Google’s pitch for its personal mesh networking merchandise has been to give attention to intelligent trade-offs to maintain the fee down, making it accessible to the plenty. The Nest WiFi Pro, the corporate’s newest flagship, builds upon that present (and profitable) formulation with the addition of WiFi 6E. A part of its attraction is the Google model, plus the promise of standard free software program updates and tight integrations with many 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 possibility for just about everybody.
{Hardware}
As I mentioned in our principal mesh WiFi purchaser’s information, I’ve been utilizing Google’s first-generation model for years, and likewise 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 value grounds. Due to this, they will’t combine along with your present Google / Nest WiFi {hardware}, which means that any improve would require you to begin contemporary.
Google Google Nest WiFi Professional
Professionals
- One of many least expensive WiFi 6E methods available on the market
- Simple to arrange and straightforward to make use of
- Constructed-in sensible residence integrations
Cons
- Not as quick or highly effective as different WiFi 6E merchandise
- Only a few “professional” options for extra superior customers
By way of appears to be like, the Professionals are ovoid bumps that stand taller than their predecessors and demand more room. ‘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 out there 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 out there area for optimum efficiency, which can primarily happen on the 6GHz band, since loads of units in our properties don’t have the elements essential to entry it. Google adds that utilizing 6GHz as backhaul frees up a number of area within the 2.4 and 5GHz bands, bettering efficiency for all the opposite units on the community.
One attention-grabbing tweak from the final mannequin is which you could’t get the Professional with a built-in sensible speaker. That is good, since I by no means preferred 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 unique Nest WiFi in my kitchen with out shopping for one other speaker.
Set up
Since it is a Google product, anticipate the Nest WiFi Professional to be comparatively simple to put in by your telephone — for many of the course of. Should you, like me on this occasion, already had a Google mesh in place, you will have to manufacturing facility reset, wipe and deactivate every little thing. As soon as carried out, you possibly can simply join the primary node to your modem with an ethernet cable (equipped) and let the app do the remainder for you.
The Google Residence 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 subject with my cable modem that pressured 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 presents the inventory line that you must put a node midway between the first and wherever in your house you want WiFi. That’s superb, however I believe novice customers may respect extra steering, particularly in the event that they’re scuffling with structural points that imply adjoining rooms aren’t getting a superb sign.
Efficiency
Picture by Daniel Cooper / Engadget
I don’t have many WiFi 6E-compatible units 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 features. But, in comparison with the WiFi module in my workplace, which is related by way of Ethernet to my modem, I noticed my pace bounce from round 120 Mbps to a median 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 trendy) plumbing, was beforehand barren territory for my older system, however it was now joined up right here. And whereas speeds fell to 63 Mbps, I by no means noticed a dropout or stutter in efficiency. The truth is, WiFi efficiency in that room is greater than enough to work and take video calls.
Regardless of the less modules, connectivity was secure and I by no means observed a drop once I ran between rooms. Armed with all of the units I might muster, me and my youngsters scuttled round the home strolling to the furthest factors of the home watching loads of streamed video, and none reported a difficulty. My common pace assessments shook down to shut to 250 Mbps, and the connection was clean sufficient for my functions.
Extra options
The Nest WiFi Professional helps Matter and Thread, so you possibly can management your sensible residence from the Google Residence 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 have to have your Hue Bridge related, nevertheless, 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 items that mean you can ditch the bridge solely. However should you’re all-in on Google’s Assistant then you definitely’ll profit from having every little thing 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 pleased with the work carried out for my first-generation Google WiFi pucks. If I do have a priority, it’s that Google generally 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 popular when you possibly can management your Google WiFi by the standalone app, however lately it’s all rolled into the corporate’s Residence app. That’s nice as a one-stop store for any appropriate sensible residence devices you might need, however it’s much less complete. When managing your community, you possibly can take a look at per-device visitors, set precedence entry (or pause connection to) any gadget on the community. You’ll additionally be capable to run pace and mesh connection assessments to make sure that your community efficiency is perfect.
A few of these options aren’t normal on different routers, and a few you have to pay further to entry. Others could give you a superb deal extra, too. Should you’re on the lookout 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, quite 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 possibly can arrange teams throughout the Household WiFi menu to pause a number of units directly. You can even schedule entry occasions, a characteristic that a number of different mesh merchandise anticipate you to pay to make use of. And whereas there’s no particular approach to filter particular person web sites, you possibly can 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 power to observe a selected gadget’s searching historical past. However I’ve at all times been of the opinion that overzealous parenting simply creates youngsters who be taught 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 moving 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 way more than working the odd pace take a look at and shortly establishing a visitor community with none stress. One thing just like the TP-Hyperlink XE75 may run sooner and provide extra options, however for this value, Google’s remained true to its ethos of creating the precise compromises.