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Nest Wifi In Bridge Mode

Jack17
Community Member

Long story as short as possible: a single coax cable from my ISP enters the house in the basement, in this basement location are hardwired cat6 ports that go through the house. The ISP provided Hitron modem is also a router and has 4 ethernet ports on the back. These ports do not work if on bridge mode. So instead of changing the Hitron modem/router to bridge, I am using the wifi network from Hitron and all of the ports hardwired to devices through the house. To get wifi upstairs, I hardwired my nest wifi and put it in bridge mode, ideally extending the network I had to maintain in the basement while also getting a wifi point in the basement and now upstairs. Not ideal to change nest to bridge, but keeping all four ports on the back of the hitron was imperative, so this seemed like the best solution.

 

However, the wifi coming off the Nest is very slow. I hardwired my computer from the nest and am getting 100MB down/20MB (what i would expect) up but on my phone right next to the nest I am only getting 9mb down/7mb up. I am on the network set-up by the Hitron, full wifi bars. 

 

10 REPLIES 10

David_K
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

When upstairs, are you connecting to the Hitron router wifi or Nest Wifi? Nest Wifi isn't a Wifi extender and won't extend the range of the Wifi broadcast by your Hitron router, it's a mesh Wifi system that broadcasts its own Wifi network. If that is the case, when upstairs, you need to connect to the Nest Wifi network, not the Wifi broadcast by your Hitron router.

How many Nest Wifi points do you have? Just the one upstairs? Bridge mode will only work if you’re using a single Nest Wifi device. If you have multiple Nest Wifi devices, your Nest Wifi router cannot be in bridge mode. It's also worth bearing in mind why putting your Nest Wifi router into bridge mode isn't recommended.

Jack17
Community Member

Thank you for your response! I am connecting to Hitron when upstairs, as I had assumed that nest would help in broadcasting that single network. To get the best performance, should I be changing wifi networks as I walk through the house? Is there an alternative recommendation? 

 

Could you explain the difference between normal mode, bridge and an extender? 

 

No points, just a single nest router.

David_K
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

Do you strictly need your Hitron router? The absolute ideal scenario is to remove that router from your network entirely, but that presents a problem as you said your ISP presents the connection as a coax cable, which you can't connect to Nest Wifi as it doesn't have the hardware port for that. That is unless you invested in a MoCA adapter to convert that to ethernet. If you do choose to try this, do be sure to keep the receipt so you can return the adapter if it doesn't work. Even in the case the adapter works, you should know that some ISPs don't work when connected directly to Nest Wifi for various reasons, in which case you may still need to keep the Hitron router.

Given you're currently running both your Hitron router and Nest Wifi at the same time, are you actually experiencing any issues at the moment, aside from needing to connect to two different Wifi networks, now that you know Nest Wifi is not a range extender for your existing Hitron wifi? For most people, there's no noticeable performance impact in this scenario, but is that why you put your Nest Wifi into bridge mode perhaps? If you're not experiencing any issues, the simplest thing to do here is to turn off the Wifi on your Hitron router, and invest in a second Nest Wifi router or point to cover the area currently covered by your Hitron wifi. That is of course, if you're not happy having to connect to two different Wifi networks. It's worth bearing in mind that devices connected to your Hitron Wifi network will not be able to communicate with devices connected behind Nest Wifi.

If you want to use Nest Wifi as it's designed to be used, depending on the construction or layout of your home, adding a Nest Wifi point may be sufficient. You would place this where your existing Nest Wifi router is now, and they would communicate with each other wirelessly. I will say here, you should try to place your Nest Wifi router centrally in your home. That's because if you end up buying more points, they will likely have a good connection to your main Nest Wifi router in the centre of the house.

If the construction or layout of your home means you don't get good enough performance with them connecting to each other wirelessly, you could then look at investing in another Nest Wifi router (not a Nest Wifi point) and hardwire them together. The Nest Wifi Router would be needed in this scenario, because Nest Wifi points don't have any ethernet ports on them for you to be able to hardwire them. As your current Nest Wifi router is already setup, you would move that device to your basement and connect it directly to your Hitron router. You would then connect the LAN port of your primary Nest Wifi router to the LAN port on your other Nest Wifi router via the Cat6 ports you described. This can result in better Wifi performance because the connection between your Nest Wifi routers isn't tying up part of the wireless spectrum to communicate with each other.

The short answer is you have quite a few options. If you're serious about getting great Wifi coverage in your home, the best way to achieve that is to remove the Hitron router from the network (if possible). If it turns out that's not possible, you don't necessarily need to use bridge mode unless you're experiencing issues.

Some helpful resources for you:

Bridge mode -  Google Nest Help
Where to place your Wifi devices - Google Nest Help
Hardwire Wifi devices with Ethernet - Google Nest Help

Hopefully some of that is useful!

Jack17
Community Member

The crux of the problem is all hardwired ethernet ports that connect different rooms of the house lead back to one central place in the basement, which is also where the coax comes in. There doesn't seem to be a configuration of nest products which would take advantage of these multiple ports, as I could never gain more than 1 ethernet out. The house is old so hardwired is a huge advantage/leaving hardwired ports unused feels like a waste. 

 

I could put Hitron in bridge, plug in nest router, then hardwire a second router in bridge somewhere else in the house. But then I'd need to choose to have a hardwired/wifi coverage in the living room or office or bedroom. Picking 1 vs being able to leverage all 3. Wouldnt that also create another network ie. two different nest networks, leaving the same issue of having to hop between wifi networks as I move floors?. 

olavrb
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

You can add more ethernet ports to any Nest Wifi unit with ethernet ports by adding an unmanaged switch:


I don't work for Google.

AbigailF
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks, 

Thanks for lending a hand, @olavrb and @David_K.
@Jack17, 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

AbigailF
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi Jack17,

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

Best, 
Abi

LovelyM
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hello Jack17, 

I'm chiming in to make sure that you've seen our response. Please let us know if you have any additional questions or concerns before we close this thread in 24 hours. 

Many thanks, 
Lovely

Jack17
Community Member

Hi! Yes, thanks to everyone for your responses. This can now be closed. 

LovelyM
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi again Jack17,

No biggie! Thanks for keeping us in the loop. Since you're all set now, I will lock the thread shortly unless I can help out with anything else.

Kind regards, 
Lovely