Nest Wifi Pro adds 6E and 2 Ethernet ports, removes backwards compatibility

Previously seen on the FCC and random retail listings, the Google Nest Wifi Pro system has gone official. The system expands the wireless capabilities of the Nest mesh system and adds Thread and Matter support, but it cannot work with older Nest Wifi hardware.

The big upgrade on the Pro system is Wi-Fi 6E, which uses a newer spectrum space in the 6-7 GHz band, along with the usual 2.4 and 5 GHz bands. For those who live in crowded Wi-Fi environments, 6E can mean better and faster connections, albeit with shorter range and less penetration through walls and floors than 2.4GHz. If you have brand new devices that work with Wi-Fi 6E, you will immediately see the changes. For most of us at the moment, 6E is more forward looking than boosting the signal, although every device using the newer standard takes some load off the network.

Google says the Nest Wifi Pro router ($199) can cover up to 2,200 square feet apiece, 200 questionable feet more than the Eero Pro 6E, and has a theoretical top speed of 5.4Gbps. Notably, each piece of Wifi Pro comes with two 1Gbps Ethernet ports, not just a router, allowing both wired transport links between multiple devices, as well as connecting selected devices via Ethernet (probably with the addition of a network switch).). This is an improvement over the previous Wi-Fi 5-powered Nest Wifi, which otherwise performed well in our performance tests.

If you’ve owned this Nest Wifi with decent coverage and wanted to use its hotspots with one new Nest Wifi Pro router, you’re out of luck. Nest Wifi Pro is not backwards compatible with either Nest Wifi or Google Wifi that preceded it. You also lose the Nest Wifi feature: the Google Assistant microphones and music speakers built into every device. While some might not miss out on the $30 Bluetooth-grade always-on microphone and speaker in every hotspot, it’s odd to see Google miss a chance to expand its assistant’s reach.

Beyond the 6E, however, the Nest Wifi Pro has something new: Thread and Matter support. Each Wifi Pro device can act as a flow border router, creating and expanding a mesh network of connectivity for low power devices throughout the home. And each hub also supports Matter and can act as a Matter hub, making it easy to set up and manage Nest Wifi outside of Google’s own apps and expose other Matter devices to you – when Matter launches in Fall (apparently already here) 2022.

In terms of software, Nest touts that the Wifi Pro system can monitor itself and fix issues like video streaming stuttering and prioritize devices with preferred access. It also touts the standard features of a commercial mesh system, such as guest networks, parental controls, and automatic security updates.

The Nest Wifi Pro is $199 for a single router, $299 for a set of two, or $399 for a set of three. Units are available October 27, though you can pre-order on Amazon and the Google Store now.