Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Mesh Router Review – Genuinely Pro?
When it comes to brands that you associate with the internet, Google is such a part of most of our everyday lives that we often forget how much of our data we directly/indirectly trust in the hands of this giant company. It was not especially surprising that the internet giant would turn it’s hand to home routers (first entering the market commercially in 2016) and now, 5 years on, we are reviewing their latest and arguably greatest router yet – the Google Nest WiFi Pro Router. That said, for all that high praise, Google has taken a rather slow and steady approach to their range of routers (only technically releasing two variations in that time prior to the Nest WiFi Pro). Back in Summer 2019, I had my first hands-on experience with the Google Mesh router system and although the system was tremendously easy to setup, it did feel surprisingly limited in its scope, bandwidth and software capabilities (especially when you think of the brand that was releasing it). Fast forward to today’s review and the brand has clearly decided to ramp up the future-proofing of their latest router device, introducing WiFi 6e support (still arguably in it’s infancy commercially) to allow access to the 6Ghz band, tri-band coverage, a new design and better uniformity between primary and node routers. But, is it any good? Let’s find out.
Google WiFi Pro 6E Router Review – Quick Conclusion
At a very quick glance, there is alot to like about the Google Nest WiFi Pro router. It is a mesh-enabled WiFi 6E router (one of the more affordable mesh options in the market too, when you factor in the 3 pack at $399 for a potential 6,600 square feet of coverage), very quick setup and easy smart home integration, backed by a well-known brand with a history in internet/network devices, three bands of coverage to spread across your growing collection of wireless hardware and all of this delivered in that oh, so smooth and sleek Google style! Hell, it has 2 years of warranty out of the box, when a decent % of routers that entered the shiny new 6E era only arrive with 1-year hardware support (even Amazon eero Por 6E). But when you scratch the surface a bit (which the more tech-versed will always do) and factors like the restricted 1Gb WAN, lack of backwards compatibility with an existing Google Wifi/Nest setup, mobile app-only management/6E and a host of performance benefits that will be locked to WiFi 6/6E devices mean that there is a certain Prosumer/Futureproofing kind of user that this product is clearly aimed at. Unless you are already moving over to WiFi 6 on it in the next 12 months, these benefits will be largely lost on you. Then there is the case for the first revisions of WiFi 7 that are predicted to arrive later in 2023 that might be a good enough reason for those that have waited till now to upgrade to hold on just a little bit longer… especially as ISPs continue to roll out affordable greater than gigabit ISP connections globally. Ultimately, the Google WiFi Pro 6E router is DEFINITELY a good product but chooses the areas that it scaled up for future-proofing over its predecessors in occasionally baffling ways. You cannot fault the hardware, the value of the mesh package here and software-wise (as long as you don’t mind being partially locked into the Google ecosystem). It IS a very good router, but the more tech/network savvy might want to hold off a little longer.
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Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router Review – Presentation
Unsurprisingly, Google has not cheaper out on the retail packaging of the Nest WiFi Pro Router – clear product images, custom cut retail box and a near 1-to-1 image of the product. It is worth highlighting for this review I went for the single router unit, but there is a three-unit mesh-ready pack. The single unit retails at the rather pricey $199.99 / £189.99 / CA$269.99 mark. However, the value of the 3-pack (given all units are identical, unlike the Mesh Wifi non-pro which differentiated the hardware on node satilites) makes more sense at $299.99 and $399.99 for 2-pack and the 3-pack mesh kit respectively.
The unit and kit are all nicely presented in the retail box and the whole thing oozes with that Google charm – but there is no avoiding that this is quite a light retail kit and only includes the very bare necessities. Indeed, as the setup is done via the Google home app and reliance on your existing ISP having with a Cat-enabled wall box or Modem to place this router behind is needed – the router comes with only a small number of accessories
The full accessories that the Nest WiFi Pro Router arrives with are the device itself, the external 22W PSU, a 2metre cable length RJ45 ethernet cable and documentation for first-time setup and 2-year inclusive warranty. I wasn’t expecting a huge amount of bits and I was not disappointed!
