No Internet = No LAN why?

[RonD1]

Why is it that, if I lose Internet connectivity from my ISP, my LAN (Local Area Network) also goes down?  I use Google Home App to manage my Google Nest router, but when I lose connect to the Internet I can’t even access my own router to troubleshoot.  Is this done by design?  If so, please explain why this make sense.  If not, what am I doing wrong, because right now if I have not internet I have no LAN.

Here is my connection setup (in a text format):

Cloud <--> ISP <--> ISP Cable Modem <--> Ethernet cable <--> Google Nest WiFI Router <--> Nest Mesh Network (1 Nest Routers & 1 Nest Point) <--> Home LAN devices (PCs, Laptops, Cell Phones, TVs, IoT device, ect...

[Juzdu]

I'm guessing...but I think a lot of the management you do via the app is actually done via the cloud...which is why you can manage your Nest wifi network when you're away from home and not even connected to wifi.  Try turning wifi off on your phone so you're only using your phone network, then open the Google Home app and you'll see you can still manage your wifi setup.

How often are you losing internet connectivity from your ISP?  Those kinds of outages should be very rare no?

[RonD1]

Juzdu - I'll try  your ideal the next time I have an outage.  Regarding the numbers of outages, there is no way to put a number on it.  Sometimes it's weather, other times it's routine maintenance and sometimes no root cause is given.  In any case, "Thank You" this is a good ideal.  I guess I'm just old school when it comes to troubleshooting network.

[Juzdu]

RonD1, sorry...I didn't mean that as a workaround when you have an outage, just as an example to show how you don't have to be connected to your home wifi network to manage it (unlike other router solutions where you have to hit something like 192.168.1.1 in order to do so).

If your ISP has an outage that affects your internet, then even the fact that wifi management for Nest/Google Wifi is done via the cloud won't help, as the cloud won't be able to reach your router.

Fingers crossed you don't have many more ISP outages!

[wkstone]

I have the same exact problem. You can recreate the issue by unplugging your isp uplink from the router. Unbelievable. 

[Jeff]

Hey wkstone,

By design, the mesh network relies on cloud services to communicate, which causes disruption when the Internet is down. I can see how it would be frustrating not have limited network management during an online outage, and I can pass the feedback along to our teams about that frustration. If you want to share feedback as well, you can do so via the Home app. I did want to see if you had any other questions or comments, however. If so, just let me know.

Thanks,
Jeff

[wkstone]

Thanks for the reply. That’s redunculous. No need to submit anything. I’m not buying Google router next time.  

[Jeff]

Hey wkstone,

I understand your frustration. For most users, it's a feature that doesn't register in their minds as "the Internet is down" just means "the Internet is down" to them. For some advanced users, such as yourself, they may need a solution with a different feature set, so I understand why you're feeling the way you are about this one. Even so, I'll still pass the feedback along to our teams as it's better for them to know our users' pain points.

All that said, is there anything else I could do for you?

Thanks,
Jeff

[Jeff]

Hi all,

As we got our explanation on this one, I'll be closing up the thread in the next day. If you have any more input or any other questions, please let me know.

Thanks,
Jeff