Monday 29 July 2019

How do I setup Google WiFi using wires?


As I’ve mentioned in a previous post my Google WiFi setup sends all its traffic over the wired network rather than mesh. For me I found this to be much faster and more reliable. However, it wasn’t easy to do or find information about so let’s have a look at what I did and hopefully it can help others.

My Setup

From Google

So my network has 4 Google WiFi nodes all connected together using Cat6 cabling and a switch. I’ve no modem anymore but when I did things were very similar and I’ll address the details as we go.

I’m going to assume you already have a WiFi network in place so before we do anything go and download the Google WiFi app from your App Store. You need it. You may also want to set your new WiFi up using a different network name to your existing network, especially if you can’t turn your existing router to modem only mode. 

Note: Start Wireless

The first important point to note is that your new wired network actually need to be setup as wireless then you’ll wire everything together. One of your nodes will to be the primary. This is the node that’s connected to your modem/router or to your fibre. For me this point connects directly to the Fibre and then on into the Switch. This is one of the recommended Google configurations. Any of your nodes can be setup as the primary so take the first puck out of the box and plug the network cable from the modem/router/fibre into the WAN port (the one with the globe). Switch the device on and follow the instructions in the WiFi app to setup your first node.

Setup The Rest

Once point one is setup head out into your home and place the rest of the network pucks in the places you want them. Remember don’t plug in any network cables yet. Each time you place one switch on the power and add the new node through the WiFi app. Repeat for each.

Going Wired

From Google
Ok, so now your whole WiFi network should be in place as a mesh but that’s not what you want. You want wired. So switch off all the nodes and go back round plugging the network cables into the globe ports. Switch on the primary and then the rest.

Once the whole network comes back up you should be able to go into the Google WiFi app and see each node as ‘Wired’. I’ve had multiple instances of nodes suddenly reporting as ‘mesh’ which messes the whole setup. To fix it restart the node and then run a mesh test through the app. That normally does it.

Final Configuration

So my final configuration is:
Fibre -> Primary -> Switch -> Node 2
                                            -> Node 3
                                            -> Node 4

If you have a modem and switch then yours should be:
Modem/Router -> Primary -> Switch -> Node 2
                                                            -> Node X

I hope this helps you getting your Google WiFI setup using a wired network. For me it has been much faster and more reliable than using wireless mesh.

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