the actual problem behind the random drops associated with Google Wifi Mesh, but it solves the CUSTOMER's problem - which should be Google's number one concern. It clearly isn't, based on your most recent reply.

Yet Google takes the money for these products with problems, problems they know about but haven't fixed... for at least an entire year.... even though there's an easy, brilliant solution standing right in front of them. I can't tell if it's a woeful disregard for the consumers who support them, or just a mind-numbingly stupid (lack of) response. But it must be one, and neither is "good."

I'm going to look into the solution mschwarzzz posted (a hardware-based timer reset - thank you!) as a way to salvage the otherwise regrettable purchase of Google Wifi Mesh we made only a few months ago. If fairness prevailed, Google should be reimbursing everyone for their expenses incurred in implememting such a "reboot timer" method, all so Google's product can operate stably as it's supposed to.

A final note - I don't get why there's a timer to lock these threads, other than hoping to shut down informative discussion that's perhaps unfavorably revealing about the Wifi Mesh's performance. It seems ironic that Google places a 24-hour reset mechanism on the Nest forum, while it won't bother doing it for the actual product.

[AbigailF]

Hi RomanSeano,

Thanks for posting — we’re sorry to hear about your experience.

I understand that you’ve replaced your previous Google Wifi system with a different one already. If you change your mind, we’re always here to help out. We’ll help you troubleshoot if you haven’t done that yet. If the issue persists after those steps, we’ll escalate your case to the right team to make sure we’re able to resolve your issue.

We truly take into consideration each feedback we receive so that we’re able to provide better products for you, our customers. This is why we always suggest sending feedback so that our product development team can understand your needs better and in turn improve your overall experience. To send us feedback, you can check this link.

Regards,

Abi

[RomanSeano]

Since it was unopened, I returned the TP-Link mesh system after purchasing a digital outlet timer to power-cycle the Nest router every 24 hours (as suggested above) - $20 cost on Amazon.

Sure enough, for the last 7 days, the problems have ceased.

I'll send this thread's URL to the link you provided.

[DoubleOhZero]

I can't believe you would chime in on this thread like this is a brand new issue. There are HUNDREDS of posts on this issue going back more than a year. As I mentioned, it all fell apart when Google forced us to migrate from the Google WiFi app to the Google Home app. Therefore, I would suggest that the problem was introduced by Google Home.

Stop pretending to "troubleshoot" individual cases like they are anomalies, and just fix the problem you introduced with Google Home!

[AbigailF]

Hello everyone,

@RomanSeano, we're sad to see you go. If ever you change your mind, we're here to help. Thanks for sending in your feedback.
@DoubleOhZero, I understand that the issue is still ongoing and we’d like to help you out. We totally get that troubleshooting can be frustrating, but these are the most helpful steps to figure out what's going on with your system. You mentioned that there is speed degradation since you switched to Google Home app. We normally do troubleshooting steps relating to speed issues and if it persists, we escalate the case to our senior support. If you’d like to go this route, feel free to let us know the troubleshooting steps you’ve done aside from rebooting so we can better help you. We’ll also need to know if you’re using a Google Wifi, Nest Wifi or Nest Wifi Pro router and point mesh system. We’ll wait for your update.
 

Best,
Abi

[RomanSeano]

🤔  But I didn't "go."

I said I returned the TP-Link system, KEPT the Google Wifi Mesh, and am using a digital outlet timer to power-cycle the Google router on and off every 24 hours ($20 cost to me)... and since doing that, the problems have resolved. 

There is merit to the idea of the Google router resetting every 24 hours.

[AbigailF]

Hey RomanSeano,

My apologies. Thank you for clarifying. The idea of having a scheduled timer to power cycle your Google Wifi router on the Google Home app is indeed helpful. We are thankful for the feedback you sent. Feel free to let us know if you're still having issues. We'll keep this thread open for a few days so you can report back to us. 

Cheers,
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hi RomanSeano,

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.

Thanks, 
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hey everyone,

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within 24 hours. If you have any new issues, updates or just a discussion topic, feel free to start a new thread in the Community.

Best, 
Abi

[DoubleOhZero]

I was sure I posted a reply, but I don’t see it here, so…

I followed some troubleshooting advise from another thread to disable the priority activities (I had video conferencing prioritized). It’s been stable for over a week now, so you can tell your developers that’s likely where the memory leak is.

[RomanSeano]

For what it's worth, mine never utilized any priority settings - but still suffered the weekly incidents of access points going offline, and/or certain devices being knocked off & unable to reconnect to the network (whole others remained connected). 

What truly seems to have resolved it, so far, is the nightly power-cycle of the router. Going on 3 weeks without a hiccup!

[Jeff]

Hey everyone,

I am submitting to our teams your request to see a reset option added to the network. While that doesn't mean they will add the feature, they do read the feature requests and take them into account for future updates. The bigger problem, I feel, is getting to the bottom of the reason why the resets are necessary to get your network speeds in line with expectation. If there are any other details from your situation that you haven't shared yet, please do so and we can continue to try and understand what's happening.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Jeff]

Hey everyone,

It looks like we've slowed down here. We'll be closing up the thread in the next day unless anyone else has any input or needs anything else. If so, just let me know and we can keep this open a bit longer.

Thanks,
Jeff

[fruga]

Does this mean you added a "Schedule Reboot" option in the app??  That is awesome, where do I find it?  Thanks!

[DoubleOhZero]

Perhaps it's "slowed down" because this feels like beating a dead horse. How much feedback does Google need before they actually DO something. This will be done either when this gets fixed, or when the last person gives up and throws away their Google hardware.

