Nest Wifi performance degradation

[Eraser]

I have 2 Nest Wifi routers linked via hardwire.  I have just over 50 devices connected at all times via Wifi.  After a reboot of the network (both routers) I my speed test results are between 250-300+ Mbps via WiFi (wired 800+ Mbps), uploads are 11 Mbps on both.  Every 24-36 hours my wireless network has significant degradation.  My down speed test will drop to 10 Mbps or less , uploads 0.5 Mbps on WiFi.  My wired network works perfectly fine getting the same speed test results.  The only temporary fix is reboot the network.

So far I have done the following:

1. Factory reset both routers 
2. Relocated the 2nd router/point
3. Ran the network with only a single router
4. Tested WiFi using multiple devices phones, laptops, desktops 
5. Split about 20 devices on to the guest network

This issue has been getting progressively worse over the last few months to the point where I'm highly considering getting rid of both routers.  Has anyone else had this issue as I have described, and if so have you found a fix for it?

My guess is the issue is related to the number of devices I have on the wireless network and or bufferbloat.

[nickp001]

Yep!  I'm having the same types of problems.  There's a few posts on here about related issues.  At first I was suspecting that the wire/plaster in the walls was causing interference.  But the more I think about it, the less I think that's the problem.  I've tried all of the same things you have.  I'm starting the think there's a bug in the software.

[Eraser]

How many devices do you have on your wireless network? I wonder if there is some correlation with device count on wifi.

Either way my network has been the same for nearly 2 years and this has only been an issue this year. I agree the issue is probably software related. Who knows if/when this issue will get fixed.

[nickp001]

• I have 74 devices.  At first I thought that might be the problem, but I read that Nest can handle 200 devices.  I can run a mesh test and get a "Great Connection" on all access points and then run the test an hour later and they'll all say "Weak Connection".  It's frustrating.

[Eraser]

Good to know there is at least one consistent element for both of us, 50+ devices.

This weekend I'm going to test to find out exactly how long before my wifi speed drops off. Once I do I'm going to cut off about half of my wifi devices by changing the guest wifi password. After that I can see if the issue returns and if so how quickly.

Stay tuned.

[nickp001]

Keep us posted.

[nickp001]

Latest Test

I live in a 3000 sqft, 4 bedroom, single story home with plaster walls, built in the early 70's.  My most recent configuration had 1 main Nest router centrally located in the dining room, 1 Nest router acting as an access point in the kitchen, 1 Nest router acting as an access point in the master bedroom, 1 Nest router acting as an access point in my middle bedroom and 1 Nest access point in the garage.  With this configuration, all access points experience performance degradation, sometimes, within minutes, to the point of either the access point going offline or providing only a weak signal.  After restarting the network and waiting several minutes, everything comes back online with either a great connection or a good connection, until the next time it happens.

It happened today, so I decided to cut everything back to its bare bones.  I removed all access points and left only my main router.  I'm not ready to factory reset the router again just yet.  I started up the network and as expected, I had a shoddy connection throughout the house.  Next I factory reset one of the routers and configured it as an access point, placing it in my family room with a direct line of sight to the router, about 20-25 feet away and nothing in the way to interfere with the signal.  I gave everything a few minutes to start up and the mesh test showed a great connection.  Next, I came here to type this up and before posting it, I went back to check my connection again, this time it was back to weak.  

How is this possible?  25 feet away and a direct line of sight, and a weak connection?  The problem has to be on Google's end.

[Eraser]

So your issue sounds like it is with the mesh connection between the router and the other access points.  In my case I had my 2nd router hard wired into the network so my mesh connection was always rated as "great".  Additionally, when my WiFi connection speed tanks, my mesh connection is unchanged (as expected).

Have you tried to hard wire your other access points to the main router?  Since you have multiple AP's you would need a switch connected to the main router, but at a minimum you can hard wire one AP.  On the AP, connect a patch cable to the WAN(internet) port, then connect to the open LAN port on the router.  If your mesh test is ever anything but "great" while being hard wired it could be a hardware issue (or software I suppose).

[nickp001]

I will give that a try this weekend.

