Google Nest Wifi (router)

Saw it on sale and bought it since I had an older on-hub device that went out of support. The buying process was quick and item arrived on time. However, was disappointed with the Device as I was not able to setup. Knowing Google devices, they are quick plug and play setups. However, I kept running into a “unable to connect to cloud” error during setup. Spent hours with Google support and even reached out to my internet provider to reprovision my modem but the device would not work. Looks like this is a known issue when I googled the symptoms. So I ended up returning the device and picked up a DECO router which is working flawlessly. I liked the old OnHub because of its parental controls and robust app. The DECO app has similar controls and in fact I like the DECO ... MoreSaw it on sale and bought it since I had an older on-hub device that went out of support. The buying process was quick and item arrived on time. However, was disappointed with the Device as I was not able to setup. Knowing Google devices, they are quick plug and play setups. However, I kept running into a “unable to connect to cloud” error during setup. Spent hours with Google support and even reached out to my internet provider to reprovision my modem but the device would not work. Looks like this is a known issue when I googled the symptoms. So I ended up returning the device and picked up a DECO router which is working flawlessly. I liked the old OnHub because of its parental controls and robust app. The DECO app has similar controls and in fact I like the DECO app better. In short, I might have gotten the luck of the draw and ended up with a bad device but it looks like the issues I faced during the Google setup is a known issue. So just be prepared to spend time troubleshooting if you run into issues. On another note: the return process was quick on the Walmart app and I dropped the Google device off at my local Walmart for a refund. Hope this helps others looking for a good router.

A little better than the competition.

Homes differ. I don’t want to suggest that competing products are intrinsically inferior to this product, but I did try out 4 different makes of mesh systems in my home and found the Google Nest AC 2200 three pack somewhat better than the competition in my home. The mesh systems I tried were the Netgear Orbi AC 3000 two pack, the Amazon eero 6 four pack, the TP Link Deco S 4 four pack and the Google Nest. All systems were comparable in price, around $ 250, during the Cyber Monday sale window, except for the TP Link system which cost about $ 180. I would consider these systems mid range mesh systems, not entry level ones. My yardstick was that the mesh had to deliver better speed and signal strength that my existing router and extender combination and had to be ... MoreHomes differ. I don’t want to suggest that competing products are intrinsically inferior to this product, but I did try out 4 different makes of mesh systems in my home and found the Google Nest AC 2200 three pack somewhat better than the competition in my home. The mesh systems I tried were the Netgear Orbi AC 3000 two pack, the Amazon eero 6 four pack, the TP Link Deco S 4 four pack and the Google Nest. All systems were comparable in price, around $ 250, during the Cyber Monday sale window, except for the TP Link system which cost about $ 180. I would consider these systems mid range mesh systems, not entry level ones. My yardstick was that the mesh had to deliver better speed and signal strength that my existing router and extender combination and had to be stable and consistent in speed. What I found is that none of the four named systems, all of which claimed 5000 to 6000 square ft of coverage, actually covered my 3000 square ft L shaped home with uniform speeds across the home. I got about 160-200 MBps in one half of my home and only 50-70 MBps in the far end of the other half of the house with these mesh networks. My subscription is 350 MBps and I get 120-160 MBps in one half and 30-50 MBps in the other half with just my router and extender. The three unit Google Nest based on the older AC 2200 standard gave me better speeds than even the four unit eero 6 mesh which is based on the newer Wi-Fi 6 standard, though the difference was not big: about 15 % better. Speed apart, the clincher for me was that the two Google extenders in the Nest pack came with built in speakers which could be used as network connected speakers to play streaming audio . Overall, the Google Nest was better in my layout but I wish I could get a true 5000 sq ft mesh with equal speeds across my whole home.