Taking a closer look at that PSU, you can see that its quite proprietary and oval in design, but arrives at a decent length (an oddly often overlooked detail when it comes to deploying mesh routers, I might add!). At 22W (that’s max power potential, not running power), it is pretty reasonable for a tri-band router.
Overall, nothing really mind-blowing about how the device arrives, but a competent and well-presented kit. Let’s take a closer look at this rather compact router and see how much of that Google design has affected the presentation.
Google WiFi Pro 6E Router Review – Design
The first thing that struck me about the Nest WiFi Pro Router is the size. Up until now, all we have seen online (at least at the time of writing) is promotional shots and in-situ deployment in marketing materials. In the flesh, the device is seemingly a pinch larger than I was expecting. Not outlandishly large and there are no external antennae to factor in, but at 130mm x 117mm x 85mm and (450 grams per router), it is not going to blend into my environment as much as I thought it might
The Nest WiFi Pro Router is available from Google in ‘snow’ white at the moment (as well as Fog, Linen and Lemongrass), but that will no doubt change over time (much like previous releases in this product family) but it’s a sleek gloss finish on the plastic external casing, embossed with the familiar ‘G’ on the rear
The front of the router is entirely unblemished and kudos to them for that. Also the depth of the router at just 8.5cm means that it will be quite flush with any surface that it is placed on (no wall mounting support, sadly). The surface of the casing was a little bit of a smudge magnet, but that was largely down to handling in the review photos and video, so most users will not have cause to handle it too much after deployment.
During the running of the unit for the performance tests (coming up in a video soon and detailed in this review below in an update), the router did not get too hot (no more than any ISP router) and that was with a large amount of software configuration over the course of 4-5 hours. Systems like these are designed around near military-level efficiency, as 365-day operation = components get little to no downtime and are all either ARM processor-based or fixed SoC chipped, so even slight heat/temp increases can be a real performance killer. I have zero concerns on this score for the Nest WiFi Pro
The range of connections on the Google Nest WiFi Pro Router is quite small, with the system only having the barest range of physical connections. Likewise, the scope of these for the price when compared against non-6E prosumer routes right now AND against 6E Ready systems from Amazon Eero, Netgear and ASUS are a little puzzling, as Google has clearly prioritized wireless connectivity here and inadvertantly given with one hand and taken away with the other! Let’s discuss!
Google WiFi Pro 6E Router Review – Ports, Wifi and Connections
The Connectivity offered by a single or multi-unit mesh Nest Pro setup is a decent, if slightly restrained selection. All units, in a multi-pack, are the exact same router/physical build – eliminating the slightly annoying Primary-Node architecture of the older gen that capped these smaller units a little. There is something of an issue for those upgrading an existing Google Router setup, with the fact that the new WiFi Pro 6E system is NOT backwards compatible. This makes the cost of upgrading your existing google assisted home over a mesh-covered network a major cost upgrade (compared with previous units from Google and the Eero router family that could be gradually upgraded as time/budget allowed). That aside, let’s start with the positives! There is the expected high level of network encryption at WPA3 (and others), a decent area of coverage, improved device PoS and QoS as needed, automatic device band steering to ensure moving devices on the mesh network are exchanged effectively and automated bandwidth priority for Video and VIOP services on the fly. The support of 100 devices per Nest node is reasonable and you have ample coverage here to support multiple 4K video streams at once. Finally, in terms of smart home support, you have everything on hand here for either a ‘Google Home’ or 3rd party AI/IoT smart home, with support of Matter (still not fully rolled out at the time of writing), Thread, other Nest physical devices and the management of the Google Home App.
