Guest network failing overall network

[Joe152]

I purchased and set up a new Nest Wi-Fi router and repeater in Jul 2022 for my Airbnb house and immediately set up the master network and a separate guest network for visitors.  It worked flawlessly for 5 months and out of the blue last week, both networks stopped allowing any devices to connect (iOS, android, smart tv, smart thermostat, etc).  I power cycled the router, repeater, the fiber modem and all devices with no luck.  I then factory reset the entire network and it came back and connected fine.  However, when I added the guest network again in Google Home, both networks stopped connecting to all devices within 5 minutes.  So I turned off the guest network and everything started connecting immediately.  I’ve tried restarting the guest network several times in the past few days but same problem repeats and I have to shut it off.  I’ve tried changing the guest network name and password to see if that might help but no luck.  I really need the guest network up and running for Airbnb guests so would really appreciate if anyone has any ideas where to go next?

[AbigailF]

Hey Joe152,

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

A quick question: do you have any paused devices?

Give these steps a try:
 

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.

Let us know how it goes.

Best,
Abi

[Jeff]

Hi Joe152,

I just wanted to jump in real fast to see if you saw Abi's reply and to see if you still needed some help on this or if you were able to get it sorted out. If you are still needing some help, just let us know and we'll be happy to continue helping.

Thanks,
Jeff

[Joe152]

Thanks Abi and Jeff for reaching out and the suggestions.  Fortunately, while i was waiting for a reply, I started working my way backwards to think through what had changed that might bring the network down. I recalled that just before it died, my son came home from college after a semester. He had previously connected back in August and apparently something on his iPhone upset the system when he tried to auto connect in Dec.  On a complete guess, I had him ‘forget this network’ on his iPhone and reconnect and everything settled back in to normal…both the main network and the guest network went back to connecting as usual. So I’m not sure what was the actual root cause but finding the problem device seemed to sort it all out.

[Jeff]

Hey Joe152,

Thanks for the follow up and letting us know how you got this worked out. That's good news to see things working well for you. Before I mark this as resolved is there anything else I could do for you here?

Thanks,
Jeff

[Joe152]

I think we’re all set.  Thanks again.

[Jeff]

Sounds good, Joe152. If you need anything else, just let us know.

Thanks,
Jeff