Google wants to make your WiFi better with a new router – we tried it

With video conferencing in the home office, streaming in high 4K resolution or cloud gaming, the demands on the WLAN are increasing. This is where Google’s new wireless router Nest Wifi Pro comes in. With the third generation of its mesh WLAN system, the internet giant promises faster, more reliable and easier to manage WLAN within your own four walls – even in very large apartments or multi-storey houses.

This is possible because you can integrate up to five Nest Wifi Pro into Google’s mesh network, which uses the latest WiFi 6E WiFi standard. Multiple Nest Wifi Pros can communicate with each other, bringing fast WiFi to the farthest corners of the house (if enough mesh routers are used). In a mesh network, different Wi-Fi sources (access points) are used instead of one router, for example to provide several floors with Wi-Fi. This solution is not exactly cheap, but promises a faster and more stable WLAN reception compared to cheaper repeaters.

Another strong point of Google’s mesh network is its easy operation with a simple app for Android and iOS, which can also be operated by laymen without having to delve into instructions.

A few days before its launch on Thursday, Google sent me a test device for the Nest Wifi Pro, which cost 220 francs. That’s not enough time for a lengthy test and the set of two routers for CHF 330 would have been more convenient, but I can give you a few first impressions here anyway.

Specifications:

A bit of technical gibberish at first, but it’s harmless, I promise: Earlier routers use the 2.4 and 5 gigahertz frequency bands to transmit data in the WLAN. Google’s mesh router also works with the latest Wi-Fi 6E Wi-Fi standard in the faster 6 GHz radio band, which simply puts more space in the network, reduces network congestion and enables faster speeds.

Devices with Wi-Fi 6E are currently in the margins, but in the future more and more devices will support this standard and take advantage of the speed increase in the 6 GHz band.

Good enough for the living room

For best performance, mesh routers should be placed centrally in the home and not hidden from view. Fortunately, Google took this into account and designed a compact, unobtrusive router that looks good enough to place it prominently in the living room.

With us, Google only offers the Nest Wifi Pro in high-gloss white, while in the US there are several colors to choose from. About 60 percent of the product weight consists of recycled materials.

Set up quickly, few connections

The Google router is connected via an Ethernet cable to the power supply and to the modem router of the Internet provider or another modem.

What you need to know: Google’s mesh router is not a modem and only has two Ethernet ports. As a result, after connecting to the external modem, only one LAN port remains free that delivers a maximum of 1 Gbit/s. You will not find any other connections.

One app for almost everything

Setting up the WLAN is easy via the Google Home app and is self-explanatory. At least at my house the app automatically recognized the router to set up and after a few minutes everything was ready.

The clear home app is the control center of the new network. It gives access to all important settings. Here, a guest network can be set up with a few clicks or activities such as video conferencing or gaming can be prioritized. You can also determine which devices should benefit from the best possible performance.

In the Google Home app, you can assign devices to specific family members and interrupt the Wi-Fi connection for those devices at any time, such as during meals. It is also possible to set up Wi-Fi schedules for the children. The associated devices then no longer have WLAN before going to sleep, for example.

The app can also be used to block access to adult websites. In my short test, the Home app and the features described here worked perfectly.

The advanced network settings for professionals, on the other hand, are deliberately hidden in the settings so as not to deter the average consumer. That’s okay so far, there’s no web interface to manage the devices through the browser, but it should bother one or the other.

range and speed

Google promises coverage up to 120 square meters with a Nest Wifi Pro. As luck would have it, ours is 4-room apartment almost exactly the same size. With Yallo’s previous router (Sunrise), the WLAN signal reached all corners of the apartment without any problems, but I only managed to download 200 to 500 Mbit/s, depending on the room. That is barely half of the best possible 1000 Mbit/s that my internet subscription promises. With Google’s Nest Wifi Pro I get around 900 MBit/s near the router.

The 120 m also provide the Google router² has no major issues although it is placed in a corner of the apartment which admittedly isn’t ideal. In the farthest room (the signal has to pass through two brick walls), the speed of both routers sometimes drops below 200 Mbit/s. This is not really surprising as the 2.4 Ghz band is longer but slower.

For a larger apartment or two floors, the set of two identical Nest Wifi Pro routers, which Google sells for CHF 330, is therefore necessary for optimal coverage. With three floors, three Nest Wifi Pro are probably recommended. The mesh system shows its strengths in such spatial conditions. However, you will only benefit most in the future if your own devices have mastered the new WLAN standard Wi-Fi 6E and can take full advantage of the faster and less congested 6 GHz band.

As stated, Google’s mesh system is a “luxury solution” that is easy to implement even for laymen and should only be considered if you are not happy with the existing WLAN or are looking for a simple solution for the smart home. For example, Google’s latest mesh system allows up to 100 connected devices at a time per access point. This allows you to integrate many loudspeakers, lamps, switches, etc. into the WLAN.

According to Google, the mesh WLAN system achieves a theoretical total speed, ie combined over all frequencies, of up to 4.2 Gbit/s. In practice, according to Google, the WLAN creates “multiple simultaneous 4K video streams” or “simultaneous gaming, two video calls and playing a movie in 4K quality”. This, of course, on the condition that you have a correspondingly fast internet subscription.

Or else? The new Nest Wifi Pro is not compatible with previous Google or Nest Wifi devices. On the positive side, Google guarantees automatic security updates for at least five years and that the router will soon support the cross-manufacturer smart home standard Matter.

The first conclusion

Google Nest Wifi Pro is a mesh network that is easy to set up if you want to equip a house or a very large apartment with a strong WiFi signal right down to the last corner without much effort. With the trend towards working from home, this need has probably increased for many.

In my short test period with unfortunately only one Nest Wifi Pro, the network was stable. Close to the router, the Google router consistently delivered significantly more speed than Yallo’s default router (matches the UPC Giga Connect Box). In the more distant rooms there was hardly any difference.

The target group is households that make maximum use of the current network with simultaneous 4K video streams, video calls, gaming, etc. Especially the easy installation and operation with Google’s Home app makes it very easy for network laymen to expand the WLAN. You can go step by step and integrate another Nest Wifi Pro (up to 5) into the network if the WLAN requirements increase further.

Another target group is households that want to manage a large number of speakers, lamps, switches, video cameras, etc. from different manufacturers via a central and relatively user-friendly app.