[Eraser]

After turning off the guest network my device count dropped to about 25.  I rebooted the network and my phone  (Pixel 5) was getting the expected speeds.  After about 2 hours up/down speeds tanked just as always, although it did so much faster than expected.  The odd part was I tested with 3 other phones (Pixel 2XL and Galaxy S10e), and both of those phones were getting well over 300+ Mbps down and 11+ Mbps up.  I also tested with my wife's Pixel 5 and I got the same results as with my Pixel 5.

I then rebooted my network again and re-tested with all 4 devices.  All 4 reported the expected speeds 300+ Mbps down and 11+ Mbps up.  I periodically repeated this test over the weekend and the results were the same for 2 and a half days.  When I re-tested on Sunday both Pixel devices went back to the slow speeds, and the other 2 devices were performing as expected.

Results are quite perplexing.  I suppose the issue could be with the Pixel 5 devices, however rebooting the Pixel 5's doesn't make any difference.  Only when the network is rebooted do the speeds return to normal on the Pixel 5's.  At the point I think the only thing I can do it wait until the next firmware update for the routers to get pushed down and hope that fixes the issue.  Either that or dump these routers for some other product 🤔.

[Jeff]

Hey, Eraser.

Thanks for doing some testing and letting us know the results there. I'm hoping for a solution soon, but it's always nice to see users working to find answers as well.

[aectann]

I experience the same issues.

[Jeff]

Hey, everyone.

It's been a while since we had a check in, but I wanted to come back and see if anyone was still seeing the same issues here. If things are still not working for you, please let me know and we can look at additional troubleshooting steps to take.

Thanks.

[Hong]

Just found this thread and have been having the same issue, I have one router and one access point, 47 devices, pixel 3, 5 and 6 in the house. All experience the same degradation after 2 days-ish, Haven't done anything testing.

[JerseyFrank]

Yes, me.

2 Nest Wifi routers, 2 access points, ~25 devices. I've used wired and wireless connections to the router configured as an AP. I've tried without the 2nd router. I've moved points closer and farther. In all physical configurations the connection degrades every day.

[Eraser]

This is clearly still an issue for myself and others. Although some scenarios are slightly different the consistent issue is connectivity degrades or is completely lost over time. The only fix is rebooting the network. There is appears to be some software issue with the routers and access points. That's said, is there any ETA for a software update to fix this long running issue?

[Warpness]

I have the main and 4 additional access points.  When I first moved into my house, I had just 2 access points and could walk past my neighbor's house in the back and still have a strong connection.  Now, with 4 access points, moving them around, I always have a weak connection.  How does the connection change from strong to weak with nothing else changing?  Makes no sense.  This has to be on Google's end.

[levmoore1]

Hi Jeff!  I’m finding the same odd degrading performance where I have to restart my network about every 2-3 days. Wanted to see if you have any feedback to report on this string by chance?  Things worked great for about 1.5 years, but all of sudden this is a frustrating issue that continues to pop up.  Once I restart the network, everything performs as expected for a few days, and then I’ll consistently see the same occurrence.  Any thoughts?

[Tmg]

Similar issues. I need to reboot the system daily. If I check mesh quality it is often poor but on reboot they all go back to great. I test a few times per day and it is great until suddenly it degrades again. I have 5 nodes thru out my house. 

[Tmg]

I am a technical person and so I know that this solution on its own can not explain why the problem appears to be solved now except to explain that there must be a memory leak is in the code that dynamically queries or resolves Name Servers. 

Anyway here is my story.  I contacted google over two weeks ago and that person had me hard code the DNS servers using the home app and since I have done that I have not had to reboot my mesh.  I laughed at them and said that setting an external DNS server could not possibly explain an internal mesh connectivity problem.  

Anyway, I humoured them and made the below changes and ... sure enough, the problem has not reoccurred after nearly three weeks.  Previously, I couldn't even go a day.

Your mileage may vary but this is my experience. 

*******

WARNING

*******

If you don't understand how to apply this, or you couldn't reverse it if you needed to, please don't mess around with your DNS server settings.  It can "break" your ability to browse the internet if you do it incorrectly.  Also, if you did it and it doesn't work, please don't contact me to solve your problem.  I am just some guy on the internet.

Using Google Home app on your phone got Wifi, tap on the Gear icon, go to Advanced Networking, select DNS and set Custom and use your preferred DNS name server.  I use 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4.   Include ip6 if you have that enabled (i do) and I used 2001:4860:4860::8888 and 2001:4860:4860::8844 which are the equivalent Google DNS servers.

