Google Wifi – AC1200 – Mesh WiFi System – Wifi Router – 4500 Sq Ft Coverage – 3 pack

I had been an it professional for over 40 years, and am now retired, but remain the it professional for my household. In that time, i have had to set up many different routers to provide internet service for my home with multiple alexa devices, internet tv, and multiple pc’s often running at the same time.

We have a large, 4500+ square ft., home with two stories and a basement. Our basement has 3 large rooms with concrete walls that have caused dead spots in most parts of the basement. Internet on the second floor works, but devices often need to be reconnect to establish a new connection. I have tried multiple internet extenders and access points that usually worked sporadically. Having to constantly reconnect them and reestablish a connect was frustrating, and i finally gave up on them.

I found out about the google mesh wifi system and decided to look into them. I debated on the higher priced system that units include speakers and voice, but decided on this one since we have so many alexa devices in our home. Another consideration was the cost of the upgraded system since 3 units costs 2 1/2 times more than this one. If you have a number of google devices it may be worth the extra cost. All i wanted was a dependable wifi system that would deliver wifi to our entire house with no dead spots.

I am so happy that i chose this wifi system. After i downloaded and installed the google home app, it took me all of 15 minutes to set up the system, and at least 10 of those minutes was used to find the best locations for the satellite units. The app really does it all. There was no setup of the isp – it was just so simple anyone could set up this system with absolutely no knowledge of setting up a router. You don’t have to fool with an internet connection to router software- it’s all in the app. Just connect one unit to the ethernet cable you would connect to the router and scan the qr code on the unit with your phone. After the router unit is connected, plug in the satellite units to electricity and select + at the top left of the screen in the app to add each satellite. I did notice that i had to wait until the light on the new unit stopped blinking and it was finished booting up before connecting. After all of the units are connected, you can check the connections of each and move the units to get the best connections to all of them. Since the google home app is also used for the upgraded system, there are a lot of options that don’t apply to this system.

At this point, i couldn’t be happier with this wifi system. We now have fast internet in every corner of our house, including all of the rooms in the basement. I also tested the this system by taking one of my tablets out to the furthest end of our patio which is 60 feet from the router. I was still able to stream netflix video with no lag. I should also mention that with this system and router, you don’t have a choice on the connections between 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz. The system automatically uses the 5 ghz connection unless the device is too far. Then it will automatically switch to the 2.4 ghz connection.

Knowing this is helpful if you need to initially connect a device that uses only 2.4 ghz. You need only to get far enough way from the router for it to switch the the 2.4 ghz band. After the initial connection, the device will automatically connect to the 2.4 ghz band. When connecting a computer, you don’t have to choose a band width, only your network name.

I am super happy with this wifi system, and would highly recommend it. For the first time in years, we have internet service in every area of our house and for an extended area outdoors. Setup was so incredibly easy – so much easier than setting up a router. In addition, the wifi signal is much better than ever before when checking it with the internet speed tests. Although we have been paying for 10 mbps download, previous to getting this system, our speed was 4-5 mbps. Now, we consistently get 7-9 mbps according to the speed tests. We watch internet tv and no longer have times the programs buffer. In addition, the tv doesn’t cut out if we use the microwave. To-date, we have not had to restart any of the devices to get a wifi signal on any of the 3 floors in our house.

Update 8/10/21:
we have been using this system for over 2 months, and, to-date have not had to reboot any of the 3 modules. When watching tv (all internet apps), there has not been any buffering even when we use the microwave. The only minor problem i have had is in setting up a device that will connect only to a 2.4 ghz connection. Most peripherals now will use both 2.4 ghz and 5 ghz, so this usually isn’t a problem. I did manage to get this device connected using the method described above. At this point, i am thrilled with the performance of this system. Since i am the techy in my house, this means less trouble shooting and less problems for me.

Update 01/14/22:
we have been using this wifi system for about 8 months, and i can now say that it is the best we have ever had. I have tried all of the ‘high-end’ routers, and have never had the great connection to wifi throughout the house that we have now. Since getting this system, i have rebooted the main router only once. With all other routers we have had, it was a regular thing. We use only internet services for our tv, and since getting this system, there has been absolutely no buffering problems. The wifi signal reaches every part of our 3 story house, and our devices have not had to be reconnected because of connection problems. There are enough problems in life to spend time trying to resolve wifi connection problems. It’s so very nice to not have this problem anymore.

I hope this review was helpful for you. I will update this review if my opinion changes.

We live a really old 50’s built home with plaster walls that are incredibly difficult to get a wifi signal to penetrate. So for so many years now we’ve dealt with very poor coverage throughout our home. Over the years i’ve tried all sorts of things to improve the quality of the signal everywhere, trying everything from extenders to linking multiple routers together for an expanded network, but nothing ever solved homes spotty coverage. Until that is that i finally wised up and bought into the mesh type router network. Stripped out all the failed attempts scattered throughout the home, and replaced all the mess with these 3 tiny little devices strategically placed at the very center and the outer most rooms on each end and for the first time ever, we now have absolutely perfect wifi coverage throughout our entire home. Zero dead spots, and only one spot the signal even dropped a single bar. Loved how simple the setup was as well. Just scanned the qr code on each device, named it, designated its location and moved on to the next one once all three were done, i had a fully functional mesh network. So awesome. Never again will i buy a basic router broadcasting multiple frequencies and having to manually remember to switch to a better connection when moving away from the source. These little guys just make life a little less frustrating, and couldn’t we all stand to have less frustration? If you’re on the fence and not sure, then worry no more, hop on over that fence and just buy it. Trust me, you absolutely won’t regret it.

