Google Nest Mini not connecting to college wi-fi

[SGreenwood]

My daughter moved into her dorm and I bought her a google nest mini speaker. The school said that its wireless networks support streaming devises. She cannot set up the speaker because they have 2 wireless networks for students, one for computers/phones and the other is for devises like nest mini, GoogleTV, Alexa, etc.

You must resister the nest mini on the schools network using it’s Mac ID (this was not easy to get). She connected the nest mini to her google home app on her phone and then tried to configure it to connect to the “devise network”. As soon as she clicks OK after selecting the “devise network” a message pops up to say that the phone and speaker are on different networks and the only option is to select another wireless network or exit the setup.

Her room mate next door said she had no problems connecting her Alexa. Any advice on setup would be greatly appreciated.

[Muddi]

Hello SGreenwood,

Thanks for visiting the Community.

I apologize for the delayed response. Please be aware that our Google Home and Nest speakers or displays are not compatible with college or university networks. This is because most of these networks use a captive portal system that requires users to sign in on a website. Also, since multiple individuals can connect to the same network in a university setting, there are potential security risks.

If your daughter still wishes to connect her Nest Mini to the university network, she will need to obtain the MAC address of the speaker and have it whitelisted on the router. This will allow her to connect the speaker directly to her preferred network. To do this, please try setting up the device using a mobile hotspot. Please note that you will need two mobile devices for this setup: one to serve as a router and the other to set up the Google Nest Mini.

Cheers,

Muddi