The hardware highlights, network handling and coverage of the Google WiFi Pro 6E router are as follows:
Network Coverage, Handling and Security
- Expandable 802.11s mesh Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi 6E, 802.11ax Wi-Fi
- 120 square metre Wireless Coverage per router/node
- 320m² of coverage Maximum in a 3 (Main + 2x Node) Setup
- AX4200 / 4.2 Gbps Bandwidth (across all bands)
- Tri-band (2.4 GHz/5 GHz/6Ghz) Wi-Fi
- 2×2 (6 GHz), 4×4 (5 GHz) and 2×2 (2.4 GHz) Band
- Auto-QoS for video calls
- Automatic 802.11.k/v client roaming
- Proactive band steering – directs your devices to channels with the best performance
- Device prioritisation for up to eight hours
- Low Energy Bluetooth (BLE)
- 100x Devices handling per WiFi Point (so, 300x in a 1 router, 2 node mesh setup)
- WPA3 encryption and Automated Security Updates
- AFC ready
Now, let’s roll in the mud a bit and discuss the things that are a little less impressive. That lack of backwards compatibility is a bit of a kick up the bum. Likewise, the fact that this prosumer router doesn’t double as a Google Home device with AI assistant via voice command (unlike the eero device which doubles up as router and Alexa home assistant) is a shame. The bandwidth coverage of AX4200 (reported as AX5400 in some places, so this might be mesh/coverage/backhaul-band dependant) is ok, but less than many other 6E routers in the market right now. But most of this I can forgive. The thing I am struggling with is the WAN connection on offer.
The fact that this router arrives at the end of 2022 with Gigabit WAN (i.e 1Gbps or 109MB/s) as the incoming/outgoing internet connection is really disappointing. I can even (somewhat) overlook that there are ONLY 2x ethernet ports (including that WAN) – as this is clearly a Wireless focused device. But greater than gigabit internet speeds are growing in availability worldwide thanks to improved rolling out of fiber connections commercially. So this leads to the potential for your WAN connection on the router to bottleneck your potential internet speed. Many other WiFi 6/6E routers on the market arrive with 2.5Gb/s for the WAN or even as an optional WAN/LAN, so it not being featured on this router alongside the futureproofing of WiFi 6E is something I have difficulty getting my head around! Even of you factor in that the internet network share between devices will carve up the available internet speed to well under a gigabit for connected devices, it still means that those users are sharing out a max internet speed of 1Gb, when a 2.5Gbs WAN port and greater than Gb internet plan would have allowed everyone to have more. 2.5Gb client hardware, adapters, switches and (yes) routers have been around for quite a while now and the benefits are pretty clear, as shown in my video below. So the Nest WiFi Pro arriving with a 1GbE WAN cap is a poor show indeed in 2022.
Overall, it is a decent enough mix of options, but with its release noticeably later than many other WiFi 6E routers in the market, it does seem oddly restrained in a number of ways. How does the Nest WiFi Pto compare with the older generation Google Wifi?
How do the Google Nest WiFi Nest Pro and Older Google WiFi Compare?
| Model | Google Nest Wifi Pro | Google Wifi |
| Design |  |
 |
| Highest WiFi Stanard | WiFi 6E | WiFi 5 |
| Total Bandwidth (1 Unit) | 4.2Gb/s – AX4200 | AC1200 |
| Internal Processor | Dual Core 64bit ARM | Quad Core 32bit ARM |
| Internal Memory | 1GB | 512MB |
| Onboard Storage | 4 GB eMMC flash | 4 GB eMMC flash |
| PSU | External 22W | External 15W |
| WiFi Standard (Highest) | 802.11ax | 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
| # of Bands | 3, 6Ghz, 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz | 2, 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz |
| Price for 1 | $199 | $99 |
| Price for 2 | $299 | $199 |
| Price for 3 | $399 | $299 |
| Wireless Coverage (1 unit) | 120 Sq Metre | 85 Sq Metre |
| Ethernet Ports | 2x | 2x |
| Security Level | WPA3 | WPA3 |
| Matter Support | Yes | No |
| Thread Support | Yes | No |
| Google Home Support | Yes | Yes |
| Backwards Compatibility | No | Yes |
| Warranty | 2 Years | 1 Year |
Certainly, there are clear improvements, but unless you already support WiFi 6 on your client devices and/or have a particularly dense/busy network environment, the benefits of the Nest Pro setup are a little negligible over the older gen. Basically, if you have a home/office filled with devices that are 2020 onwards, then you will most likely see advantages to the Pro series. But how does the Google Nest WiFi Pro compare with it’s biggest rival, the already released and available Amazon eero Pro 6E Router?