As expected from Google

We got this router to replace our old one, which we have used for the past nine years. We were getting connection issues due to the size of our house. Although I was having difficulties getting this router set up initially (WAN settings are incorrect), after a factory reset by pressing the small grey button, until the green light turned solid, I unplugged and replugged it into the outlet. It works perfectly. It connected to our NBN, and I set up the rest of the access points across our house. This mesh Wi-Fi is incredibly fast, the performance is phenomenal, and it reaches every nick and corner of our house. Recommended! The set-up with the Google Home app is seamless and convenient. Has some fantastic tools like guest Wi-Fi and family Wi-Fi (great addition if you ... MoreWe got this router to replace our old one, which we have used for the past nine years. We were getting connection issues due to the size of our house. Although I was having difficulties getting this router set up initially (WAN settings are incorrect), after a factory reset by pressing the small grey button, until the green light turned solid, I unplugged and replugged it into the outlet. It works perfectly. It connected to our NBN, and I set up the rest of the access points across our house. This mesh Wi-Fi is incredibly fast, the performance is phenomenal, and it reaches every nick and corner of our house. Recommended! The set-up with the Google Home app is seamless and convenient. Has some fantastic tools like guest Wi-Fi and family Wi-Fi (great addition if you have kids). The Google Assistant baked into the Access Point was a great decision. Able to use as a speaker (which sounds good), call upon Google assistant. 10/10 recommended.

Bad connection

If I could give it zero stars I would. I bought the Router and 1 point for my house that is ~2300sq ft. Took me a couple days to get around to setting it up, then trying to figure out different locations to put the "point" so that I could get wifi in each of the bedrooms. I learned that no matter where I put the point, I couldn't get any connection in my master bedroom. So I tried to take them back hoping to exchange for the "router and 2 points". But apparently it was about 16 days after purchase so it was too late to return. Rules are rules so I went ahead and just purchased the "extra point". Problem is, the connection is still terrible. I have tried moving each of the points all over the house but haven't found anything that works. The points often disconnect ... MoreIf I could give it zero stars I would. I bought the Router and 1 point for my house that is ~2300sq ft. Took me a couple days to get around to setting it up, then trying to figure out different locations to put the "point" so that I could get wifi in each of the bedrooms. I learned that no matter where I put the point, I couldn't get any connection in my master bedroom. So I tried to take them back hoping to exchange for the "router and 2 points". But apparently it was about 16 days after purchase so it was too late to return. Rules are rules so I went ahead and just purchased the "extra point". Problem is, the connection is still terrible. I have tried moving each of the points all over the house but haven't found anything that works. The points often disconnect from each other and I have to reconfigure each of them. I don't purchase the most expensive internet connection from my provider but at most we run 2 phones and 2 laptops, mostly just for internet use. Right next to my router I get about 350mbps download speed, in the master bedroom which is about 75 feet away and 2 points in between I am constantly getting less than 40mbps download speed.

Bugs galore! Avoid if you actually want good wifi

I have since returned my units but have a few thoughts on Nest Wifi that need to be shared. Pros: Setup was easy and intuitive within the Google Home app. Various levels of settings were useful and allowed for moderate network manipulation for those needing to do things like address reservations and port forwarding. Cons: Bugs galore. Within 20 minutes of completing the setip and getting a good number of devices on the network, it became immediately obvious there were both speed degradation issues and poor connection strength issues. My space only 1200 sqft and with maximum of 1-2 walls between the router and the device. I pay for 750 down and up but would barely get 75mbps and that was standing right next to the primary router. The slow speeds were a noted bug by ... MoreI have since returned my units but have a few thoughts on Nest Wifi that need to be shared. Pros: Setup was easy and intuitive within the Google Home app. Various levels of settings were useful and allowed for moderate network manipulation for those needing to do things like address reservations and port forwarding. Cons: Bugs galore. Within 20 minutes of completing the setip and getting a good number of devices on the network, it became immediately obvious there were both speed degradation issues and poor connection strength issues. My space only 1200 sqft and with maximum of 1-2 walls between the router and the device. I pay for 750 down and up but would barely get 75mbps and that was standing right next to the primary router. The slow speeds were a noted bug by Google in the beginning of 2021 and still hasnt had a firmware update to resolve the issues that were prevalent on Google's forums. The additional bug was that WiFi would constantly drop and require daily reboots of the network. I experienced this multiple times in the three days i had this setup. As an IT professional, the lack of proper firnware updates from Google and the poor experience of using and staying connected to the WiFi is simply unacceptable for a consumer level product at this price and from a company like Google. If you want reliable internet in your home and specifically need it to be a mesh network setup, use either TP-LINK Deco or Eero.

