Google says it will roll out a software update for the new Nest Wifi Pro early next week to address the slow internet speeds some users are experiencing. In a statement to The edgeSanjay Noronha, product leader of Google Nest Wifi, says the company is “currently investigating reports of a small number of users experiencing slower internet speeds on Nest Wifi Pro routers,” and that its “teams are working on a fix.”
Google launched the $199 Nest Wifi Pro mesh router last month, while offering support for the faster Wi-Fi 6E which should allow speeds of up to 5.4 Gbps (since your internet plan supports that). It also opens up a 6GHz band that helps reduce network congestion, and automatically adjusts “network performance” to minimize disruption.
But it wasn’t long before the reports on the Google Nest Community Forum about an issue with limited download and upload speeds ranging from 40 Mbps to 90 Mbps. Many users said that their old Nest Wifi Pro, which only supports WiFi 5, outperformed the new device because first reported by 9to5Google.
Not everybody however, who bought the new router has these issues. As confirmed by Google, it mainly affects users in the UK with point-to-point protocol over Ethernet (PPPoE) networks. This system is used by many digital subscriber line (DSL) providers and requires you to configure your router with a username and password before you can connect to the Internet. However, judging by reports on the forum, the issue appears to affect users in the US and other parts of Europe, as well as those with fiber optics.
Google hasn’t specified exactly what caused the reduced speeds, but hopefully the upcoming software update will fix it (at least for those who chose not to return the device for now).