Wifi Dropping - Devices and WiFi Points

[bknyjp]

Hi everyone,

I've had my nest wifi for almost a year and its been amazing! These lasts two months have been hell. My network is CONSTANTLY dropping and is not reliable, at all. I have 'gigablast' internet with my ISP and can barely watch a movie on Hulu/Netflix without a drop.

Gaming? Forget it. Can't.  I've spoken to google support 4 times via chat and phone, still no fix. As an fyi, I've taken the following steps:

1. 'Network refreshed' my entire network. Twice. Didn't help. (Unplugged my modem and all points.)

2. Chage the DNS to 'custom' input and the server addresses I was given by google. Also did this twice. Didn't help.

3. Factory Reset each wifi point. Didn't help.

4. Factory reset my network. Didn't help.

All of this support was via chat and phone. My wifi is still horrendous. It's so frustrating.

If I'm being honest, I am really disappointed with the support I have been given. I feel like I am being given 'busy work' regarding troubleshooting. I have explained to some of the support staff that I have gone through these steps and it has not worked. Still the same steps are suggested. I just want reliable wifi.

Note - Nothing on my network has changed so there is no reason for the failure. Same network name, same password, pucks are all in the same spot, nothing has changed.

Final note - That's another issue, the pucks are also CONSTANTLY switching from great connection, to weak, to offline (and back again) without being touched in a matter of 5 minutes. What is up with the mesh?! (Yes, they worked flawlessly before these issues.)

[stephonovich78]

What suggestion are you referring to?

[AbigailF]

Hi folks,

@swingle73, I'm sorry to hear that you're still having an issue with your Google Nest Wifi. We'd like to take a deeper look into this — could you fill out this form and let us know once you're done?
@stephonovich78, I've provided some steps to try to help troubleshoot the issue a few days ago. You mentioned that you tried those steps upon first installing your system. Did you try doing them again since you first encountered your issue?

Thanks,
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hey everyone,

Checking back in should you still have some questions here. Let us know by replying to this thread. 

Best, 
Abi

[Leogvs]

Hello everyone,

My problem is solved after more than a year of frustrating calls to Google and my ISP.

I was thinking mixing Google wifi and nest wifi was an issue so I replaced all Google WiFi with nest but that didn't solve my issue. I had to replace the.modem to get this fixed. My ISP increased the speed and was trying to upload boot file and was failing because modem went bad at sometime recently. When this problem started initially I changed the modem and that didn't fix the issue so I returned the modem. So I am thinking combination of issues some firmware issue in Google WiFi initially and modem going bad after I replaced Google wifi with nest WiFi points.

Hope this helps 

[AbigailF]

Hi Leogvs,

Thanks for the update. I'm happy to hear your issue got resolved already. I wanted to follow up and see if you are still in need of any help. Please let me know if you are still having any concerns or questions from here, as I would be happy to take a closer look and assist you further.

Regards,
Abi

[stephonovich78]

All of the steps you provided were done upon installation. I have conducted a factory reset twice on my Nest Wi-Fi system since installation and modified the settings as suggested (except for bridge mode on FiOS router since it already was done) and no improvement, if anything there has been a serious delay in response to my devices after submitting a voice request. I'm not understanding how there hasn't been a resolution to this considering so many continue to have this issue.

[AbigailF]

Hello stephonovich78,

We understand that you did the steps mentioned above upon installation of your Google Wifi router and points. However, it’s necessary to do the steps again as part of troubleshooting. We totally understand that troubleshooting can be frustrating, but these are the most helpful steps to figure out what's going on with your device. Let's give them a try! 
 

Thanks,
Abi

[stephonovich78]

Abigail, I guess I'm a bit confused, as I believe I said that I have factory reset all my Nest Wi-Fi devices twice since installation and each time I have made sure to have settings mirrored to your suggestion. Are you asking me to do a third factory reset?

[AbigailF]

Hey stephonovich78,

If you've done all the suggested steps after experiencing the issue and it still persists, we'll need to do the next step. We'd like to take a deeper look into this — could you fill out this form and let us know once you're done?

Regards,
Abi

[AbigailF]

Hello there, 

Checking back in — have you had the chance to fill out the form?

Best, 
Abi

[stephonovich78]

I have not had a chance to fill out the form. I'll do it within the next few days.

[AbigailF]

Hi stephonovich78,

Thanks for the update. We'll keep this thread open for a few days as we wait. Let us know if you have any other questions or clarifications for now.

Cheers,
Abi

[stephonovich78]

I filled out the form yesterday and am awaiting a response back. I connected a third point to the system, and performance has actually decreased to my surprise.

[AbigailF]

Hello folks, 

We got your form — thanks for filling it out. I see that our senior support team is already in contact with you. Please continue the conversation there as this thread will be locked after 24 hours.

