Steel-Framed House and Nest Wifi - Poor Performance

[Altruistic]

Is the Google Nest Wifi Router - AC2200 any better at extending signal strength through steel-framed walls (and studs) than the legacy (original) Google WiFi System?  

We live in a 4,000-square foot steel-framed  home and have continuously experienced subpar performance with 4, 5, and up to 9 WiFi access points (we have incrementally added additional access points to ensure MINIMUM coverage throughout our two-story home). 

At least once or twice a day, at least one of the access points goes offline, severely impacting the entire system.

We are considering an upgrade to the Google Nest Wifi Router - AC2200 Mesh Wi-Fi to improve/upgrade the stability of our network...

However, I am concerned that we will likely have similar issues with the new system... 

Thoughts?

[olavrb]

I think wired backhaul is what could help you most.

• https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7215624?hl=en
• https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/6274262?hl=en

This can go through coax (MoCA) or power cords (HomePlug) if that makes it easier.

Yes, Nest Wifi router has faster Wi-Fi with greater range, but I don't think it would make much of a difference in an environment like that. Specs to compare:

• https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/6280668?hl=en

More pucks is not neccessarily better, especially if using wireless backhaul (overhead increases with each new puck added to the network). In fact, 5 is the max number of pucks recommended. But using wired backhaul you'd get much better performance, and some more pucks if neccessary should be ok.

• https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/7182840?hl=en

[Altruistic]

Many thanx, @olavrb . I have not previously heard of "wired backhaul."  I will definitely look into it and see how it affects my scenario. I'll let you know how things progress...

[Jeff]

Hi, Altruistic. 

It looks like olavrb was able to give you some good direction here. I just wanted to follow up and see if there's anything else you needed on this or if you had it all worked out. If you need anything else, just let me know.

Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hi, everyone.
Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.
Thanks.

[Jeff]

Hi, everyone.
As we haven't had any activity here recently I'm going to go ahead and close the thread. If you have more to add, feel free to start a new discussion.
Thanks