I bought a 3 pack for my son’s home in nov 2020. In that time there have been absolutely no issues. They work like a dream. Super easy set up. It kind of reminds me of ron popiel… Set it and forget it.

Anyway, i recently bought a set of 3 for my daughter’s home. It was replacing 2 rather troublesome plume devices. I bought a 3 pack so 1 could go in my home office since i need to be hardwired and the modem is on the other side of the house. As soon as we hooked up the router one, we had wifi all throughout the house. The signal did fall off a bit (1 bar) at the farthest point away. At that point the signal was already better than what it was replacing. Once all of them were installed we had strong wifi throughout the entire house. There is not a single weak spot. Not that we needed it but we tested and we have wifi all thru the yard and several houses away in each direction.

Love these things. Simple set up and great signal.

I have a smart home and when reorganizing my office, i was unable to get anything more then 2-5 mbps in an area farthest away from the router…

I programmed the three point system which was extremely easy!!!! Named the access point the same as the one programmed into my many smart home devices (cameras, bulbs, switches)… Spread the points evenly around the house and vuuuallaaaaa… Perfect reception around the entire home…

Great product, extremely reasonable price, and works to perfection!!

This setup is really cool and this is my second set of these mesh routers; one set at my home and the other at my office. They have the ability to use as a mesh network that’s both wireless and wired. By wired i mean that you can use an ethernet cord if available and have a back haul setup that will still have the benefit of a single wifi network.

Technology moves so fast today. Just when you buy the latest thing… There’s something better, easier, cooler out there! A beautiful, large screen smart tv fell in my lap recently. It wasn’t recognizing my wifi network, so it was basically useless. I had an opportunity to pick a techno wizard’s brain, and he suggested a mesh system, google home specifically. For several good reasons, i went for it. Google home is solving issues i didn’t even know i had! 5 stars!

Don’t go with negative reviews.i have optimum with high speed internet. Somehow upstairs we get always slow wifi. Optimum tech mentioned to my son buy this google mesh.let me tell you this thing solve our problem. Easy to setup.my 14 years old son set up this in 20 to 30 minutes. So far working good no week wifi upstairs.

We have a 6 room facility and using the mesh setup in 3 strategic locations has vastly improved our wi-fi reliability and speed.

We had no issues setting up the devices and followed instructions as designed. One element was that our previous wi-fi subnet had a custom ip in which we had to come back and set the google home wi-fi router to the same subnet the old router had so that other devices like security system, ect which were hard coded with ip’s do not lose connectivity.

The google home app is not too bad but you will need to dig into the setting to find how to manually change your ip subnet.

Other than that i rate this product a must buy for those looking to strengthen their wi-fi signal, speed and reach.

Much better signal all through the house. No more buffering when i stream on back tv

This product really helped expand the range of our internet. One on each floor where the coverage was weak. Perfect!

Bought a 3-puck system to replace a router and 2 extenders. The setup of the new pucks was easy and straightforward. The first one i setup became the ‘master’, and has a hardwire connection to the cable modem. The other two i setup are like extenders, but better, and they don’t require their own networks. This is great, and it simplifies the later step of connecting wifi-enabled devices. I also like that the basic setup includes 2.5 and 5 ghz bands automatically, again without requiring additional network names.
Once the pucks were setup (took about 30-40 minutes), i then began connecting my wifi devices. Newer devices connected easily, but some of my older devices couldn’t ‘see’ the new network to connect to. Specifically, two older smart tvs and a first generation chromecast had issues. After 3 days of research and fiddling with them i determined that the tvs were simply not going to work. I still don’t know exactly why, but i think it was a hardware issue, not a software issue. I ended up connecting them by stringing network cables from the two extender pucks to the tvs. Of course, now i have to keep the tvs within cable-distance of the pucks. Or, i could upgrade the tvs. The chromecast was perhaps more frustrating because there were instructions on the internet for how to connect a 1st gen chromecast, and i simply couldn’t make it work. But on perhaps the 15th attempt, it worked. I don’t think i did anything differently on that attempt. Go figure.
Now it all works great, and the network is much faster and more reliable. All in all, i’m very pleased. But i wish they didn’t assume that everyone has all shiny new equipment. Many of us now have a house full of smart devices, and we can’t afford to upgrade them all every 3 years. And i wish there was more vendor-provided support available to help those of us who have some older equipment. It shouldn’t all be youtube videos by people that have had the same problem and figured it out themselves. The vendors should bear more responsibility to test their stuff against what’s out there and proactively provide help. It would eliminate a lot of frustration, and would provide a better customer experience.