Cheers, 
Abi

[Cobrad]

UPDATE: So after months of the network going offline I switched the power chord to a hi wattage one rather than just plugging it into my USB slot of my power strip/surge protector. Have a dedicated charging block and chord... think they both support 25+ watts.  Have had this set up for about 3 weeks and system hasnt gone offline yet. Still not 100% confident but seems to be working so far. Maybe google's update demands more power than my previous set up could support...not sure but encourage everyone to try it and see if you get a fix.

[Cobrad]

PS I did factory reset all points prior to using the new chord and did not resolve my instability issues. The new chord and block seems to be the answer to my issue.

[stephonovich78]

Well, spending the last 2 hours reading through every comment, it saddens me that there still is not a fix. I have a 1200 square foot house with one Nest Router and two Nest APs. Like everyone else in here who has had these items for a while, I had no hiccups on initial I stallation and stable service for quite a few months until about a year ago, had occasional "Offline" or "Weak connection" errors randomly on either point or both points as the same time. Totally thought it was a fluke with something in my house so I ended up purchasing an additional AP (even though for a 1200 sq ft home, I should have more than enough coverage). Decided to do a quick search online to see if anyone else has experienced this and, low and behold, came across this thread. Obviously the previous firmware updates haven't resolved the issue and I'm thinking I should perhaps return the AP that I purchased last week.

[swingle73]

Same issue here...what is the fix Google?

[AbigailF]

Hey folks,

Thanks for posting — let's see what's going on. 

Are you using a modem/router combo from your Internet Service Provider (ISP)? How many devices are dropping from the network? Also, do you have any paused devices? 

Give these steps a try:

If you're using a modem/router combo, set that to bridge mode to avoid double NAT issues.
Make sure that there is minimal to no interference (concrete, bulletproof glass, metal, mirror, etc.) and the points are no more than two rooms apart.
Remove any special characters in your network name and password.
Turn off IPv6.
Change your DNS server into 8.8.8.8 on the primary and 8.8.4.4 on the secondary server. Hit the save/ floppy disk icon on the upper right.
Unplug the power from your Google Wifi devices for 2 minutes.
If the issue persists, try factory resetting your network.

Let us know how it goes.

Best,
Abi

[dwarfcow]

Yea, I can't really troubleshoot anything anymore, I already gave up and got rid of the nest routers and wifi points - they were wholely unreliable. It was pretty apparent the problem was resulting from a poor choice of hardware, somthing that was re-purposed from google smart speakers into the mesh access points (as removing the expansion point/assistant devices resolved the issues completely if only using the router units). These defective devices, in turn, were unstable, causing the network to grind to a halt when they intermittently and inevitably failed from time to time, requiring a hard reset/unplugging to restore functionality of the entire wireless network. Google clearly recognized this hardware issue, which is why their new "pro" products do not include any kind of smart speaker functionality, but are rather dedicated network devices, with purpose built network components. The nest wifi was a fail, your beta testing with consumers cost me $600 in junk product that are now e-waste. GG google. GG.

[AbigailF]

Hi dwarfcow,

We're sad to see you go. This is not the experience we'd like you to have. If you ever change your mind, we're here to help.

Regards,
Abi

[stephonovich78]

Good evening Abigail,

I did all of the steps that you mentioned upon first installing my Router + Point + Point system. The first few months of owning it, I had zero issues with points having any connection other than great. Then for some reason, I would have issues where the front bedroom point would consistently state that the connection was good, weak, or none at all (only two walls separate the router and this point for a total distance of about 15 feet). I asked the person renting the room if they brought anything new into the room electronics wise and she said no. Then I noticed that point in the primary bedroom (about 30 feet from the point in the front bedroom) started having the same connectivity issues. Some days it would be only one of the two points, other days it would be both points. I've done a full power down of all my network gear several times, and a power down of all the Nest devices many times. It seems that connectivity works well for a bit each time after that, but then as a few days go by, the connectivity issues become more persistent. I can't keep powering down to hard restart my network every time an issue occurs as I have work, my daughter has online college, and I have security devices that require a reliable network.

[dwarfcow]

The problem you're having has to do with the wifi points using a non-purpose built cpu that was never intended to be used as an always up network handling device.  Overtime, the cheap, unstable processors run into a hardware fault and "lock up" for lack of a better expression. When this happens the devices are partially functional, and the mesh system you are using still relies on their telemetry data for network handling and handoffs with the other points of your network.  If you unplug and reset just the faulted (weaker signal) device, your functionality will be restored. I too ran into this problem more and more frequently over time.  

It is as if either the hardware was degrading and losing stability even more over time, or the updated software pushed to the points made it less reliable as time wore on. The only way i was ever able to completely solve the networking issue was to stop using the wifi points all together. I had two nest wifi router units (and 4 wifi points) and with just the routers (the ones without the assistant - and which were built with industry specific hardware intended for networking devices) signaal strength and quality was always perfect and never had any dropouts.

Basically the wifi points are defective, and i dont believe there is any way to salvage them - though google will continue to try, on whatever timeline they have before ultimately phasing them out of existence.

Good luck to you.