Update July 2019: I retired the Google Wifi Pucks because they didn’t pass the long-term test. The new installation runs with a Netgear Orbi.
Although our apartment is at least not that big, at least it feels like it, the FritzBox 6490 cable router alone was too weak on the chest for the whole apartment; no wonder, it is also in the outermost corner of the apartment and not central. Initially, an AVM Fritzbox Repeater 310 supplemented the WLAN, but due to the lack of 5 GHz, this was replaced by the 1750 model. That worked quite ok, but not really smoothly either. It was not uncommon to catch the repeater with flashing LEDs, the Wi-Fi reception often did not reach the bathroom, and then there were always dropouts that I just couldn’t explain. According to the predominantly positive reports, a Google Wifi should solve the problems.
Google Wifi Mesh versus Extender/Repeater
In the hope that one station would be enough, at least that’s what the advertising sounded like, I ignored the double pack and bought only one component. First of all, that’s not enough, at least not if the device is in a corner of the 120sqm apartment. I don’t have fewer devices than before, and with 130-140€ per device, the combo is a more expensive alternative. But the advantages of the mesh network as well as the prospect of having peace and quiet with the constant network problems were worth the test for me. Nothing is as annoying as a stuttering movie because some component in the network has a problem at the moment. And setting up the repeater, including a guest mode, took several hours and many support emails.
A repeater has the disadvantage that it simply extends the signal of a WLAN, but some of the speed can be lost because there is an overhead in communication. Meshed networks, on the other hand, do not have this problem, they are simply ONE network; in addition to the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz networks, they have a third radio module through which the devices communicate with each other. So you don’t switch from the area of the main WIFI to that of the repeater, but are in a network all the time.
Setting up Google Wifi
Setup is super easy, the app guides you through the setup, and you’re ready to go within ten minutes. The latest software version of Google Wifi is downloaded, which accounts for the lion’s share of the time. To be honest, I had spent more time trying to open the package, which is mainly due to my inability to recognize and peel off scotch tape.
After the app reported that my Google Wifi was now ready, I turned off the Wi-Fi of the Fritzbox router and switched the connection to my new Wi-Fi. Setting up and configuring the Wi-Fi is really child’s play, only my Sonos system didn’t want to work afterwards, more on that below. It’s fun to use the app, test the internet connection and Wi-Fi speed in each room at the touch of a button. A guest wifi is set up very simply. What I’m missing, but I’m not only missing here, is an easy way to assign less speed to a device, because when the Synology NAS starts backing up to the cloud, the whole network becomes paralyzed (see also the article on how to reduce the upload speed of a Synology NAS).
By the way, it was only after 2 weeks that I realized that I had plugged the Google Wifi puck into a LAN socket of the FritzBox, which was “only” set to 100 Mbit/s. Since we were kindly given 200 Mbit/s by Vodafone for a few months, I slowed down our WLAN myself. Not that this was noticeable, the limiting factor is the upload speed anyway. But so I went from 91 Mbit/s to 189 Mbit/s in the tests. Of the 212 Mbit/s reported by the FritzBox, 23 Mbit are lost somewhere, but let’s be honest: Anyone who used to surf the net with a 56K modem will only complain here if that actually becomes a problem. An Internet connection that is over 3,400 times faster also goes hand in hand with much more loaded websites and movies, but that’s another story.
Setting up IPv6 is not easy, but this is not due to Google Wifi, but to the Fritzbox. The default settings here look like IPv6 is not a problem, but additional settings are required. For example, with “Also allow IPv6 prefixes that other IPv6 routers in the home network advertise” and with “Assign DNS server, prefix (IA_PD) and IPv6 address (IA_NA)”. Then Google Wifi doesn’t say that it works, but that the ISP may not support it. But it does in my case
But as already announced in the introduction: The WIFI only reached the other end of the apartment with a weak connection, if at all. Quite apart from that, I also hope to solve my SONOS problem, because the connection to Spotify kept breaking off.
