Google Nest WiFi Pro – Mesh Router 3 Pack

I have worked professionally in IT and set up many home networks for myself and friends. I recently “upgraded” from the first version of Google/Nest Mesh Network to this version, buying a total of 6 devices. This product is terrible. The new devices, which are placed in the same locations as the old ones were, somehow manage to perform worse the first version of the product. The performance is so bad that we routinely can’t use the internet at all unless we directly plug into the main access point.

I have a 1gb symmetrical fiber optic connection. The google network reports speeds of 900+Mb/s in its tests and I see incredible wired performance so I know it’s not my internet provider. When speed testing actual speeds from wireless devices the absolute best I get is about 50Mb/s but more often it’s in single digit numbers and has extremely high latency. The mesh devices report good or great connection and yet fail to provide stable connections anywhere in the house. I have reset the network, moved devices around, and speed tested exhaustively and am still stuck with unusable wireless internet.

In addition to failing it’s most basic job, this network also lacks functionality that even mid grade routers provide. You can’t throttle devices to control how much bandwidth they are allowed to use. Port forwarding is finicky and may not work at all. When the system has problems, there is no way to diagnose or investigate the problems, you just have to wait for it to test the mesh network again. The Google Home app is also poorly designed with many settings being difficult to find and it is full of bugs. Additionally, since it requires wifi to work, it’s often not even functional when wifi stability is the problem in the first place.

Ultimately this product is neither beginner friendly, nor is it a premium product. It is expensive, lacks the features and controls a power user wants, and is too unpredictable for the novice user. Competitive mesh networks are far superior – or do yourself a favor and just buy a single good quality wireless router.

Bought this when it first became available. Just received this afternoon 11/4. Tried setting up but both access points would not connect. Spent 1 hour on the phone with support and they finally said to me ‘they’ll kick this up to a senior engineer but, if I can I should return it to Amazon as it appears defective’. So I’m returning it after spending 2+ hours trying to setup and on the phone with support. Just to give background I am very familiar with google products as I have the original google wifi. Worked flawlessly till they passed a firmware upgrade on this past summer. Since then have had to restart all the routers once a week. The next one I order better work. Will update once I get and successfully setup.

Update 11/26 – got the system to work by hooking each wifi point up to the router with internet first. That allowed each wifi point to load whatever updated software it needed as well as connect to the system. I was then able to disconnect each point from the routers internet via Ethernet cord move it to where I wanted it and then it reconnected to the main router. The system now works perfectly and is super fast! Love it!!! But, can’t say the same for google support. They should know how to make the system work and be able to troubleshoot it if someone calls, like me, and the fact that they weren’t able to is not goog sneed for me or anyone in the future if something happens. Now that this works I can recommend it and say it’s fairly simple to setup. Just connect each point to the router when initially setting up so they can each get setup. Hope this helps everyone!

The only reason why I am upgrading is because my IPS gave me deal for 1 GBs. I had 200 MBs and that was more than enough for me. I had Google Wifi (gen1) for about 5 years. No problems except I had to buy extra pod to strengthen the signal (i live in condo and i have brick walls). So the signal from my balcony room (storage with concrete walls) was poor to my office. I bought nest wifi and everything was working good (connection was great / good) between nest wifi (router gen2) to 2 google wifi (gen1). I notice that after I got 1 GBs from ISP my speed was still the same 100 MBs on wifi. When I disconnected gen 1s (routers) my speed next to router (testing on iphone 14pro) was 560 MBs. If I would probably just switch my old 2 google wifi (gen 1) to Nest Wifi (gen2) I would be just fine. But since I live in condo I was like let me try that new 6Ghz.

So I bought Nest Wifi Pro 3pk. Signal between 3 of them is great. If I would just use 2 it would be “Good signal”. I live in 1500 sqft apt, but my main router is basically in concrete storage (maybe I will drill a whole and put that router inside apt and give update).

Speed next to Nest Wifi pro (gen3) router seems to be the same as Nest Wifi (gen2) what I am trying to say is I wouldn’t upgrade if all my previous pods were Nest Wifi (gen2). I wouldn’t expect more than 600 MBs on this routers based on my research online. What I like about google is steady speed, and they are upgrading software for this Nest Wifi Pro (so in future it will get better)

Wifi speeds:
Shed 500-600 MBs download / 22 MBs upload wifi speed
Workout Room about 300 MBs
Office 150-300 MBs

Overall I don’t play a lot of games. Tried for CS 2 and ping was good, no lags in game.
Streaming videos for 6hrs no buffering problems.

Overall:
If are upgrading from Google Wifi yea thats upgrade. I would not suggest upgrading Nest Wifi (only if you experience network problems or want to see if wifi will be stronger but I don’t see this wifi hitting more than 600 Mbs). Who needs more than 1 GBs internet.

Design:
I don’t really care about it but looks like nice stone (gen3). If its goes about power connector I am not a fan of it. Gen 1 had better in my opinion because if you connect to multiple plug connector it easy.

Missing:
Nest WiFi pro use 1 GBs Ethernet/WAN speed (that wire entry) while competition use 2.5 GBs Ethernet/WAN speed. On the other hand who use Ethernet anymore? Gaming desktops and maybe playstation. But going forward I believe it will be all Wifi at some point.

Signal:
Seems to be better than Google WiFi (gen 1 and gen 2)

Software:
I had recently update on this which means google is working on this router. Maybe It will get better in future.

Installation:
Very easy on Google Home app. If you use the same wifi password and name, all your devices will connect automatically. However 3rd took me about 5 tries but finally was added.

Price: Very Good compare to others. If you need 4pk see costco.

Update from 14 January 2024:
I found that moving modem and router from my storage/heating closet to open (without obstruction of concrete/brick walls) inside apartment made increased speed of 400-600 Mbps per second. The farther away pod goes 400+ Mbps. (On 1gb internet for comcast)

I don’t see any issues with this system. I changed my 4 starts to 5 stars.

Es un excelente producto que si te ayuda para que no tengas inestabilidad sobre la red.