The Google Nest WiFI Pro was released in the US quite some time ago and has now been released in Australia, making it one of the first Wi-Fi 6e mesh routers available in the country. I think many people are attracted to this work because of its beautiful appearance. My partner, who is not traditionally very tech savvy, also liked the look.
When you start talking about Wi-Fi 6E, this is where things start to get confusing. That’s because it’s completely different from Wi-Fi 6, which many modern routers use. While Wi-Fi 6 was an improvement, 6E goes even further with its own spectrum outside of 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, enabling faster speeds, lower latency, and greater network security. The benefit of having a third, separate channel to connectable devices is that you can avoid two networks used by so many devices in and around your home.
6E requires compatible hardware. It’s on high-end or very recent releases like the iPhone 15 Pro, Google Pixel 8, and MacBook Pro, but not on consoles like the PS5 or PS5. Xbox Series X. Backwards compatible with older devices above 5 GHz and 2.5 GHz, but cannot take advantage of faster 6 GHz networks.
6GHz has its advantages, such as speed and latency, and can also be used with compatible devices, but its disadvantages are that it seems to have a bit of a hard time getting through walls and other interference. That’s why we highly recommend the mesh 3-pack. The routers communicate with each other over the 6 GHz bandwidth, which has the same advantages and disadvantages as mentioned above.
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Each mesh unit has two Gigabit Ethernet ports, each of which can be wired for the most reliable performance and perfect for smart home hubs or other items you need to connect to other rooms in your home. It’s perfect.
I live in a 3-bedroom house and have mesh routers split between my office, living room, and back laundry. My network was definitely the fastest in the office and I could access it everywhere. When in the same room, both the MacBook Pro and iPhone 15 Pro got between 750 and 950 MBPS. I was able to get about 400-500 MBPS while connected wired from the secondary unit. This is something I’ve experienced from a wireless perspective as well.
I had some issues where my wireless speed would drop completely, but I was able to fix it by resetting the mesh unit that seemed to be causing the issue. Soon he was back to near 1gbps. There were some very small cuts when moving between rooms in the house, but for the most part it works completely foolproof as expected.
Similarly, the app is very easy to use, but can be a bit overwhelming in that you can actually track which devices are connected to each mesh unit, and data usage information is a bit limited. It felt like. That in itself is a bit too basic. I understand that Google is working on making devices as accessible as possible, but I’d like to have a little more control over my Wi-Fi 6E network.
Overall, if you’re looking for an easy-to-use mesh unit and also want the best available in Wi-Fi 6E, the Google WiFi Pro is great value as there aren’t that many options in Australia. You need a financial solution, especially if you just upgraded to a gigabit connection.