How Does the Google Nest WiFi Pro Router Compare with the Amazon Eero Pro 6E?
Many users in the run-up to the eventual release of the Google Nest Wi-Fi Pro have wondered how the new 6E router will stack up against the already available Amazon Eero Pro 6E. Both of these routers have the very same prosumer and smart home audience in mind for their product and does the newer Google router bring something more to the party after arriving later? The Nest Wifi Pro builds on the previous version of Nest Wifi by adding in the potential for faster speeds with full support for Wi-Fi 6E. That means that it can connect other Wi-Fi 6E devices over the relatively recently available 6GHz band in addition to the existing 2.4 and 5GHz bands. Although you will need a WiFi6e-compliant device in order to realise this performance, the 6GHz band features more than twice as much bandwidth as the 5GHz band, with room for several 160MHz channels of traffic, and with no previous-gen Wi-Fi devices in the mix, that traffic will enjoy a significant reduction in interference. The other big change with Nest Wifi Pro is that there are no longer Google Assistant smart speakers built into the extenders. In fact, Nest Wifi Pro doesn’t feature separate extender devices at all. Unlike the original Nest Wifi, each Nest Wifi Pro device is identical and interchangeable, so any of them can serve as the main router of the system. All this said, we cannot ignore the big, big price difference in 1, 2 and 3-pack router kits between the Google Nest WiFi Pro at a launch price of $199/$299/$399 respectively and the Amazon Eero Pro 6E at $299/$499/$699. Now, Amazon Eero HAS seen several promotion price drops (as well as deals in seasonal sales such as Prime Day and Black Friday), but it still makes it a much more expensive mesh router purchase. So, what do you get for the money?
The Amazon’s Eero Pro 6E has been around a little longer in the market and is the fastest, mesh-capable router that they have produced. Starting at $299 for a single device, $499 for a 2-pack, or $699 for a 3-pack, the Eero Pro 6E certainly is a great deal more expensive than the Google Nest WiFi Pro, but still manages to cost less the majority of Wi-Fi 6E mesh routers released in 2021/2022, such as the Netgear Orbi AXE11000 and the Linksys Velop Atlas Max 6E. In terms of software experience, The Eero supports Amazon’s Alexa and built-in radios for Zigbee and Thread, so there is further justification in using the Eero Por 6E as both a router and extension to your existing Alexa home setup (a possible further value/saving), though voice commands are not available on either router. That’s particularly true in Alexa households, yes, but the Zigbee radio lets it connect with a wide variety of gadgets like smart lights and smart locks regardless of which voice assistant you prefer, and the Thread radio allows it to facilitate transmissions between Thread-based gadgets that support Matter. Here is how the Google Nest WiFi Pro and Amazon Eero Pro 6E Compare in their hardware specifications and network coverage:
| Google Nest Wifi Pro | Amazon Eero Pro 6E | |
| Design | |
 |
| Price for 1 | $199 | $299 |
| Price for 2 | $299 | $499 |
| Price for 3 | $399 | $699 |
| Speed/Bandwidth | 4200-5400Mbps (AX4200/AX5400 – Region Dependant) | 4200-5400Mbps (AX4200/AX5400 – Region Dependant) |
| # of Bands | 3, 6Ghz, 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz | 3, 6Ghz, 5Ghz and 2.4Ghz |
| Highest WiFi Standard | 802.11ax 6E Standard | 802.11ax 6E Standard |
| Reported Range | 2,200 Square Feet | 2,000 Square Feet |
| Internal Processor | Dual Core 1Ghz | Dual Core 1Ghz |
| Internal Memory | 1GB | 1GB |
| Internal Storage | 4GB eMMC | 4GB eMMC |
| Highest Encryption Level | WPA3 | WPA3 |
| WAN/LAN Max Bandwidth | 1Gb/s | 2.5Gb/s |
| Ethernet Ports | 2x | 2x |
| Size | 4.61 in. x 5.12 in. x 3.35 in | 5.50 in. x 1.90 in. x 5.50 in |
| Backwards Compatibility | No | Yes |
| Number of Colours | 4 | 1 |
| Warranty | 2 Years | 1 Year |
Factoring all that in, the Google Nest WiFi Pro manages to be the more affordable solution and more powerful mesh offering, but the Amazon Eero Pro 6E brings a lot more adaptability and connectivity to it’s deployment, with its backwards compatibility with older Eero devices and a multi-gig WAN port that allows for wireless speeds in excess of a single gigabit, make this system an appealing and forward-looking home networking upgrade.
