One (not weird at all) trick made Google Wifi FAST

We're following up on last year's review of Google Wifi. My setup has been working okay, but it needed to be a lot better, especially considering how much I'm paying the cable company for high speeds.

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See our full Nest Wifi review here:

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As a reminder: Google Wifi is a wireless mesh system, and it's hardly the only one out there. You can get them from Linksys, or Netgear, or any number of other brands. But they're all wifi systems, and wifi, though good, is still subject to issues with interference and distance. that includes your access points.

So I without wiring anything else, I wired just my Google Wifi access points with cat6 ethernet cable, and the wifi performance throughout my house, including my studio, improved DRAMATICALLY. My speeds in the studio (an outbuilding about 50 ft from the house) went from 1-15 Mbps to a consistent 240 Mbps or higher.

So if you set up a mesh system, if at all possible, wire all those points together and you'll supercharge your internet speeds. (Up to what you're paying for, of course. 👇 Get our review of the best Security and Smart Home products and services on the site!


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[yekrallum]

I rarely comment but I had to here ... come on! Your "one trick’ to fixing your WiFi is to wire it.

[grumblemarv]

Doesn't this defeat the purpose of a wireless mesh system?

[camhutchison]

I appreciated this video. This is exactly what I wanted to know - all you need do to speed up a Google wifi mesh is plug in a cable - i.e. nothing else to configure. I am trying to help a friend do exactly this and finding docs on how you need to configure it has been quite difficult.

To all the naysayers who say this isn't a mesh any more, that depends on exactly what a mesh is. To me, it has always been about the unified wifi network with seamless handover. I've set up wifi in the past with different APs, with same branded APs, even with the same models and it doesn't really create a mesh. Clients would get stuck on one AP, no transitioning between different frequencies, etc. I know meshes just working is more common these days, but it hasn't always been this way. So for me, the defining characteristic of a wifi mesh is about the *clients*, not the infrastructure - it is a seamless wifi network for the clients. Adding a wired backhaul is a technical detail to make it perform better.

If you can choose to go wired or wireless between the APs in a Google Wifi network, that's great - it gives flexibility to wire where you can and use wireless where you can't. As far as I'm concerned, it's still a mesh network.

As to why not choose a cheaper set of APs if you're going to wire the backhaul? Well, Google wifi is more than just the hardware. My friend loves that it is possible to see who is connected from anywhere (away from home) and be able to set limits and kill connections for the kids as necessary. Google wifi also has a well-engineered radio configuration, and it doesn't look like some sci-fi contraption that is about to take off. So plenty of reasons to stick with Google wifi even if you're going to wire the backhaul.

[thealex]

HOLY SHIT! BRINGING THE ROUTER CLOSER TO THE DEVICES MAKE MY INTERNET SO MUCH FASTER! MIND FUCKING BLOWN!

[YouBetterCallSaul]

wow amazing advice on trick that made my wifi fast plug it of time

[AKTECH]

the latest firmware 11895.108.11 is causing alot of issues, randomly the router will go offline each 12 hours or 10 hours

[oriondrive]

Hi, great video. Thanks. I have a question: Did this outbuilding setup impact your main home's wifi speed/bandwidth at all? I.e. for your family's smart TV, phones, laptops, etc? Cheers from Toronto.

[artgutierrez]

NICE & Brilliant!! What would be the point of a WI-Fi system if you can just wire everything with a network cable?

[marting.]

In my experience installing the Google mesh system, the only hiccup was when I was connecting the power plug of a Google puck to a power strip. I couldn’t get it to show up on the Google Mesh app. Once I plugged it directly into a wall socket it appeared, I connected it to the system and I was all good. Until! I moved it to it’s permanent home and plugged it into the power strip again and I lost it.

That makes me believe that they operate like a power line adapter and a Wifi extender. Once I plugged it back into the wall socket I was all good again.

Thank you for all the great videos 🙏🏽

[jeffibuilt]

i read that you'll only have firewall on the main mesh puck. have you looked in to this? i'm gathering the stuff to do this same thing but i'm concerned with the ip address setup and firewall. do you still have the mesh or do you have basically 3 different routers hooked to your modem?

[GioEnAlaska]

do you get a separate wifi ssid for that access point? or can it still be just one big wifi network with the ethernet?

[kokoz]

Awesome vid. So just to confirm, you plugged in your google wifi pucks to different ports on your modem? How’d you set up the other pucks so that it wasn’t primary, but still getting the Internet feed directly from modem (vs from the primary puck)?

[PaulSmith-gbke]

Do you need to review Philo TV and PlayStation Vue on the new live tab on the fire stick

[sofaken]

leisurely stream 4k por...*clear throat*

...videos!

[andyhutchens]

Thanks, this confirmed that my 'upgrade' will do what I'm hoping: Maintain a robust mesh wi-fi for devices floating around the house, with the full paid for speed blasting from each wi-fi spot. I need to have at least 200Mbs to my home office in the back room of an old house, but am only able to get about 50Mbs using 4 Google wi-fi devices strategically placed. My electrician is bringing CAT6 cable as we speak to the back rooms which I will be able to plug the wi-fi spots into by the end of the day. If it works as yours has, I'll have the house blanketed in blazing fast internet, and can plug my home workstation into the wi-fi LAN port to have nearly lossless speed from the modem. Fingers crossed...

[HavocDH]

Would I get good signal upstairs with a mesh system if I HardLined one Node to my PC? Will my PC still get more than 80 mbs per sec or whatever it is. I get about 300-400 internet speeds from exfinity

[palmcoast]

I have one Google wifi unit at the Netgear Comcast modem in the main house. About 80 feet outside is a storage shed where the internet wireless speed is 125MBs and in the house standing in front of wireless Google device it is 240MBs.

[deejayhamm]

good idea, thanks Im gonna try to do that in my house.

[Betsy_Barnes]

We are just beginning to research this to see if it would benefit.

[michaelkirk]

Didn't have the exact same issue ... BUT I thought "what the hey" let me try a CAT 6 Ethernet cable switch from a Sonos setup to a Google wifi mesh unit next to it? Well, after struggling with it for an hour I thought let's give'er a GO!! ... AND Lom& Behold, the both continued to work & my already fast system is even faster because of your help! Liked! AND Subscribed! Cheers & thank you! Happy in California!