Decent upgrade from 1st gen but very similar

I bought this to upgrade my main node as I already had the 2017 version of the 1st gen pucks that worked fairly well. I appreciate that it's backwards compatible with the older gen and able to use them as mesh nodes without any hassle. My new home has several walls in between the main node and the locations that it makes to most sense to place the mesh points, so the upgraded antenna on this unit has given my older mesh points a boost. I'm now getting close to double the speed at the ends of my house. It's supposedly rated for 2200 sqft which would cover my whole house on its own, but I haven't tested it out. When replacing the main node I did have to set up everything from scratch and reset the mesh points since there's no way to transfer an existing network to the ... MoreI bought this to upgrade my main node as I already had the 2017 version of the 1st gen pucks that worked fairly well. I appreciate that it's backwards compatible with the older gen and able to use them as mesh nodes without any hassle. My new home has several walls in between the main node and the locations that it makes to most sense to place the mesh points, so the upgraded antenna on this unit has given my older mesh points a boost. I'm now getting close to double the speed at the ends of my house. It's supposedly rated for 2200 sqft which would cover my whole house on its own, but I haven't tested it out. When replacing the main node I did have to set up everything from scratch and reset the mesh points since there's no way to transfer an existing network to the new unit. Other than that, setup is a breeze guided by the Google Home app. My main complaints are the new plug shape and removal of USB C that the previous gen had, the lack of VLAN tagging, limited upload speeds on PPPoE mode, and limited download speeds in general (I get max ~600 Mbps from my 1 Gbps fiber, the ISP provided router got around ~850 Mbps). If the nest WiFi points had wired backhaul and PoE to use as WAPs I might have considered purchasing them as well. If you want advanced networking features and settings this is not the system for you.

Defective Unit? Or Defective Design?

We purchased the 2 pack Nest Wifi Mesh router as a replacement for our older Apple AirPort Extreme. We could never get it to function properly, eventually returning it to the store. I'm digitally native, fairly technically competent and work in a technical field (engineer). These routers could not consistently maintain an internet signal. We have Xfinity internet. I imagine this is a very common setup in many homes using Nest routers. We tried the router with two customer owned modems, an older Arris DOCSIS 3.0 unit that has worked perfectly with the AirPort for about 6 years (can't remember the last time it even needed a restart) and a brand new Arris DOCSIS 3.1 modem. We contacted Xfinity each time before switching to be sure they were activated in their system ... MoreWe purchased the 2 pack Nest Wifi Mesh router as a replacement for our older Apple AirPort Extreme. We could never get it to function properly, eventually returning it to the store. I'm digitally native, fairly technically competent and work in a technical field (engineer). These routers could not consistently maintain an internet signal. We have Xfinity internet. I imagine this is a very common setup in many homes using Nest routers. We tried the router with two customer owned modems, an older Arris DOCSIS 3.0 unit that has worked perfectly with the AirPort for about 6 years (can't remember the last time it even needed a restart) and a brand new Arris DOCSIS 3.1 modem. We contacted Xfinity each time before switching to be sure they were activated in their system and receiving an internet signal. The router had the same issue of not being able to obtain/maintain an internet connection with both modems. I had to call technical support 3 separate times over the short time we had this unit. In the end, they blamed Xfinity, who in turn blamed Arris. But given that we had the same router issue with two separate Arris modems, and that each time when we reconnected our old AirPort, everything worked fine again, the variable here clearly is the Google Nest router. The Google Home app, which controls the device, is cumbersome. It's designed for ease of use, but this also means it's a "black box" with minimal user control should adjustments be needed. I'm still not sure if the issue we had was hardware or software related, but in the end it doesn't really matter as Very glad I was able to get a refund and try a router from another manufacturer. If you do plan to purchase one of these, in addition to price shopping, be sure to pay attention to the return window the retailer you're purchasing it from allows. We found national retailers vary from 15 days to 90 days. If a defect doesn't immediately present itself, in my experience, Google's warranty isn't where you want to be stuck, so those extra days may end up being valuable.