******

As strange as it sounds, the problems went away after that.

If it does work for you, upvote this comment so others know that hard coding custom DNS seems to solve the degrading mesh connections.  Maybe its coincidental and Google finally patched this around the same time.  who knows??!

Tim

[Eraser]

Funny you should mention manually setting DNS.  About a month ago I called Google Support (wasted about 2 hours of my life), but at one point that person also told me to manually set the DNS.  I told him there was no need to do that as it was set to automatic, which uses Google's DNS by default.  Unlike you I didn't humor the tech and left the setting as is on automatic. 

Since I'm still having the same issue with no other options left to try, I figured, what the hell, I'll give it a try.  After manually setting the DNS to Google's servers, I rebooted my network for good measure.

If the problem doesn't come back after 4 or 5 days I'll consider this the solution.  Don't get me wrong, I'll be ecstatic if this is the fix.  Part of me would be quite annoyed that something like this can bring your mesh network to its knees, yet Google hasn't bothered to fix it.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll be sure to report back next week.

[Eraser]

After about 24 hours the issue has returned, as usual.  Well it was worth a try😫

[Tmg]

That's a shame. It would make no sense if it worked but so far I've been cured.

Thanks for following up. 

Tim 

EDIT: A few weeks later the problems have returned with regularity.  My "fix" works as well as expected which is to say it does not work.

[Warpness]

My conversation with my last tech at Google had me also reset my DNS settings the same way, but it did not last and was right back to a weak connection the following day, after showing a strong connection after the DNS change.

[aectann]

I tried the hardcoded DNS thing too, it didn't help the issue, unfortunately.

[JerseyFrank]

I am still experiencing this issue. Please fix. Please advise.

[ScottG_TC]

I just started having similar issues with speed degredation. Having to reboot the router ever morning to regain my speed. Not ideal and considering switching as well. 

[Warpness]

I chatted with Google support and thought we had found a solution, but it did not last.  So, I chatted with them again...and they literally told me I should put the devices in direct line of site, and try to avoid walls and furniture between them.  I was floored and responded with "I live in a house.  It has walls and furniture".

[Eraser]

I wish I could say I am surprised by that.  Sorry to hear they wasted your time, again.

[Eraser]

For anyone still running into this issue I recommend either replacing these with some other product or to try using a non-wifi based electrical outlet timer with the main Nest router.

I started this thread 6 months ago, since then there have been many software updates to the Nest Wifi.  In December 2021 the software version was 13729.57.27 today it is 14150.43.81.  This issue was going on well before I opened this thread.  With so much time passing with no response or fix from Google it is clear to me that they have no intention of addressing this issue.  The other possibility is the issue is hardware related and can't be fixed with software.

Regardless, I've learned my lesson.  I won't be buying another one of these products from Google ever again.  It's unfortunate, aside from this issue it has been a pretty solid device and I've enjoyed having it, at least for a while.  Now it is just an expensive piece of tech that requires old school workarounds just to work as advertised. 

Good luck to you all.

[bobnord29]

I am having similar issues. The tech wants me to drop the devices, change the password, and rejoin the network. 

[matidus]

Hello everyone

I got the same I have 4 google wifi devices and suddenly the connection dropped from 400 mb symmetric to 10mb , I tried everything and the ISP folks said that their parameters are ok I think I am going to replace these devices with ISP repeaters store the Google wifi as paperweights

[SpykeDaddy]

Well, I guess there is comfort I'm not alone. I have to reboot every 2-3 days because the network degrades to untenable speeds. With all my testing of different scenarios, I've isolated it to some kind of memory leak in a software update for the Nest WIFI or some kind of hardware issue due to the excessive heat of the Google Access point. (It is in a well-ventilated area and I even have a fan running at it.) I try to remember to reboot daily, but it's ridiculous as I don't remember every day and I have to apologize to co-workers for my WIFI failing yet again. It's so predictable and repeatable. Is it makes it more maddening that Google hasn't fixed it in any releases. Clearly they don't use their own product or they are ignoring a bad batch of hardware, otherwise they'd fix this long ago. I've spent enough money on four WIFI access points that I'm abandoning ship and moving to a new mesh vendor and solution. I strongly the suggest the same for everyone else. Save yourself a lot of time and heartache.

