Wifi Signal consistently dropping around 6pm every day

[smithnorthholly]

We have Google Nest Wifi - AC2200 with two additional points. Around 6pm almost every day our signal drops and mesh network points go offline. Any device that is connected to ethernet is fine but everything on wifi doesn't or connection becomes spotty throughout the house. If I go into google home and run tests it says our speed is GREAT but wifi points are offline or have weak signal. When I'm home during the day the signal is great and all wifi points have a GREAT connection. After 6pm if I go into google home and run tests it says our speed is GREAT but wifi points are offline or have weak signal. Why would it change at the end of the day.

[MichaelP]

Hello @smithnorthholly 

Do you happen to have something like a soundbar that supports wireless subwoofer or surround speakers? Something you might turn on with the TV around that time of day? Those use the same part of the 5GHz spectrum that Nest WiFi uses to talk to 5GHz clients as well as for Nest WiFi Point units to talk back to the Nest WiFi Router. Soundbars don't use WiFi in that spectrum, though, so instead of sharing it "nicely", it is just pure interference.

Basically, this feels like interference to me, and wireless sound bars are the most common source.

[smithnorthholly]

All of our surround sound equipment is wired. The only household items we have using wifi are smart bulbs, wifi cameras, and fire sticks. None of those trigger any activity around that time. I usually have the FireTV on all day in the background when I'm home. The smart bulbs are triggered at 4ish. Nothing in our home is triggered at 6pm. 

[MichaelP]

Ok, so it's not your sound bar (and unless you're in an apartment, it's unlikely to be a neighbor's sound bar; if you are in an apartment, that is still a possibility). I'm not worried about WiFi devices causing interference here, it's non-WiFi wireless devices that are the issue. Does anyone nearby use a wireless internet service provider? This still feels like interference to me – something wireless that starts using the spectrum heavily around that time each day.

[smithnorthholly]

We have little to no cell signal in our neighborhood so to my knowledge cell phone Internet isn't available it our neighborhood. 

[MichaelP]

Thanks – I'm actually not as worried about recent "5G" wireless internet service (from T-Mobile or Verizon, for example) causing interference, since that uses a different part of the spectrum. But, I have seen other people run into trouble using wireless internet service that runs in the same part of the 5GHz spectrum as Nest WiFi. If you or a nearby neighbor is using something like that, but it's mostly idle during the day and starts streaming around 6pm, you could see this. But, if nothing like that is nearby, then I'm running out of ideas. This still feels like interference, though. If this behavior started recently, I would focus on what changes may have been made around the time it started.

[macuis]

I've noticed something similar as well with my wifi. 

I've been running the gen 1 Google wifi 3 pack for 6 years with no issues, but saw a used nest wifi 2 pack on facebook Marketplace that I thought would be an upgrade to the main router, while maintaining the existing gen 1 points with the wired backhaul.  

Two weeks since running the new setup, there has been some inconsistent wifi speeds on two occurences.  All wired connections, or wireless connections to my points are achieving my ISP speeds of 250/250 Mbps, but any wireless connections to the nest router would be 50/1 Mbps.  Only work around is to reset the entire network, and things return to normal.   

So weird, that it's very much random, with no other changes other than the router itself.  The nest router does indeed have better range than the gen 1, I'm now able to achieve full ISP speeds in rooms in odd corners that I didn't before which is nice, but it's somewhat hampered by this odd behaviour.  

I'll also note that there has been an instance in the Home app where the network appears Offline, but is functioning as normal.  Again, work around is network restart, and all is well.