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Wifi router control outside of the app

Alyoop25
Community Member

I noticed there are limited things I can do with my nest wifi. Most router give the owner more control. Is there a way to control my wifi more like to remove unused devices. I found it extremely frusterating when i was trying to connect a security csmera that would only connect on a 2.5g wifi. After hours of searching snd messing with wifi settings (which are xtremely limited) I had to get in my car and drive to the end of my driveway until i was out of range. Disconnect my wifi and the reconnect to access the 2.5g wifi. This is ridiculous. I should be able to control my own wifi. It makes me want to plug in my old router. How can i get access to normal wifi control on the nest router.. i dont want to control it through the app!

9 REPLIES 9

David_K
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

There's a couple of things here, so let's unpack.

There is no way to "remove" unused devices. Devices that haven't connected to your network within the last 30 days should disappear automatically. However, they still have your network password and can re-join unless you change the password, so "removing" them is purely cosmetic. This behaviour is not unique to Nest Wifi and applies to all wifi routers.

Nest Wifi is designed for and controlled by the Home app on a compatible Android or iOS phone or tablet. There is no feature to control it using a web browser on a computer, and this is clearly stated.

Lastly, Nest Wifi doesn't have a feature to enable separate network names for the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Using the same network name for both bands is more often than not the default on Wifi routers. Some, arguably poorly designed, smart home devices are only capable of using the 2.4 GHz band and will not be available for setup if the phone or tablet you're using for setup connects to the 5 GHz band. Here are some potential solutions:

  1. You may be able to tell your Android phone, if you have one, to only connect on the 2.4 GHz band temporarily in your phone's Wifi settings, then you may be able to setup the device. Refer to the manufacturer's support information to see if your phone has this feature.
  2. The waves of the 2.4 GHz band can travel a greater distance than those of the 5 GHz band. Put your phone or tablet into airplane mode first (that step is usually key), then move farther away from your router and points. Turn airplane mode off, and your phone or tablet may connect to the 2.4 GHz band, allowing you to continue the setup of your smart device.
  3. Use the Wifi hotspot feature on your phone or tablet. Refer to the manufacturer's support information to see if your device has this feature. This typically works because the Wifi hotspot uses the 2.4 GHz band, not the 5 GHz band. Note you will need 2 devices to set this up.
    • Turn off your Wifi routers and points.
    • Turn on the Wifi hotspot feature on a phone or tablet. Make sure to name the Wifi network the same as your normal network name, and use the same password you use on your normal Wifi network. If you're not sure how to do this, refer to the manufacturer's support website.
    • Connect a second phone or tablet to that Wifi hotspot.
    • You can then use that second phone or tablet to setup your device and connect it to the Wifi hotspot on the first phone or tablet.
    • Once setup, turn off the Wifi hotspot, turn your routers and points back on and your smart device should connect to your Wifi network.
  4. Temporarily invest in a cheap router (or borrow one from a friend or family member) that does have a feature to enable separate network names for the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. Turn off your existing router and points and make the network name and password of the temporary router the same as your existing router, then proceed to setup your smart device with the temporary router. Once finished, power off the temporary router and turn your existing router and points back on.

Hopefully that answers your questions or at least gives you some solutions. With that all said, this is mostly a user to user community, therefore I’d encourage you to also send this feedback directly to Google. You will not receive a response, unless Google need more details from you, however the team are still reading the feedback.

Alyoop25
Community Member

Thank you, as I stated in my post that was one frusterating experience with the wifi but I did find the solution to that. I have a newer phone samsung s20 and it does not have a setting to switch or choose which band the phone connects to. My main question was is there a way to have more control over my router? For the price of this router set up it has very limited controls. My "cheap router" allowed me the owner of it to have more control of the setting.. i dont understand why the nest wifi router only has limited controls.

David_K
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

The features and settings you see in the Home app are exactly that, you're not missing any advanced menus or other options. It's designed to be as simple as possible to setup and use, so in my experience, if you're used to lots of advanced settings and fine tuning, you're not going to find those settings with Nest Wifi.

Alyoop25
Community Member

Ok thats what I thought that maybe it was set up this wsy to be more user friendly, I have limited technical skills but  I know more than some and I can see hoe this is helpful.. i was  just hoping there was a way to go outside the app. Thank you for your time i appreciate it.

David_K
Platinum Product Expert
Platinum Product Expert

No problem at all, have a good week my friend!

Alyoop25
Community Member

You too!!

AbigailF
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hey folks, 

Thanks for lending a hand, @David_K.
@Alyoop25, 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.

Thanks,
Abi

AbigailF
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hello Alyoop25,

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

Best, 
Abi

AbigailF
Community Specialist
Community Specialist

Hi everyone,

We haven't heard from you in a while so we'll be locking this thread if there is no update within 24 hours. If you have any new issues, updates or just a discussion topic, feel free to start a new thread in the Community.

Regards, 
Abi