[Jeff]

Hey everyone,

Just to circle back on the feedback process on this a bit, I can bring it up with our teams once more how a reset option would be helpful. They do read and consider all the feedback sent through, and you can send it in yourself through the Home app. I would urge you all to request the feature if you haven't done so. Even so, I would like to what's causing the slowdown over time, and if anyone is interested in continuing to troubleshoot that more, I'll be happy to pick that up again with you. Please feel free to let me know if you're open to trying more steps.

Thanks,
Jeff

[RomanSeano]

The one distinctive thing I can offer (from our home's experience) is that on at least two occasions, it took all our Windows 11 PC's off the network and rendered them unable to connect, until a network restart was performed. But it did not seem to affect other devices. 

IIRC, it even affected an ethernet connected PC. 

On one other occasion, it affected both Android smartphones and PC devices. 

The few other occasions involved one of the other access points randomly going off line. (We have two, plus the main router.)

Also of note, we have a sub-network secondary to the Nest, used in our ADU / Casita (second house). This subnetwork was unaffected by the incidents - only that it obviously had to cut off temporarily when the Nest Wifi's main network had to restart. 

Again, with the daily restart, the problems have mostly subsided. ONE TIME last week, one of the access points went off line in the evening. Restarting that access point corrected the issue.

[wpoole8]

i will submit on the home app.

[Jeff]

Thanks for the added info, RomanSeano. Lots of interplay is happening, but nothing there that should be causing such regular problems.

I'll talk more to my internal team members and will circle back soon.

Thanks,
Jeff

[RomanSeano]

Here's input I can offer: In the two months since I installed the timer to power-cycle the router once every night, not a single connection issue. Everything has been fine. 

Except that no Google Wifi Mesh user should have (had) to pay for the timer and expend the effort of setting it up. 

[Chrispua]

Likewise me, my smart plug is programed to restart my Google nest router. And since then I don't have any connections issues. But you are spot on, we should not be the one paying the price

[PhillyMontana]

What are you talking about. We are all replying! 

[RomanSeano]

Might Google want to reimburse or credit me the $18.72 ($15.99 + tax) I spent for the reset timer I purchased to successfully remedy these issues?  I'm happy to email the receipt!

https://amazon.com/gp/product/B086DN9QT3 

[wpoole8]

I have had the $20 timer rebooting my google mesh router every night for about 9 months and it helps but does not solve the issue always. About once very month or everything grinds to slow pagce and I have to go to the app to have it do a restart of all the mesh units. I  have 9 of them and I don't exactly want to buy 9 timers to reset them all when software could do this so simply.  The app-based reset seems to solve the problem and it's only a real issue when I'm on the road and my wife can't do the reset.

[Chrispua]

I totally agree with you. I've also ordered a smart plug to reset my Google Nest. Hope that will resolve the issue. Yes, Google should reimburse us for the additional hardware cost we spent to resolve an issue that Google seems not to be able to resolve for over a year.

[mschwarzzz]

Hey Abi, I'm not sure you've been reading through this community blog site before you talk about stopping this thread.   All of the suggestions made in this forum have not worked for us (sending in forms, turning off video conference/gaming priority, blahblah) except for all of us consumers that have bought a digital power timer to reboot our systems nightly.   How about asking management to approve to sending us a link to return our Google WiFi products and get a reimbursement?  Or at least get the developers to add a nightly reboot script option as a feature "upgrade" that we can configure via the Home wifi app - can you give us a status of that simple suggestion?  

[fruga]

yes please update the app to be able to schedule a daily reboot.   This is terrible.  I used to recommend google mesh to everyone, now I am embarrassed to have done so.

[chriskeeble]

Could not agree more - Back in 2013/14 I was recommending Google so much, and in the last 2-3 years I've become highly embarrassed to have any Google products or services at all.  I  actively look for alternatives at every opportunity.

And I'm SO fed up with seeing Google services preaching climate "crisis" and COVID BS, censoring and demonetising people (YouTube) and generally focussing on anything except what they USED to be good at - technology.

Google = Woke, useless, pathetic.

[wpoole8]

ditto!!

[Asbjørn]

This really need a solution, but it's just a drop in the ocean of problems that never seem to get fixed. I'm just about done with Google. God I hate the fact that I wasted, who know how much money, for over 50 nest products. 

[Arpiea]

Is there any ETA on the schedule reset? All the other Mesh systems, out there, have this option from the day 1 and you guys need the community to tell you that you need to add it. How pathetic is this? 

[Asbjørn]

Google obviously have no intention of fixing their broken ecosystem. Everything gets worse with every update. 

[Arpiea]

Totally agree! How despicable and arrogant on Google part to treat with so much disrespect their entire community. How do they think people would still buy their crappy systems when they careless about a simple feature. It beats me! 

[JMagg]

Bought and installed the 3 pack 7 days ago, and the same night of the install 1 of the point totally stopped responding. This has happened 3 times this week. I've made all the recommended dns changes, but nothing works. Only thing that works is a reboot of the point, and sometimes the router.  Regret not looking at these posts before buying!! What is happening google? Surely you can not ignore these problems. WE NEED A FIX PLEASE.

[Cannon]

Come on Google, just add the feature.

[Charezza]

I'm in the same boat. Even just add it so that it's a command to reset the router and I'll make it an automation through the home app.

[BrokenNestWifi]

I'll chime in that I have to frequently run the soft reset as well. Sometimes it's days apart, but today I had to do it twice. Extremely disappointed.