[macmachine87]

I am having the same issue, bought the router with 2 additional access points and had 40+ devices on it working without a problem. Fast forward 2.5 years and now over the last few weeks we've been seeing an issue. I troubleshot down to the router specifically and it seems like the router gets overwhelmed extremely quickly, which was not the case in the past. We typically have wifi speeds (using M-lab) ~130 - 180 Mbps. If 1 or 2 people get on a Zoom call it drops down to 30. This was never the case, but after a while it will drop down to 5 and things grind to a halt. The ONLY thing that fixes it is a router reboot. I also noticed this is true for hardwired connections. We have 1 hardwired connection at the main router, running a speed test before and after reboots results in an increase of again 4 - 6x the speed. I thought it may have been the DNS so we switched to CloudFlare, which actually made it slightly better but nothing beats the reboot. Our ISP provided us with a 2 in 1 modem/router which is currently set to bridge mode. So I can run an ethernet to a LAN port on there and test the speed and then, since my Nest router is doing the same thing, plug it into the nest and see the performance difference. There is no doubt it's this router OR the software on this router which routinely needs a restart. Piece of crap.

[macmachine87]

As an update we switched mesh routers (orbi by Netgear) and haven't had any issues at all.  

[SpykeDaddy]

I bought an Eero6E mesh product on Amazon. It took me all of 15 minutes to set up the new network and I have not rebooted ONCE. No performance degradation. Nothing. Even better, Amazon offered $75 for me to ship back the Google Nest / Wifi access points. 

My reason for sharing is that switching is a breeze and you'll wonder why you didn't do it earlier. I honestly think Google is sitting on a potential recall situation and they'd rather this just go away quietly then pay the costs to fix it. My access points were hot to the touch and got worse as the months went by. They must have a cooling issue or something. I smell a class action if they don't open up on it.

[Eraser]

As a follow-up to using the workaround with a non-wifi based electrical outlet timer.  I've confirmed this option works, but only somewhat.  I have two Nest routers, and the primary I have set to turn off/on late at night every day.  For about a week this solution worked perfectly.  However, at some point the 2nd router which was never rebooted, eventually started to have the significant slowdown again.  After powering off/on only the 2nd router speeds were back to normal again. 

Whatever the issue is might be a memory leak, or some other software related issue that only occurs after X amount of throughput.  That would explain why the issue happens every 24 hours or less on the primary router and why the 2nd router took significantly longer to exhibit the same issue.  The 2nd router is on the 2nd floor with fewer devices connected to it on a daily basis.  That being said, the software reset on a daily basis is the most thorough solution but needs manual intervention.  Using the outlet timer works, but you would need to put one on all routers/points to make it fully complete, or just manually unplug the other points every few days or so.  Depending on how many additional routers/points you have this might be more trouble than it's worth versus using the manual software solution.

For me I'll just live with things as they are and will replace these when the time is right.  I certainly wouldn't consider any Google networking product again.  I think I'm done with these mesh systems as well.  I think they have their place for average consumers since they are mostly plug and play.  I find the lack of user accessible logs VERY limiting and it makes diagnosing problems difficult to impossible.  I'd also like to be able to manually turn off the 5Ghz wifi radio, which is impossible with this product.  As an IT professional I like being able to tweak setting within a standard consumer router but for most people that is the last thing they'd ever need/want to do.

[Tmg]

I feel the same.  I bought timers for all five nodes to stagger a reboot of every device starting at 4am.  That is a ridiculous solution but now my system is working as it should.  That cost me another $100 on top of the $1000 I paid for the 5 nodes for my home. 

That is too much money for an unsupported system that seems designed to fail.

[JerseyFrank]

I continue to have this issue. Last month I switched to a different mesh system (TPLink Deco), but it is not capable of supporting streaming music to my Google Cast/Home Speaker Groups.

For now, I've reconnected the Nest Wifi until I'm ready to try another solution. I've disabled the Guest Network, just to see if that's related.

[ScottG_TC]

At this point, I think Google should consider reimbursing us for the speeds we pay for but arent able to achieve due to this issue