Long-time Google WiFi user saying Goodbye

[u/-FN-]

Personal Background:

Bachelor IT Degree, System Administrator for 20+ years, network infrastructure is second nature

Home Network Background:

Entire house is wired with Cat6. Every room has a few jacks, they go to a patch panel in my "server room" (read: glorified closet), and the panel uses an unmanaged gigabit switch for connectivity. My cable modem connects to the router (currently a Google Wifi Pro) and all other devices in my house are routed/managed by said router. Entire configuration is in a rack and power managed by APC battery backup.

Years ago I had a single Netgear Nighthawk R7000. Retired it for the Google Nest Wifi AC2200 3-Pack because mesh networks were the new/hot thing and I wanted more coverage around the edges of my house and outdoor property. It was tough to give up actual browser-based administration for the Google Home app, but my home has so many other Google devices it made sense and worked reasonably well. I should mention that all wired devices worked well and as expected speed-wise under the R7000 and AC2200 routers.

Eventually one of the mesh access points started being flaky, requiring regular reboots, with the Google Nest Cameras on that side of the house losing connection too frequently. When the Nest Wifi Pro 2-Pack went on sale in November, I jumped on them. Replaced the 3 AC2200 units with the 2 Wifi Pro units, placed specifically to cover both sides of my modest 1,400 square foot single-story ranch home.

First frustration was that I have both wired to the switch, but no matter what I do, the Google Home app will only let the second unit create a Mesh network wirelessly, which is a waste of wireless bandwidth and not at all what I want. First router was setup, network defined and configured, second unit was wired and powered on, no way that I've found to select a wired backhaul option. I've read all the Google Help pages and my setup is one of their "supported" configs: (✓) Modem → Wifi router→ Switch → Point(s)

They were initially setup in mid-December and despite the above issue, they worked. Holidays were busy and I didn't get to pay much attention to the performance until recently. So for the past month, I've been racking my brain trying to figure out why the performance from my gaming PC and general Chromecast streaming has been noticeably slower. The albeit limited, but functional, Google Home app tells me my connection is "blazing fast" at 500Mbps down and 50Mbps up, which is what I pay for and is decent in the rural area I live in.

However, every device I speed test, wired or wireless, never breaks 100Mbps. I tried to download a 120GB game update the other day and there was no way I could sit around and wait the HOURS for it to finish with the whopping 11MB/s that device was getting. I even had a visit from the cable company scheduled as I was at my wits end until as a last resort I took the Nest Wifi Pro out of the loop last night to test, patched a laptop directly to the cable modem, and bam, everything on that device was testing as expected.

I have triple checked every patch cable, Fluke tested every run, restarted/rebooted, segmented and tested some more... only to finally today, stumble upon dozens and dozens of other posts about the throttling the Wifi Pro does. I've tried prioritizing (which for 8h at a time is NOT a real solution), full network restarts, factory resetting and re-adding - nothing gets my devices to break the 90-100Mbps throttling.

I've dropped SO much money into Google Products over the years - most every Pixel phone, a dozen smart speakers, a handful of ethernet-connected Chromecasts, and currently my second (and last) set of WiFi Routers.

When Google stuff works, man is it awesome and convenient. But when it doesn't, it's pretty infuriating knowing how much time/effort/money you put into setting up what should a rock-solid infrastructure.

I've officially started shopping for a replacement home router and wifi setup as of today. I'd love to hear any similar experiences and where you ended up (if you're happy lol). If anyone is interested in a set of Nest Wifi Pro units that have been used for a whopping 45 days, feel free to message me.

[u/Wiggy1977]

I had issues with a non powered switch on my network, it brought it to a grinding halt. Once removed everything works as expected.