And out of the two devices I have that do support WiFi 6E, I saw between a 15 and 20 percent uplift in wireless transfer rates. During testing, I did notice that the speeds were more consistent on the Nest WiFi Pro setup. But I’m comfortable suggesting that you’re not going to see a large, noticeable speed boost if you already have a Wi-Fi 6 mesh network in your home. And it could impact video calls as well although I did not experience any lag or choppiness on Google Meet or Zoom calls.Įvery home is different of course, so your results may vary. About half of the time during my tests, the Nest Wifi Pro network showed slightly higher latency as well. I tested various devices on both networks in the exact same locations and this was typical. For example, devices that typically see 170 Mbps downloads and 190 Mbps uploads on my Eero Pro 6 network topped out around 180 Mbps down and the same 190 Mbps for uploads. But is it? Speeds are good and stableīased on my testing, it sometimes is, but even when it is, the speeds aren’t that much faster. That means any traffic traveling on your home network to or from the internet should be faster. Second, the wireless connection between each Google Nest Wifi Pro access point uses 6 GHz. So older devices may get a speed boost as a result of new device traffic getting offloaded to the new airwaves. That’s for two reasons.įirst, any WiFi 6 devices will free up bandwidth from the 2.4 and 5 GHz frequencies. Even if you don’t have devices that use the 6 GHz frequency for WiFi 6, theoretically you should see network improvements. You get 2.4, 5, and 6 GHz wireless frequencies to spread that Wi-Fi goodness throughout your home. And here is where that “Pro” name comes in with tri-band support. Of course, most of your devices will connect to the Nest Wifi Pro units wirelessly. However, if you have a multi-gigabit home internet connection and want that full-speed hardwired to a computer or other device, you won’t get it. That’s not an issue for me, since that’s the speed I get from my ISP. Note that the ethernet ports can only handle up to 1 Gbps. That includes a Wyze Base Station, Lutron hub, and Philips Hue bridge. I took full advantage of the ports on each unit by hardwiring various smart home bridges. The latter is nice because the previous Nest Wifi models only included these jacks for the main router not for access points. Google Nest Wifi Pro connected to Wyze Base Station and a sleeping Eero Pro 6. The front has an LED light which you can disable or brighten in the Google Home app, while the back of each unit has a power jack and two ethernet ports. Available in four colors, these blend in nicely if you prefer a minimalist style. They’re a bit glossy for my taste but they don’t scream out “Look at me, I’m a fancy piece of technology!”, which I appreciate. The units themselves are nice to look at, or at least, they don’t look like routers and access points. Nice looking hardware with limited ethernet ports I always recommend at least one mesh access point per floor. I tested a single unit in my three-story townhouse and the network was barely usable one or two floors up. While Google says one unit can provide up to 2,200 square feet of coverage, that’s probably the best case on a single-floor building. Still, there are reasons to consider Google Nest Wifi in your home. Latency, or the round trip time for a signal to travel up to the web and back, was slightly worse in some cases. In terms of speeds, however, I did not experience a large wireless uplift using my 1 Gbps fiber-to-the-home internet connection. And you get features included that require a subscription fee from Eero. Actually, it’s quite good, costs less, and is simple to set up. That’s not to say the Nest WiFi Pro system is bad. Perhaps I should have kept my expectations in check. I’ve been using a trio of Nest Wifi Pro units and expected a wireless performance boost compared to my Eero Pro 6 system, which supports WiFi 6 but not WiFi 6E. This mesh networking system is relatively inexpensive with one-, two- and three-packs of units priced at $199.99, $299.99, and $399.99 respectively. Google has finally brought WiFi 6 and WiFi 6E to its router lineup with the new Nest Wifi Pro.
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