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Imagine I have the following set up:

  • Internet --wired--> Google Wifi 1
  • Google Wifi 1 --wireless--> Google Wifi 2
  • Google Wifi 2 --wireless--> Google Wifi 3

I notice that the connection is slow when connecting to Google Wifi 3. Probably because of the 2 wireless hops.

Connecting an ethernet cable between all 3 points is not feasible. However, I can connect a cable between Google Wifi 2 and Google Wifi 3.

  • Internet --wired--> Google Wifi 1
  • Google Wifi 1 --wireless--> Google Wifi 2
  • Google Wifi 2 --wired--> Google Wifi 3

If I do that, will these access points behave as one would expect? I.e. Google Wifi 3 would prefer the wired connection over the wireless, and even though Google Wifi 2 gets its signal wirelessly, it can still share its signal in a wired manner?

I tried searching Google but they either talk about hooking up all the Wifi access points wirelessly to each other, or hooking them all up to the same modem. I couldn't find any articles that mention the mixed case as above.

I did the second set up, and tried a mesh test, and everything looked "great" but I'm not sure if is because it's actually using the wired connection or if it's still using the wireless one and it happens to be "great". The app does not tell me how one point is connected to another.

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1 Answers1

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Yes, it looks like you can mix and match wired and wireless connections as you please between the access points. However, if you upgrade to the newer Google Nest Wifi, you'll lose this ability as they have separate hardware, one router and many access points, with the latter not having any ethernet ports.

The way I tested this was to make the distance between Google Wifi 2 and Google Wifi 3 pretty long. Enough that when doing the mesh test when they are wireless, it will show a low signal strength.

Next, without moving the access points, I simply plugged in an ethernet cable between the two points (blue port on Google Wifi 2 for out, and green/internet port on Google Wifi 3 for in). After running the mesh test, it showed up as "Great" connection. To verify once more, I just unplugged the cable, did the mesh test once more, and it went back down to "OK".

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