Nest WiFi Pro wired connection - difference between good and great connection

[krroller]

I recently installed a Nest WiFi Pro 3 pack to replace a Nest WiFi system using 3 routers (and not 1 router with 2 points) in order to leverage a wired backhaul.  My Nest WiFi always showed a "great connection" for the wired configuration.  On Nest WiFi Pro the app sometimes shows a "good connection" and other times shows a "great connection" for the same wired configuration.   

What does a good connection vs great connection imply and why would it change when using a wired connection?

[MichaelP]

Hello @krroller 

I don't know what the exact threshold for this is, but when I've seen wired secondaries drop back from "great" to "good", it is often an indication that the Ethernet cabling is having trouble maintaining a 1Gbps connection and is falling back to 100Mbps operation.

[krroller]

Thanks for the insight.  I would be inclined to think that might be it if it were not for the fact that the cabling is only a few months old and that the Nest WiFi system did not do this with the exact same infrastructure.  It seems to be related to the Nest WiFi Pro.  I can also monitor this on the switch itself to see the connection is showing as 1Gbps.

[MichaelP]

It's still worth testing more thoroughly. I would run a mesh test and then check the info tab in the Google Home app for one of the WiFi devices currently connected to that wired secondary. Scroll down to the bottom and there should be several speeds. The middle one will be how fast that secondary was able to talk to the primary during the most recent mesh test. It should be several hundred megabits per second. If it's just under 100, then focus on the cabling.

[krroller]

I did this, and as expected the WiFi device connected to the wired point device has a connection exceeding 100 Mbps.  Also confirming the Nest WiFi (as opposed to the Nest Wifi Pro) system did not have this issues and always showed a great connection.   
I disconnected my Nest Wifi Pro system and put the Nest Wifi back into production and everything returned to normal speeds.  The issue is very clearly the Nest Wifi Pro hardware/firmware and definitely not the local infrastructure.

[Jeff]

Hey krroller,

It looks like we got a few answers to your question in here from the community. Before I mark this one as resolved, I wanted to check in and see if you needed anything else or had any other questions. If so, just let us know.

Thanks,

Jeff

[krroller]

Thanks for asking before marking this resolved/answered.   The issue is not resolved.   

There were suggestions to look at my cabling and network infrastructure, but that is all fine.  I swapped the Nest Wifi Pro out for the original Nest Wifi and all is working as expected.  The connection shows as "Great" and does not switch between Good and Great the connection status like it does on the Nest Wifi Pro.  To me, this validates the issue is with the Nest Wifi Pro.   There are many other issues with the Nest Wifi Pro and I assume this is just one of them.  I have the same issue as many others that is documented in another thread about Nest Wifi being slow. 

I'm waiting to see if Google makes an update to the Nest Wifi Pro and then I will try plugging the Nest Wifi Pro back in again and wait for the updates to process and will try again.   

This assumes this all happens before my return window closes unless Google extends the RMA time period for items purchased from the Google store that are not functioning properly due to hardware/firmware issues.

[Jeff]

Hey krroller,

Thanks for chiming back in with the added details for the troubleshooting you went with to test between the Nest WiFi and Nest WiFi Pro. We'll keep this open so we can look more into things and find you an answer for what is happening here. Right now I'm not aware of an imminent update being released, but updates do occur regularly. The best way to stay up to date on those announcements is to watch for news on the Google social media channels or follow threads here about the Nest WiFi Pro. We usually get discussion going about updates before they are rolled out. If anything changes in the coming days, let me know.

Thanks,
Jeff

[krroller]

Related to this issue, it seems at least one other person has this issue as seen in the post here.

Here is that post from @MattMcC for easier viewing:

"Issue seems to be occurring when the wired backhaul is used. I've noticed that the wired backhaul will randomly negotiate megabit instead of gigabit. 

If you are having this issue put a dumb switch in between your APs and look at the link lights. You will see it have issues negotiating if it's the same issue. 

If you reboot the APs it seems to negotiate properly but after running for a bit it clicks back to the wrong speed. 

Before I realized this was a known issue I replaced all cables in the house with CAT 8. All the in wall runs are cat6 and we're run recently. 

Removing the WiFi pros and putting my unifi system back in place and gigabit links all return and don't flip back and forth. 

Very frustrating. On another note I also had the same issue someone else reported where these devices can't handle any switch that supports STP but that may be more of a mesh thing than a defect."

[Anonymous]

At least you have a wired connection. My wired connection has gone and has been replaced by the mesh wireless connection (with cable inserted)

[Logandros]

I've seen this happen rarely with the 1st and 2nd gen. Usually easily fixed by power cycling the router/point. Also be sure you are using the (world) connection although many have claimed it doesn't matter, I've seen that it most certainly does, especially after a long uptime.