Have use google wireless pods for 10yrs no problems had one go out this i hope well
work t.reed

After my son set the system up it works fine.

I bought the three pack for my large 4 story brick townhome. My old setup couldn’t penetrate threw the thick walls. The signal was always weak when i was anywhere in the first floor or in another room with the door closed.

With this setup, i was able to install an access point on each floor and boost my signal greatly. No matter where i’m at, i am able to connect perfectly. So far, no dropped connections as reported by some people.

The setup was very easy, but it did take 1-2 tries on some access points as it couldn’t find the wifi. Once it connected, setup was just as google described super easy.

The cons for me are as follows:
– the access points are capped at 200 mbps, although i pay for 800. It just sucks to not get my full speed that i pay for and this is an easy fox for google, i don’t understand the cap. My workaround my main devices is to just direct connect to the modem wifi signal, and add any other guest or devices can use the google access point, but it would be nice to get the speeds i pay for on all devices.

– second, the user interface is pretty bare, as you can’t customize anything for you signal like adding a guest band, and a 2ghz or 5ghz band. This is made for less technical users.

Overall, it’s a great product thats works as intended, and thats why they can beat out the competition. The other products are either super confusing or don’t work. So for ease and use and solving my problem, 4 stars.

I live in a small town, where we only have 2 internet providers. Both internet options are bad and really bad. Working from home was a nightmare. Someone suggested i get google wifi and man, oh man, has it improved our wi-fi network signal! I wish i would have purchased this a year ago. I would have more hair on my head. The only bad review is installing and setting it up. Absolutely no installation instructions were provided and trying to get our less than stellar internet provide to help was a nightmare. Would be a fantastic idea if google provided instructions. I know, weird idea. Why would anyone need instructions!!!??

The google wifi three node system was really easy to set up from my smart phone. During setup, it had a couple of hiccups, but repeating those steps a time or two resulted in success. Waiting longer than suggested between steps may also help. It does a great job of helping my iphone and samsung switch to the node that gives the best performance as i move through the house. I returned it because each node has a relatively small sphere of wifi where i get anywhere near the performance i wanted. If you are okay with ‘good enough’ (and there’s a case to be made for that) or with purchasing extra nodes, or at least replacing the main router with a nest router (which works very well w/ the existing google wifi nodes), then this is a system that is easy to set up and use. I improved performance by about 50% by adding a nest router as my primary router (connected to my cable modem) and using the three google wifi nodes as if they were nest ‘points’. That improvement was seen with leaving two of the google wifi nodes in the same location as before because the nest router has more range to reach them better. I should have been satisfied, but seeing how much better the nest router worked, i returned the google wifi system and ordered two more nest routers to make a three node mesh out of all nest routers. The nest routers are stronger and have better performance than the google wifi or the nest points. Also, they don’t have speakers and microphones like the nest points and i was happy to give that up. That solution increased my throughput (again with the nodes in the same location) by nearly 100% over the pure google wifi system and got me really close to what i wanted. I did have a couple of weak areas that led me to consider adding two more nest routers to the mesh. But most people would have been satisfied. Technically, i should have been satisfied. But, i decided to keep trying for perfection. If you’re interested in what i finally considered satisfying, read on …. It was an asus rt-ax88u as my main router and an asus rt-ax86u as what asus calls an aimesh node. I reviewed those separately.

This product took a while to figure out in the setup stage, but once set up, it provides excellent wifi coverage.

Works great once working. I ran into a few installation issues. So i wanted to share my experience.

I made a mistake and tried to change the name of the wi-fi in between doing it the first time and doing it the second time. This caused a lot of issues. There’s an article online to reference that shows what the flashing lights mean on the device. I strongly recommend looking that up. There’s a factory reset button that is hiding in plain sight on the underneath of the device. You hold it down before you plug in the device in order to do that too so when i had a few issues connecting this and connecting new points i had to factory reset them but i was having trouble trying to figure out how to just factory reset one device instead of all three that i purchased here so it was quite the challenge. The other recommendation is to power them on all right next to each other so that you’re not running up and down a set of stairs or anything like that you can also plug all three in at the same time to start your connection plug them all three in the power to start with it’s a much better way to make sure that they’re all actually found by google. The last thing i found online that helped is actually installed the app on my ipad that does not have data and that made it better because there were stories online of people having issues connecting them using just the phone because when their phone lost connection to a wi-fi device it would switch to cellular and that would screw up with a google device was trying to do

Compré este producto ya que vivo en un casa de 4 pisos y es difícil que la señal llegue, sin embargo, no ví un avance significativo en la señal, probablemente sea por las paredes y distancias en mi hogar. Por otro lado, la facilidad de conexión me sorprendió pues es muy fácil. Si vives en un apartamento de un solo piso, es probable que te funcione mejor.

Might be adequate for a single dwelling but not the best choice for a multiple unit condominium complex. I realize its purpose is not to cover multiple floors and units in a condominium complex but this is what was already in place so i did what i could to extend our range and coverage.