Using multiple Nest Wifi Pro in bridged mode

[Atomiklan]

I am a bit annoyed with Google. They seem to have siloed their products so much to the point of only catering to the percentage of the population that doesn't understand networking or care. I have a very robust internal network in my house. Redundant pfsense edge with redundant catalyst wired network throughout entire house. For should be obvious reasons, I am not going to use the recommended NAT configuration of the Nest wifi. I just want to plug these devices into my existing wired infrastructure in various locations throughout my house and have them act as simply access points. It seems you either have to use the Google Nest wifi pro default NAT configuration and add the other points (wired or wirelessly) to the mesh or (according to documentation) only use a single nest wifi pro device in bridged mode. I hate that I cannot at the very least add multiple Google nest wifi pro (I'll just shorten these names to "APs" for brevity) individually, each in bridged mode and not caring about each other, but because they see each other in the Google Home app, it seems its impossible to do this as they try to establish a mesh and fail and so an internal software check fails and it prevents you from adding. Has anyone figured out how to add multiple devices just as simple access point utilizing the existing network available? I dont want to have to go out and buy new dedicated APs if I can avoid it. I got these for free and I do like some of the other functions available so I want to try to make this work first. Thanks!

[MichaelP]

Hello @Atomiklan 

The short answer is you can do this, but you probably don't want to.

To do this, you have to create multiple independent "home" instances in the Google Home app. You can then set up one Nest WiFi Pro unit in bridge mode, one in each "home" instance. But, if you do this, they won't be talking to each other in a coordinated way. Yes, they'll be bridging traffic. But, they won't support 802.11k and 802.11v, which are used to help mobile devices hand off between access points. Without that, clients will be more likely to fall back to 2.4GHz on the same access point rather than handing off to 5GHz or 6GHz on a closer access point.

These aren't competing with Ubiquiti – they're designed to provide an easy-to-use solution that works well for most people. 

[TouchOfGray]

Why does Google bother to include a LAN port on its access points if it compromises the experience?

[Atomiklan]

This is about what I expected. Unfortunate but understandable. I will just work around a single access point for right now and then will purchase some enterprise equipment next year. Thanks!