Simple Setup

I bought this router for my in-laws. I am an Apple ecosystem house, but they have Android and use Google. They needed something simple because they aren't very tech savvy. This router was easy to set up for them. We had a few issues trying to teach Google Assistant each of their voices, but we got it working. They would not have set that feature up on their own. They love being able to play Pandora from the access point using Google Assistant. Previously, they would play it from their Roku TV, but now they don't have to have the TV on, so they're excited to save that electricity. The signal has improved in the corners of their house compared to the signal booster they were using before. The main router is in their office and the access point in the living room ... MoreI bought this router for my in-laws. I am an Apple ecosystem house, but they have Android and use Google. They needed something simple because they aren't very tech savvy. This router was easy to set up for them. We had a few issues trying to teach Google Assistant each of their voices, but we got it working. They would not have set that feature up on their own. They love being able to play Pandora from the access point using Google Assistant. Previously, they would play it from their Roku TV, but now they don't have to have the TV on, so they're excited to save that electricity. The signal has improved in the corners of their house compared to the signal booster they were using before. The main router is in their office and the access point in the living room (about the center of the house). I also told them if they were worried about Google listening to them throughout the day, there is a switch on the back of the unit to mute the microphone. They did not seem worried about it, though.

The Nest Wi-Fi Routers Do Not Last

We've had the Nest Wifi Router with multiple access points for about three years now and we are on our third router. The last held out a little longer than our first but failed in the last week. They don't fail outright, what you see is they start to drop wifi and then pick back up, drop again, and pick back up. These symptoms get progressively worse until you get fed up with things not working. The first time around, Google Support was not helpful in finding a fix after a few days of troubleshooting. The diagnostics were somewhat helpful; enough for me to determine it was a hardware issue after checking with my ISP. For the second time, symptoms were the same and the fix was the same; buy a new router. Since we are fully integrated with Google and Google Home, it ... MoreWe've had the Nest Wifi Router with multiple access points for about three years now and we are on our third router. The last held out a little longer than our first but failed in the last week. They don't fail outright, what you see is they start to drop wifi and then pick back up, drop again, and pick back up. These symptoms get progressively worse until you get fed up with things not working. The first time around, Google Support was not helpful in finding a fix after a few days of troubleshooting. The diagnostics were somewhat helpful; enough for me to determine it was a hardware issue after checking with my ISP. For the second time, symptoms were the same and the fix was the same; buy a new router. Since we are fully integrated with Google and Google Home, it made sense to stick with this. We wanted to upgrade to Nest Pro 6E, but the reviews you read say there are far too many issues and bugs with their current firmware. The multiple open-box Nest Pros at Best Buy would seem to confirm that. Since these are becoming obsolete, I am sure when this one fails in a year or so, Google will have those issues sorted out. Google, if you're reading this, save your time, no reply is needed, I don't need any lackluster support today.

Way better than expected

Besides the amazing bargain I’d paid for this through Bing Lee, this WiFi mesh is amazing! In areas of my house that we’re topping out at 5mbps (main reason for buying this), are now hitting the max 90, per my current plan. Amazing! One important and impressive note that I never would’ve picked up on is, although I have a 90mbps data plan, I was only could ever getting 30, max. But once the Google mesh was was all hooked up, it notified me that my Ethernet cable (Fibre to Router) was inhibiting my internet speeds. I picked up a $6 CAT6 cable from Jaycar and voila! Max 90mbps speeds through my entire place! Thankful! To boot, I now have full voice control over my smart lights/devices through Google home wherever a mesh point is (basically from my front door to my ... MoreBesides the amazing bargain I’d paid for this through Bing Lee, this WiFi mesh is amazing! In areas of my house that we’re topping out at 5mbps (main reason for buying this), are now hitting the max 90, per my current plan. Amazing! One important and impressive note that I never would’ve picked up on is, although I have a 90mbps data plan, I was only could ever getting 30, max. But once the Google mesh was was all hooked up, it notified me that my Ethernet cable (Fibre to Router) was inhibiting my internet speeds. I picked up a $6 CAT6 cable from Jaycar and voila! Max 90mbps speeds through my entire place! Thankful! To boot, I now have full voice control over my smart lights/devices through Google home wherever a mesh point is (basically from my front door to my bedroom now) which is way my more convenient as I don’t always have my phone on me. Surprisingly, the sound isn’t bad either, I love that I can have music or the weather/news announced throughout multiple areas of my house. Tempted to pick up a couple more just for audio and voice control in other rooms. Overall, super happy with this and amazed at the overall usability. Definitely exceeded my expectations.