Nest WiFi Pro issue with Pixel 6a

[Darrsil]

Installed my Nest WiFi Pro today and outside of some hiccups I was pretty pleased with it. However shortly into using it we discovered that it doesn't play nice with my wife's Pixel 6a. It will connect and work fine for a bit, but eventually it will slow to a crawl and stop working even though it says it's still connected to WiFi. 

Only fix for it is to forget the network in Android settings and rejoin, but after a short while the same thing happens again. Had no problems with the Pixel 6a on my old Google WiFi.

Anyone else experience this and if so, find any solutions?

[olavrb]

Have you tried to enable WPA3 for Nest Wifi?

Google Home -> Wi-Fi (icon) -> Settings (icon) -> Advanced networking.

WPA2 will still be available for older devices, but WPA3 seems to be a requirement to fully utilize Wi-Fi 6E, based on other threads on the same topic.

[Darrsil]

Tried enabling WPA3 this morning, Pixel 6a seems to be ok but now my Pixel 7 is having similar issues. Really thinking this router is trash. 

[olavrb]

You've forgot the network on Pixel 7 after you enabled WPA3, then added it again?

Have you disabled MAC randomization? Could have an impact too.

Here are a different thread about issues with Pixel 7, they said enabling WPA3 helped:

• https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Wifi/Can-t-connect-to-Nest-Wi-Fi-Pro-on-6-GHz/m-p/275241

There you can also see details about how to contact Nest support for Nest Wifi, and/ or Pixel support.

Since enabling WPA3 maybe wasn't enough for you, I escalated this thread in hope of getting some official answers.

[Darrsil]

I did forget and reconnect to my network. I just disabled MAC Randomization and so far holding steady - will report back if there are issues. 

[olavrb]

Since my last reply I've also learned that WPA3 is required for Wi-Fi 6E / 6ghz.

• https://kb.netgear.com/000064271/What-is-required-to-use-WiFi-6E

Strange that it's not enabled by default for new Nest Wifi Pro networks, because you never disabled it?

[Darrsil]

Internet lasted a while but eventually came to a crawl again on my wife's Pixel 6a, with WPA3 enabled and MAC Randomization disabled. Not cool, Google. 

[Darrsil]

Per Twitter, Google says they are aware of this and working on a fix. They would not provide an ETA when asked, but hopefully soon.

[Jhonleanmel]

Hey folks,

Thanks for the help, @olavrb.

@Darrsil, could you send the link for the tweet you saw about this?

Thanks,

Mel

[Darrsil]

Sure:

https://twitter.com/madebygoogle/status/1589635353480400896?t=s2ykLEl8XWP3ubjWz-mrzw&s=19

[Jhonleanmel · Accepted solution]

Hi Darrsil,

Thanks for flagging reduced internet speeds on Nest Wifi Pro routers. The issue appears to be affecting a small number of users.
If you're also experiencing this behavior, feel free to add your report in the comments below and stay tuned to this community thread for updates.

Best,

Mel

[Darrsil]

Just a note, the issue isn't the same as getting reduced speeds - it's the total halt of connection on Pixel phones. 

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi Darrsil,

I understand, thanks for clarifying. For now, our team is still looking into this.

Best,

Mel

[ScottJenson]

Trying to "reply correctly" so pardon the duplicate. I too have exactly the same issue. Nest Wifi Pro (which works fine for every device in my home EXCEPT my pixel) and a Pixel 6. The pixel can connect to the Nest Wifi Pro but the connection speeds are horrible (<70kb/sec) The Home app shows my 2 Nest Pro Wifi devices but can't actually connect to them. If I reboot the phone, things work great (I get >500mb/sec downloads) but only for a short time (~ 1 hour) then the data strangulation reappears) I'm rebooting my phone 3 times a day now. It's pretty bad. I'm guessing this is just some odd setting in the Nest I need to tweak. I hope this gets some more attention. I work for Google, in the Android Team, my LDAP is scottj so please feel free to contact me if you'd like a bug report or additional info.

[ScottJenson]

I too am experiencing this but with a pixel 6. What's odd is that after rebooting it works for a while but at some random point it switches over to slow mode. In addition, the nest wifi pro doesn't connect in the Google home app. I do work for Google so I'm happy to do any additional testing but reports of that would help. My ldap is scottj

[StephaneBdx]

Hi guys, I'm also experimenting the same problem with my son's Pixel 6a and an my AP Google Nest Wifi Pro.  It's just impossible to have a stable wifi connection.... For example, to download the november's patch, it took more than 1 hour...  And it's not possible to download the december's patch (more than 500MB).

[ScottJenson]

There is a new Pixel update that dropped yesterday. I downloaded it and it fixed this problem for me. It appears to be a Pixel issue and not a Nest Pro Wifi issue.

[Jeff]

Thanks for the heads up, ScottJenson.

To everyone else still seeing this problem, can you check to see if your Pixel device has any available updates or to see if you're already on the latest firmware?

Thanks,
Jeff

[Jeff]

Hey all,

I just wanted to follow up once more to see if you were still needing some help here. If so, just let us know.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Jhonleanmel]

Hi everyone,

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