Slow/broken wifi speeds until router restart

[JasonBrunette]

Nest Wifi, 13729.57.27.

We have the Nest Wifi router and 2 points, with various devices connecting to all 3. About every day or two, we will start to see very odd behavior... unexplained slowdowns and weird wifi link speeds.

Symptoms

• Sudden slowness on all wifi devices, despite the Home app indicating there is little total wifi traffic (under 1mb)
• Samsung Galaxy S21+ shows wifi "Network speed" is "6 Mbps" while standing right next to router. This would normally say 866 Mbps.
  • Speed tests from phone are able to go beyond that, however (~20mb, but phone's "Network speed" never changes from 6 Mbps)
• Windows 11 laptop's wifi link speed shows "866/54" for receive/transmit when right next to router.
  • This normally shows 866/866
• Nest wifi router speed test shows 900mb+ speeds (1Gb fiber to home), so ethernet/fiber connection is fine.
• Little to no wifi interference

Troubleshooting done

• While problem occurs, unplugged both points so only the router is online
• Renamed wifi network on router so that no devices are online.
• Connect Windows 11 laptop to new wifi network name: 
  • Windows 11 laptop's wifi link speed continues to show 866/54.
  • Speed test: about 50mb down, 10mb up.
  • Home app confirms device is connected via 5Ghz
• Disconnect Windows 11 laptop from wifi and connect Galaxy S21+ to new wifi network name:
  • Continues to show 6 Mbps connection speed
  • Speed test: 20mb down, 2mb up
  • Home app confirms device is connected via 5Ghz
• Home app > Router > Settings > Restart network
• Connect Windows 11 laptop back up to new wifi network name. Now shows 866/866, speed tests back to normal
• Connect Galaxy S21+ back up to new wifi network name. Now shows 866 Mbps, speed tests back to normal.
• Rename wifi back to original name. All home devices reconnect.
• Laptop/phone continue to show normal link speeds and speed tests perform as expected
• Wait a day or two for the problem to happen again.

We have also performed a "Factory reset network" from the Home app, but issue returns after a day or two with same symptoms. 

Conclusion

A defect within the Nest Wifi (hardware/software, tough to say) causes wifi connectivity to become permanently unstable (connected devices report confusing link speeds, very poor performance). Only a restart of the router corrects the issue, but happens multiple times per week.

Anyone run into anything like this before?

Thanks.

[olavrb]

Sort all Nest Wifi threads on most commented, and you can see that many people experience similar things with given firmware:

• https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Wifi/bd-p/Nest-Wifi?sort=replies

One thing worth trying though, is to disable all preferred activities (QoS basically):

• https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/9541371?hl=en

[mesilverman]

Hi,

Yes. Here is another thread on the issue. It's a real problem and I am hoping for an addition to the app that allows for an auto-reboot overnight on selected intervals.

https://www.googlenestcommunity.com/t5/Nest-Wifi/Scheduled-network-restart/td-p/58814

[EdwardT]

Hi folks,

@olavrb, thanks for the help!

@JasonBrunette and @mesilverman, how's it going with your Google WiFi? Have you tried the step that olavrb suggested? Let us know how it goes.

Thanks,

Edward

[mesilverman]

Trying. Will let you know.

[EdwardT]

Hi mesilverman,

It's me again, I wanted to check back in to see if you have other questions and concerns. Feel free to let me know if you do.
 

Thanks,

Edward

[EdwardT]

Hi mesilverman,

Just checking in to make sure that you saw our response. Please let us know if you have any other questions or concerns as I will be locking this in 24 hours.

Thanks,

Edward