To 6E or Not 6E? That is the Question. What is it?
More than anything else, the chief selling point of the Google Nest WiFi Pro is the support of the (still quite new) WiFi 6E standard, allowing a larger potential of connected devices to enjoy their own larger share of simultaneous connectivity. The internet connection that enters your home/office needs to be accessible by more and more devices on the network (the internal collection of devices that are all accessing the same internet connection wired/wirelessly. That is a heck of an oversimplification but stay with me. You could have ridiculously fast and high bandwidth internet, but if you have too many devices in a single network all uploading/downloading at the same time, it just isn’t going to be shared out enough, unless you can increase the available bandwidth. Wifi 6 and WiFi 6E are designed to allow a larger spectrum of connections to be available at once, as well as increase the channel depth (up to 160Mhz currently). WiFi 6E opens up access to the 6Ghz Frequency (WiFi 5 and WiFi 6 stop at 5Ghz) and that means even more large 160Mhz connections are possible. For example, below you can see (horizontally) the range of frequencies at the bottom in the 5Ghz and 6Ghz band. Each of those coloured blocks represents an accessing client device (phone, TV, PC, etc). The larger rectangular blocks at the bottom are 160Mhz connections (the fastest, but also the largest). The green represents the newly available 6Ghz band that WiFi 6E allows access to. As you can see, it adds ALOT more high capacity/speed connected client devices to connection (as well as significantly more smaller ones):
Of course, you will have to use a WiFi 6e compatible device in order to take advantage of that larger frequency and the bandwidth benefits it presents. But WiFi 6E is completely backwards compatible with WiFi 6 and WiFi 5, so all your older gen devices will have access too (up to the bandwidth their respective wireless standard allows). If you have yet to jump on the WiFi 6E bandwagon, you can upgrade most modern laptops to WiFi 6E very, VERY easily for as little as $30 or less. Here is my WiFi 6E Laptop Upgrade video below:
Is the Google Nest WiFi Pro Router AX5400 or AX4200?
Different countries/regions have different laws in place for the use of radio/wireless frequencies. The result is that althoughthe hardware on a device may be able to access a huge range of frequencies, deployment in one location or another may result in a different total available bandwidth when deployed. For example, the Google Nest Wifi Pro supports Wi-Fi 6E AXE5400 coverage in the US, or AXE4200 outside of US in the majority of regions at the time of writing. The term “AXE5400” is made up of several criteria. Here’s the breakdown:
- AX = Wi-Fi 6 also known as 802.11ax
- E = Includes the 6 GHz band (new radio frequencies in addition to basic Wi-Fi 6, which was 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz only)
- 5400 = up to 5400 megabits per second (Mbps) of combined data flows through your router
- Outside of US, “AXE4200” = 4200 megabits per second (Mbps)
So, depending on your region and wireless radio laws, the full range of bandwidth that is afforded to you in the Google Nest WiFi Pro will either be 5.4Gb/s or 4.2Gb/s.
Can You Mesh the Google Nest WiFi Pro Router with Older Generation Google Routers?
Nest Wifi Pro isn’t backwards compatible with earlier generations of Nest Wifi or Google Wifi mesh systems. This means your Nest Wifi Pro can’t be combined with earlier versions of Nest Wifi or Google Wifi routers or points in a single mesh network. To add more coverage to a Nest Wifi Pro network, you need to add additional Nest Wifi Pro routers as points in the Google Home app. For older generation mesh networks, you can continue to add Nest Wifi and Google Wifi devices to expand your network. The Google Home app supports one Wi-Fi network per home in the app. However, with a few exceptions, most devices that connect to Wi-Fi will be compatible with Nest Wifi Pro, just as they would be with Nest Wifi or Google Wifi.
