Nest WiFi ALL DNS not working onboard router sporadically

[tardis89]

I have been having terrible intermittent issues for the past few weeks now where the internet goes out at  my home. It will be out for anywhere from a few minutes to hours at a time sporadically. At first, I thought it was my ISP, but after extensive troubleshooting, I found the issue to actually be related to the DNS settings of the router. I have tried all three settings onboard the router: Automatic, ISP, and Custom (using 8.8.8.8 for primary and 8.8.4.4 for secondary). No matter what the setting, the DNS from the router will still not properly work.

If I set the DNS manually from the devices on my network (iPhone, MacBook Pro, ChromeBook), they will immediately get internet.

My internet is not actually going out, but my router is refusing to properly map the DNS settings to all of the clients on my network. Obviously, it is unrealistic for me to map ALL 60+ devices on my network to manually use the google DNS instead of looking to my router for the DNS address.

Below is the output of my API call to look at my router's DNS settings (http://10.0.1.1/api/v1/status ). I have modified a couple of data points for my own privacy.

{
   "dns": {
      "mode": "custom",
      "servers": [ "8.8.8.8", "8.8.4.4" ]
   },
   "setupState": "GWIFI_OOBE_COMPLETE",
   "software": {
      "blockingUpdate": 1,
      "softwareVersion": "14150.882.9",
      "updateChannel": "stable-channel",
      "updateNewVersion": "0.0.0.0",
      "updateProgress": 0.0,
      "updateRequired": false,
      "updateStatus": "idle"
   },
   "system": {
      "countryCode": "us",
      "groupRole": "root",
      "hardwareId": "MISTRAL D2B-A2A-B3Q-I4C",
      "lan0Link": true,
      "ledAnimation": "CONNECTED",
      "ledIntensity": 22,
      "modelId": "MISTRAL",
      "oobeDetailedStatus": "JOIN_AND_REGISTRATION_STAGE_DEVICE_ONLINE",
      "uptime": 21783
   },
   "vorlonInfo": {
      "migrationMode": "voobed"
   },
   "wan": {
      "captivePortal": false,
      "ethernetLink": true,
      "gatewayIpAddress": "XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX",
      "invalidCredentials": false,
      "ipAddress": true,
      "ipMethod": "dhcp",
      "ipPrefixLength": 20,
      "leaseDurationSeconds": 259200,
      "localIpAddress": "XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX",
      "nameServers": [ "198.88.216.2", "198.88.216.3" ],
      "online": true,
      "pppoeDetected": false,
      "vlanScanAttemptCount": 0,
      "vlanScanComplete": true
   }
}

[Dan_A]

Hi tardis89,

That certainly isn’t the experience we want you to have, and we apologize for the delay. A few questions: are you using a modem/router combo from your Internet Service Provider (ISP)? Which Google/Nest router are we working with? What device are you using to set up your network (iOS or Android)? Do you have the Internet on your modem?
 

You can do a sequential reboot of your entire network and see if that helps, or please perform a 2-minute power cycle on your entire network to re-establish the connection on your connected devices. Here's how: 
 

1. Disconnect the power from the modem.
2. Disconnect the Ethernet cable and power cord from the parent point.
3. Disconnect the power cord from the child points.
4. Leave everything unplugged for 2 minutes.
5. Connect the power cord to the modem then to your router and points.

Also, you can give these steps a try:

1. If you're using a modem/router combo, set that to bridge mode to avoid double NAT issues.
2. 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.
3. Remove any special characters in your network name and password.
4. Turn off IPv6:
   1. Open the Google Home app.
   2. Tap the Wi-Fi coin  and then Settings.
   3. Scroll down and tap Advanced networking.
   4. Scroll down to IPv6.
   5. Toggle the switch off Toggle button off.
5. 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.
6. Unplug the power from your Google Wifi devices for 2 minutes.
7. If the issue persists, try factory resetting your network. Take note that this will delete all network data.

You may skip any step that you’ve done already.

Let us know how it goes.

Best,

Dan