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Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

isaac124
Tutor

want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

I'm trying to setup a new router system.. I'm starting to feel like it was a horrible choice.

Has anyone had issues with google home mini?

anyone have recomendations for setting up the router configuration so that it can work well with google home smart devices especially chromecast and google home mini's.

 

Isaac

Message 1 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

You have the MR60? 

What gateway is it connected to? (modem)

Message 2 of 10
isaac124
Tutor

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

yes i have the mr60. Purchased at costco.

 

 

I have the Motorola SB6120 SURFboard DOCSIS 3.0 eXtreme Broadband Cable Modem. Purchased on January 23rd, 2015 on amazon.

 

Is there some sort of potential problem with a Cable modem? that's very wierd. If i bought something new, would it get better performance in any way?

 

a couple further details.

We are a 3 person household who use iphone Xs, iphone Xs-max, and iphone XR. have two pc's plugged into ethernet.. 3 google chromecasts, 4 google home mini's, one set of phillips hue smart lights, and 3 smart plugs.

 

One of the main ways that we are having a problem is that the iphones seem to lose track of what google devices there are in the google home app. We may start streaming netflix from a phone, but then the netflix app on the phone will forget that it is streaming. There is no way to stop the chromecast from that phone, we have to go to a different device on the network to tell the chrome cast to stop casting. Or on the other hand, waiting a while sometimes fixes this problem and the iphone suddenly "remembers" that it was streaming to chromecast. 

This issue was sort of present before i changed routers. but it got worse with the new mr60 router. Now it took me a very long time to set up some of the google home minis. because i needed to set them up through the google home app. and during the setup process through the home app, i'd get a error message saying that it failed to setup and explain to me in rather complicated fashioon that the phone and the device need to be connected to the same network.

I've been in contact with googlehome-support. the guy was super nice and spent a ton of time with me. in the end he concluded that there was something about the router that needed to be changed and he didn't know what. 

I wanted to try disabling the smart-connect feature. so that i could force my iphone to connect to the 2.4 ghz band. I noticed that the smart connect feature on netgear was forcing me to go on the 5ghz band on my iphone xsmax. as far as i can tell with the mr60 there is no way to set it up so that it shows both the 2.4ghz and 5 ghz bands as separate networks which i may choose to connect to. I think that could be the source of the issue that the smart connect feature is trying to handshake with the home mini and put it on the 2.4 ghz band while letting my phone be on the 5ghz band. this in turn makes the google home app setup fail because it "wants" to see both devices on the same band of the network for communication to occur. 

 

both of the MR60 satellites are plugged in and about 20-30 feet apart on different floors of the house. 

 

I'm on a 100 mbps connection through mediacom though I usually see 70 mbps through speed test.

 

Isaac

 

Message 3 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

Just checking. 

One thing to make sure is the google home mini isn't dual band. just single band. so during setup, make sure your phone/device you're using for setup is connected to the 2.4ghz band. 

I was able to connect 3x them to my RAX and at a different time to my orbi AC setup. Like I said, just make sure that whatever you're setting them up with, is on the 2.4ghz. 

Message 4 of 10
isaac124
Tutor

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

do you have the mr60? how did you force your phone to connect to the 2.4 ghz band. I only see one wifi network to connect to. no way to choose one band or the other on my phone.


@plemans wrote:

Just checking. 

One thing to make sure is the google home mini isn't dual band. just single band. so during setup, make sure your phone/device you're using for setup is connected to the 2.4ghz band. 

I was able to connect 3x them to my RAX and at a different time to my orbi AC setup. Like I said, just make sure that whatever you're setting them up with, is on the 2.4ghz. 


 

Message 5 of 10
isaac124
Tutor

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

apparently you are able to link google assistant to te netgear router..

the FAQ does not explain "WHY" I would want to do this though.. and I don't know why..

https://kb.netgear.com/000049501/How-do-I-enable-my-NETGEAR-router-to-work-with-Google-Assistant

 

is this potentially the problem?

Message 6 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

You can use the google assistant to give commands to your router. For the most part I find it a gimmick. About all I'd use it for is turning guest network on/off. 

https://kb.netgear.com/000049504/Which-Google-Assistant-commands-does-my-NETGEAR-router-support

 

With the mesh networks you can't seperate out the 2 networks. What some have done is to disable the 5ghz ssid broadcast and then disconnect/reconnect their phone. Most times your phone will end up on the 2.4ghz and you can proceed with setup. 

Or if you have an older/lower performance that is only single band, you can use that. 

Message 7 of 10
isaac124
Tutor

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

so in general, AFTER setup is complete on all devices, Is it supposed to matter what frequency the device is on in order for it to communicate with the google home mini on the 2.4ghz band?

 

IE, are devices on the 5ghz band supposed to be able to see the google home mini and do video or sound casting to it?

 

Thanks for your help, I think that mostly explains the pains with setup. 

Isaac

Message 8 of 10
plemans
Guru

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

Once they're setup, you're phones/devices can be on either band. 

Its just for setup they need to be on the same band. 

Message 9 of 10
schumaku
Guru

Re: want to use google home devices. is a mr60 ax1800 mesh router system the wrong choice?

At no point the Google/Nest devices require the mobile to connect to a specific band. On the MR60/MS60 both wireless radios on the router, each satellite, as well as the Ethernet/LAN ports connect to the very same network

In brief, the process does require the mobile to connect to the wireless network, then the Google/Nest device will be discovered on-air by the App, and finally the wireless name (SSID), password/security key (borrowed from the mobile phone WiFi config) is pushed to the Google/Nest device.

All the hacks we read about apply to crap IoT and discovery Apps which are doing whatever other tricks requiring to be on the same band (2.4 GHz because they don't support anything else) are not required for teh Google/Nest devices.

The Google/Nest app does issue (for the Netgear Mesh systems) non-applicable messages like "Having trouble setting up Google Home? Disable Access Point/AP isolation, also know as Client Isolation or guest mode on your router." There is no such thing neither on the Netgear routers, the Orbi Mesh systems, or the Nighthawk Mesh  The solution is always to start with a factory reset of the Google/Nest device - and the process will work.

 

 

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