Nest Wifi Pro, a Wi-Fi 6E device, uses the 6 GHz band to make connections and form its mesh network. This allows faster, more reliable connections to occur and for data to be transferred within your network more smoothly. Learn more about the benefits of using a 6E Wi-Fi network. Earlier generation products such as Nest Wifi and Google Wifi operate using the 5 GHz band for mesh connections. They don’t have compatible hardware to support Wi-Fi 6E, so they can’t be combined in a mesh network with Nest Wifi Pro. On the other hand, downgrading Nest Wifi Pro’s mesh to mesh with older systems would result in reduced performance for the entire network as the mesh would no longer run in 6 GHz on wider channels.
Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router Review – Software
The Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router does not have it’s own ‘standalone’ software client or a browser/desktop GUI app, but instead is part of the Google Home application service – a mobile app for Android and iOS for managing your smart home devices. There are ways and means for this router to be accessible via 3rd party tools and/or a slightly convoluted web browser experience, but chiefly Google has designed it to be first and foremost controlled in Google Home. Adding the router via the app was INCREDIBLY quick, as it used the Bluetooth connection to establish the presence of the router, then worked in the background of the phone to find, connect and establish the network between the router and client device first time.
Then there is the setup of the location of the router. This is really only something that mesh users or existing Google Home Nest/Network devices will want to factor in and can be skipped.
And that really is all it takes. Very easy and straightforward. The fact that you need to have a google account and are somewhat restricted to only using the Google Home app is going to annoy some users, but once it is setup, it is very user-friendly to access and configure on the fly. Adding more mesh node points will obviously add several features to your Google Home experience with the Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router. The settings are all pretty much what you might expect, though port management and user (as in client device) management and control is a little lighter than I would have expected.
Ass my incoming internet connection to the office is not especially high, running an internet speed test on this Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router was not going to give a great deal of useful information for this review. I have a network signal, coverage and bandwidth test in the works (coming to youtube and the blog next month), but I did connect my Google 6 Pixel Pro phone to the Router, which connected via the 6Ghz frequency and gave me (at a distance of 2.3 metres) a speed of 1,814Mb/s over 1,921Mb/s – VERY impressive wireless bandwidth (1.8Gb and 1.9Gb – almost double that of a wired ethernet connection, but obviously i was in closer proximity that many would be in typical use).
The Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router DOES have an inbuilt speed test facility available, but becuase of my rather limited office internet connection, it was not especially high scoring. This is NOTHING to do with the router and more to do with my own 2nd location internet speeds!
Description-soon
As mentioned earlier, the network controls and management of the router’s features are quite user-friendly (with all options having a sub-heading to explain their purpose) but it did feel a little limited and less configurable than a number of high-profile WiFi 6/6E routers in the market. I appreciate that a mobile application needs to keep things concise, but that is the reason why a companion desktop GUI or fuller screen browser configuration/overview tool would be much more useful to the more tech-savvy. Still, most/all of the surface-level router configuration tools you would want are here.
There are also several means to create subnetworks and controlled safety networks in the Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router. The guest network can be banded to devices, or made much more restrictive in its network reach. You cannot create any kind of login portal for the guest wifi (but does have standard SSID password authentication of course). The family wifi feature allows you to create access rules (safesearch, site white/black lists, scheduled access, etc) as well as the option to fix a level of access/rights to devices as they appear on the network. So, you that will allow you to ensure the access levels of a device like a child laptop or a work PC are unable to circumnavigate the rules on the client side.
The Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router also can have its bandwidth priority given to specific services and applications, such as giving conference calling, VoIP and Zoom activities PoS (Priority of service) when it comes to the distribution of the bandwidth. The same can also be given to online gaming activities where low latency and high bandwidth can make all the difference in your K/D! They do mention Stadia (bit embarrassing, now that Google has dropped the streaming gaming platform for 2023), but having this user-friendly PoS and QoS (Quality of Service) adjustments present in this user-friendly fashion will benefit novice users who didn’t want to tinker in adjusting the access levels of particular ports, IPs and Mac addresses manually.
