The Google Wi-Fi 6E router, “Nest Wifi Pro”, is briefly listed for $199.

The October 6th Google event is fast approaching and tons of hardware is leaking ahead of time. We already know about the Pixel 7, the Pixel Watch and the new budget Chromecast, now what about the “Nest Wifi Pro”?

After appearing in the FCC last month, Google’s next Wi-Fi router appeared on a retail listing from B&H Photo over the weekend. The listing has been removed, but 9to5Google, which discovered the listing, has a backup. Right in the B&H name is “Wi-Fi 6E”support, which is a big upgrade on this “Pro”model and should result in a more reliable connection. 6E moves Wi-Fi to the 6 GHz band (along with the existing 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands), which will greatly expand the bandwidth of the common radio waves that all Wi-Fi must use. If you live in a crowded area, such as an apartment building, your Wi-Fi performance can drop significantly if your neighbors use the full spectrum. Using this new 6GHz spectrum segment means more space for everyone.

Current Nest Wifi 2 and 3 pack kits include a “router”as the first device and “point”devices as the second and third devices, but this difference is not mentioned in the Pro B&H listing. For the current Nest Wifi, the “router”is the main unit with two Ethernet jacks and improved antennas, while the “point”units are just Wi-Fi extenders with no Ethernet ports. The main criticism of this kit is that two “point”devices in three packages cannot provide a wired backhaul since they do not have Ethernet ports. Having an Ethernet port on every device would help the new model live up to the “Pro”name.

Also, the list does not mention Google Assistant. In the current Nest Wifi, “spot”devices also include a Google Assistant speaker and microphone, allowing you to fully utilize the Google ecosystem with one combo device. Looks like the Pro models will only be network devices.