Adding another Google Wifi node: iOS issues
So I went to the Mediamarkt, bought a second Google Wifi (yes, the double pack would have been cheaper), and quickly connected it to my home. The setup is just as easy as with the first device, here the addition of the network, only one thing bothered me: If I already agreed to receive purchase incentives and statistics about my network from Google when I installed the first Google Wifi, why am I asked again for the second device? If I say “no” now, will I no longer receive the mails for the first device?
Then the annoying stuff: For some reason, my iPhone went on strike after setting up the second node and didn’t want to connect to the network at all, while my Macbook was able to connect without any problems. Network settings reset, network ignored, everything tried, and still the iPhone (and the iPad went on strike in solidarity). It’s just stupid if the Google Wifi app is installed on it and you can no longer access the Google Wifi configuration without Internet access. Because there is no configuration option from the computer, only apps work. Quickly dig out the old Android phone, wonder about 50 update requests, and then quickly download the Google Wifi app. No problem. The network was running. Why didn’t iPhone and iPad want to go into Google Wifi anymore?
After half an hour, I had the idea to take a look at the IP address, the router address and the DNS servers that the iPhone and iPad had pulled. The error was that the DNS server had the same IP as the router, in this case 192.168.86.1. I don’t know if it was in there before, but it definitely didn’t work. In the Google Wifi app, “DNS of the ISP” was set, but apparently it didn’t work. So I entered a different DNS server under the iPhone settings, and it worked again. Google’s DNS server 8.8.8.8 is quite easy to remember, I recommend FreeDNS (37.235.1.174 and 37.235.1.177), as it does not log or redirect. So far, I haven’t discovered any difference to Google’s fast DNS servers. The problem with this approach, however, is that you can no longer make all settings with the app, because even if you are connected to the Google Wifi, the error message is that you should still connect to the Wifi.
SONOS and Google Wifi
Now let’s move on to SONOS. At first, I had given the Google Wifi the same name as my old WLAN, hoping that I wouldn’t have to change anything else. That didn’t work out. Then I remembered that a SONOS device is connected to the router with an Ethernet cable to have the advantages of a BOOST setup (independence from the router’s WLAN). In fact, however, Google Wifi is located on a different network, i.e. it assigns its own IP addresses to the connected devices. If the Fritzbox router assigns everything in the 192.168.178.x network, the Google Wifi is on the road with 192.168.86.x. The Google Wifi device offers a LAN connection, my Fritzbox 4, where Synology and an Arlo are in addition to the SONOS. The Arlo doesn’t matter, but the Synology and SONOS should be on the same network. Of course, you could also use the Google Wifi in bridge mode (and thus use the IPs of the Fritzbox and be on the same network), but then you can no longer build a mesh network. So that’s out of the question.
The remedy should be to reconfigure the SONOS system from BOOST to standard setup. This is not quite as easy as it sounds, because first of all at least one SONOS device has to be connected to Google Wifi via Ethernet. To make a long story short, uninterrupted music playing was only possible from the local music library, not Spotify or Soundcloud. I suspected that this was mainly due to the fact that the WLAN does not reach into the back rooms. My Synology NAS was connected to the LAN socket of the Google Wifi, which I’m not willing to dive against SONOS again and again, so either a switch has to be made… or just a second Google Wifi, which I bought. A SONOS device into the second Google Wifi, switched back to BOOST, and already… it didn’t work. Supposedly, the SONOS system automatically switches to BOOST as soon as a device is connected to the WLAN with Ethernet, but you still have to set up the wireless network again under the advanced settings. And then it worked without any problems with Spotify. I wonder why this is still necessary, because after all, in BOOST mode, a separate network is created for the SONOS devices. At least the controller app says that I’m in BOOST mode.
Google Wifi and Synology NAS
But then it gets really problematic with the Synology NAS. This should continue to be accessible from the outside. And this is where it gets difficult. Because the NAS is now connected to Google Wifi, it can no longer be accessed so easily via DDNS. Strangely enough, however, the QuickConnect link still works. I haven’t found a solution here yet…
Result
The setup is probably the easiest setup procedure I’ve ever seen on a Wifi device. The network seems more reliable, although the problems that occurred could probably not have been solved by a normal user. Only the long-term test will reveal how reliable this new network really is. The fewer complaints come from the family, the more the exchange was worth the money