Packet losses (Google Wifi Gen 1 and Nest Wifi Pro)

[mind-hunter]

Has anyone been seeing packet losses on the Google Wifi Gen 1 and/or Nest Wifi Pro? I did a test where there were no packet losses on direct Ethernet to ISP, but there was a <1% packet loss on either wireless router and on different laptops. (I have seen >=1% packet losses, but this seems to fluctuate randomly by day). If so, I wonder if there is some bug in the latest code shared by both routers...

[mind-hunter]

From just now:

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---

355 packets transmitted, 317 packets received, 10.7% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 5.795/14.919/137.267/17.954 ms

And:

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---

101 packets transmitted, 87 packets received, 13.9% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 6.457/12.515/114.019/11.473 ms

How does one explain this?

[mind-hunter]

Is there anyone from Google who can help look into this? So far, I have been completely ignored.

[Jeff]

Hey mind-hunter,

Are you reporting those packet loss stats based on the Nest WiFi Pro or on the Google WiFi? Also, do you have IPv6 enabled in Google Home under the advanced networking settings, or is it currently disabled?

Thanks,
Jeff

[mind-hunter]

Thanks for your reply, Jeff. Google Wifi, and also seeing the same (if not worse) with Nest Wifi Pro, but not with Ethernet. Yes, IPv6, WPA3, and UPnP enabled in Advanced Networking. (Also, Video Conferencing in Preferred Activities.)

[Jeff]

Thanks for checking those settings, mind-hunter.

Can you do a quick test and see how disabling IPv6 temporarily affects things?

Thanks,
Jeff

[mind-hunter]

Ok, will get back to you.

[mind-hunter]

Update: on Google Wifi, wifi connections were completely stable after turning off IPv6. Turns out Verizon FIOS (especially in NYC) has issues with it. On Nest Wifi Pro, connections are faster and more stable than before, but not completely stable on at least one older device (MBP 2018), which is disappointing. Should I turn off the optional 160 Mhz channel? Will keep monitoring.

In summary: Google Wifi is slower but stable, Nest Wifi Pro seems faster but less stable.

[Jeff]

Interesting results, mind-hunter. Thanks again for being willing to troubleshoot and help out. We have seen the IPv6 troubles with other users before, so that's why I had you take a quick look at that. I say it's worth seeing how the 160 channel affects things as well. If you're willing to give that a look, let me know what happens.

Thanks,

Jeff

[mind-hunter]

I turned off the 160 Mhz channel on the Nest Wifi Pro, but it doesn't seem to make a difference: I still see a <1% (~0.2-0.5%) packet loss on the 2018 MBP. OTOH, I consistently see zero packet loss on an M1.

I don't know if this is also the case with the Google Wifi: didn't test it long enough yesterday, but I might later.

Feature request: is there a way Google Home can monitor (when turned on), alert on, and diagnose this kind of stability issues? Also, being able to warn when IPv6 doesn't play well at all would go a long way.

[mind-hunter]

Today's longest run on the Nest Wifi Pro on the 2018 MBP:

===

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---

15607 packets transmitted, 15458 packets received, 1.0% packet loss

round-trip min/avg/max/stddev = 5.317/13.843/1236.835/27.638 ms

===

The M1 MBP doesn't see packet losses at all.

[Jeff]

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since we visited this post. Over that time we've had both updates to hardware and the apps involved in managing the devices. I wanted to circle back and see if anyone was still seeing the same or similar problems. If things are working now, let me know. If you still need some help, explain what is happening with your situation and we can jump back into troubleshooting.

Thanks,
Jeff

[mind-hunter]

All good since then AFAICT. Should I reenable IPv6 to test again or no?

[Jeff]

Hey mind-hunter,

If you have no need for IPv6, you might as well leave it disabled, but feel free to test things out. If you run into problems, let me know.

Thanks,
Jeff