The app also has a few customizable settings for how and what it delivers notifications about. So, if you are serious about making sure that old and new connected client devices to the Router network are grouped into the right network settings, priority, access levels, bandwidth share and access schedule – you can set the app to alert you everytime a new device connects with the Google Nest WiFi Pro, which you can then manually (on the fly) move to the right user group OR you can set it that all new devices are set to the ‘guest group’ until you have found the chance to move them to the appropriate network settings. The same goes with the option to get alerts when a device attempts to connect with an incorrect password or when a node drops from the network.
The thing is, as a standalone piece of software, the Google Home application IS very good – As a smart home application for those that do not want to go through the hurdles of learning about network settings, IoT services, bridging connections between devices to allow voice commands via an assistant device and more. But as a standalone piece of software JUST to adjust and manage the Google Nest WiFi Pro 6E Router itself, the Google Home app is not a particularly deep tool. It is tremendously user-friendly, has most/all of the settings that you would find on your ISP router (Firewall, Port forwarding rules, etc) as well as a few Google extras in the family WiFi management. But more technically minded users are going to find it a little rudimentary, too rigid and being locked behind creating a google account a little offputting.
Google WiFi Pro 6E Router Review – Conclusion & Verdict
At a very quick glance, there is alot to like about the Google Nest WiFi Pro router. It is a mesh-enabled WiFi 6E router (one of the more affordable mesh options in the market too, when you factor in the 3 pack at $399 for a potential 6,600 square feet of coverage), very quick setup and easy smart home integration, backed by a well-known brand with a history in internet/network devices, three bands of coverage to spread across your growing collection of wireless hardware and all of this delivered in that oh, so smooth and sleek Google style! Hell, it has 2 years of warranty out of the box, when a decent % of routers that entered the shiny new 6E era only arrive with 1-year hardware support (even Amazon eero Por 6E). But when you scratch the surface a bit (which the more tech-versed will always do) and factors like the restricted 1Gb WAN, lack of backwards compatibility with an existing Google Wifi/Nest setup, mobile app-only management/6E and a host of performance benefits that will be locked to WiFi 6/6E devices mean that there is a certain Prosumer/Futureproofing kind of user that this product is clearly aimed at. Unless you are already moving over to WiFi 6 on it in the next 12 months, these benefits will be largely lost on you. Then there is the case for the first revisions of WiFi 7 that are predicted to arrive later in 2023 that might be a good enough reason for those that have waited till now to upgrade to hold on just a little bit longer… especially as ISPs continue to roll out affordable greater than gigabit ISP connections globally. Ultimately, the Google WiFi Pro 6E router is DEFINITELY a good product but chooses the areas that it scaled up for future-proofing over its predecessors in occasionally baffling ways. You cannot fault the hardware, the value of the mesh package here and software-wise (as long as you don’t mind being partially locked into the Google ecosystem). It IS a very good router, but the more tech/network savvy might want to hold off a little longer.
| PROs of the Google Nest WiFi Pro Router | CONs of the Google Nest WiFi Pro Router |
| Possibly one of the most affordable entry points for those that want WiFi 6E and Mesh at $399 for 3 identical units
All the expected benefits of accessing the 6Ghz Band The Best Bandwidth and Network Coverage of any Google Router The Design is very slick and understated The hardware difference between Main Router and Nodes/Satellites is gone, now ALL even (eliminating issues/barriers with primary router deployment vs ISP entry point Numerous supported methods and protocols for linking your smart home devices Device handling of 100-300x is good, plus the Automated Quality/Priority of services options are better than most Google App is much better in 2022 than in my previous reviews
|
Only 2 Ethernet Ports and both are 1Gb/s – so if you have greater than gigabit internet connectivity from your ISP, you are bottlenecked
No backwards compatibility with older Google Router generations, so a partial network upgrade plan (one router at a time, as budget allows) is not an option WiFi 7 will likely formally debut in 2023, so if you haven’t made the jump to WiFi 6/6E yet, might be worth holding on a bit longer |
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