Nest WiFi Professional evaluation: Google’s WiFi 6E mesh is extra approachable than the remaining

Google’s pitch for its personal mesh networking merchandise has been to deal with intelligent trade-offs to maintain the fee down, making it accessible to the lots. The Nest WiFi Pro, the corporate’s newest flagship, builds upon that present (and profitable) system with the addition of WiFi 6E. A part of its attraction is the Google model, plus the promise of normal free software program updates and tight integrations with a lot of the world’s sensible residence gamers. In a head-to-head race, the Nest WiFi Professional will probably be bested by loads of its rivals, however Google’s user-friendliness means it’s the default choice for just about everybody.

{Hardware}

As I stated in our foremost mesh WiFi purchaser’s information, I’ve been utilizing Google’s first-generation model for years, and in addition reviewed the second-generation Nest WiFi, so I really feel like that is my turf. The Nest WiFi Professional is Google’s first to harness WiFi 6/6E, which was irritatingly omitted from the final mannequin on price grounds. Due to this, they’ll’t combine together with your present Google / Nest WiFi {hardware}, that means that any improve would require you to start out contemporary.

When it comes to appears, the Professionals are ovoid bumps that stand taller than their predecessors and demand extra space. ‘Spherical again, you’ll discover the jack for the barrel energy cable and two ethernet ports which Google says “help 1 Gbps wired speeds per router.” Inside, it packs a Cortex A35 dual-core 64-bit ARM CPU paired with 1GB of RAM and 4GB of storage like its predecessor. It’s accessible in 4 colours: Snow, Linen, Fog and Lemongrass.

The Nest WiFi Professional doesn’t reserve a bit of its spectrum for devoted backhaul. As a substitute, it dynamically shunts visitors across the accessible area for optimum efficiency, which can primarily happen on the 6GHz band, since loads of gadgets in our properties don’t have the parts essential to entry it. Google adds that utilizing 6GHz as backhaul frees up numerous area within the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, enhancing efficiency for all the opposite gadgets on the community.

One attention-grabbing tweak from the final mannequin is that you would be able to’t get the Professional with a built-in sensible speaker. That is good, since I by no means favored the concept of getting a speaker inside my WiFi equipment. However I’ll concede that I did like having the ability to use Spotify Join on the original Nest WiFi in my kitchen with out shopping for one other speaker.

Set up

Since it is a Google product, count on the Nest WiFi Professional to be comparatively straightforward to put in via your telephone — for a lot of the course of. When you, like me on this occasion, already had a Google mesh in place, you may must manufacturing facility reset, wipe and deactivate every part. As soon as performed, you’ll be able to simply join the primary node to your modem with an ethernet cable (equipped) and let the app do the remaining for you.

The Google Dwelling app will virtually immediately discover the brand new product ready to be put in and get you began. It took me ten minutes to get the primary one working, and that included an unrelated challenge with my cable modem that compelled me to restart. It took one other ten minutes to put in the opposite nodes, however all I needed to do was scan the QR code and observe the on-screen directions.

The app doesn’t provide any recommendation about optimum node placement or figuring out potential weak spots. Google’s web site affords the inventory line that you must put a node midway between the first and wherever in your house you want WiFi. That’s fantastic, however I believe novice customers would possibly recognize extra steering, particularly in the event that they’re battling structural points that imply adjoining rooms aren’t getting a very good sign.

Efficiency

I don’t have many WiFi 6E-compatible gadgets at residence, and there was a good distance between the closest node and my workplace, so I did not have excessive hopes that switching to the brand new system would ship nice good points. But, in comparison with the WiFi module in my workplace, which is related by way of Ethernet to my modem, I noticed my velocity bounce from round 120 Mbps to a mean of 240 Mbps.

The one place the place the Nest WiFi Professional’s connection was something aside from eye-wateringly quick was in my infamous again bed room. The room, surrounded by Victorian (and fashionable) plumbing, was beforehand barren territory for my older system, but it surely was now joined up right here. And whereas speeds fell to 63 Mbps, I by no means noticed a dropout or stutter in efficiency. In truth, WiFi efficiency in that room is greater than enough to work and take video calls.

Regardless of the less modules, connectivity was steady and I by no means seen a drop after I ran between rooms. Armed with all of the gadgets I may muster, me and my children scuttled round the home strolling to the furthest factors of the home watching loads of streamed video, and none reported a difficulty. My common velocity exams shook down to shut to 250 Mbps, and the connection was easy sufficient for my functions.

Further options

The Nest WiFi Professional helps Matter and Thread, so you’ll be able to management your sensible residence from the Google Dwelling app. After I opened the app after putting in the brand new {hardware}, it requested if I wished to connect with my Philips Hue and iRobot merchandise. You’ll nonetheless must have your Hue Bridge related, nonetheless, so that you’re not saving a plug in your Ethernet swap. That’s unlucky in comparison with, say, some Eero fashions which have built-in Zigbee models that let you ditch the bridge totally. However if you happen to’re all-in on Google’s Assistant then you definitely’ll profit from having every part attached inside one app.

A key promoting level of Google’s community merchandise is the promise to maintain them updated with software program and safety updates. The corporate has rolled out fairly regular updates during the last seven years and there’s no indication but that it’s going to cease. I’ve been pretty proud of the work performed for my first-generation Google WiFi pucks. If I do have a priority, it’s that Google typically axes merchandise not lengthy after launch, so that you do run the danger of investing within the firm just for its impatience to get the higher of it.

App and controls

I most well-liked when you possibly can management your Google WiFi via the standalone app, however nowadays it’s all rolled into the corporate’s Dwelling app. That’s nice as a one-stop store for any suitable sensible residence devices you may need, but it surely’s much less complete. When managing your community, you’ll be able to have a look at per-device visitors, set precedence entry (or pause connection to) any system on the community. You’ll additionally be capable to run velocity and mesh connection exams to make sure that your community efficiency is perfect.

A few of these options aren’t customary on different routers, and a few it is advisable to pay further to entry. Others might give you a very good deal extra, too. When you’re searching for extra fine-grain management, you in all probability gained’t discover it on the Nest. As a lot as Google calls this a “Professional” router, it’s extra to gesture towards being extra premium, reasonably than for precise professionals. There’s no entry to a number of the harder-core settings or browser-based controls web page for energy customers. As a substitute, it is a locked-down, curated expertise for individuals who need their WiFi to work with out a lot .

For parental controls, you’ll be able to arrange teams throughout the Household WiFi menu to pause a number of gadgets without delay. You too can schedule entry occasions, a characteristic that a number of different mesh merchandise count on you to pay to make use of. And whereas there’s no particular approach to filter particular person web sites, you’ll be able to designate some {hardware} to be routed by way of Google’s SafeSearch to dam a broad swathe of content material on-line. What this technique lacks is any fine-grain management for involved mother and father or the flexibility to watch a particular system’s searching historical past. However I’ve at all times been of the opinion that overzealous parenting simply creates children who study at a younger age to cover what they’ve been as much as.

Wrap-up

What Google’s WiFi merchandise have at all times supplied is a reasonably acceptable mix of energy, value and efficiency. You gained’t be entering into the nitty-gritty elements of working a community, however you’re additionally not paying an enormous amount of money. It ought to attraction to individuals who actually don’t wish to fear about doing rather more than working the odd velocity take a look at and rapidly establishing a visitor community with none stress. One thing just like the TP-Hyperlink XE75 would possibly run quicker and provide extra options, however for this value, Google’s remained true to its ethos of creating the suitable compromises.