I installed a Google Mesh system not too long ago and can't seem to dial it in like I was told it should work.

First, some details on the home:

• AT&T fiber directly wired into the home so in general wifi is pretty good
• Where wifi isn't so good is the Master Bedroom where our home office is and upstairs in our bonus room (hence the reason why I bought the mesh system to amplify the signal)
• Every bedroom and major room has an ethernet port in the wall so you can directly plug in a TV or device like Apple TV/Roku
• There is a media closet where the AT&T router lives and there is a wall insert that gives me access to connect all the direct ethernet ports to the main router.

I have a Google mesh unit plugged directly into the router per the setup instructions. Then there are two other Google units in the main house (one in the master bedroom, the other upstairs in the bonus room). One unique thing is that I went from having one wifi network (our original AT&T fiber setup) to now two networks after setting up the Google Mesh system. Is this normal?

Another question is the guy that lived here before me told me to plug the two units in the master and upstairs directly into the wall and they would really ramp up the signal but that hasn't worked.

Would greatly appreciate any and all help. Feels like I'm missing something easy and I can't seem to pinpoint.

your two networks are probably 2.4 ghz and 5ghz. the 5 cannot penetrate walls as well as the 2.4 which is why many systems setup both (5 is faster but less coverage). if you have a lot of walls, corners, materials beyond drywall, etc (and your two story house) it can be challenging to use 5 throughout.

i would try moving your bad signal places to the 2.4 network and see if that helps. should still be plenty fast. if that doesn't work i would think you need to add more mesh or migrate to an access point system.

you could add a unifi in wall AP to the areas with bad coverage if you have ethernet in those rooms.
https://store.ui.com/us/en/products/uap-ac-iw
https://help.ui.com/hc/en-us/articles/12594679474071-Standalone-Access-Points-without-UniFi-

as an example i run wireless access points in my 2 story house on 5ghz only (access point in the ceiling of second floor) but that is not sufficient enough for coverage in my master bedroom downstairs so i ran a second access point (the in wall unit above) that covers my master only.

ETA: sounds like your google mesh hub is in a closet. that is not going to help get the signal to the difficult to reach areas. I'd give both the hub and the mesh satellite in your bedroom and bonus room as much line of sight as possible. have you left your closet door open and see if signal is better?

If I understand correctly, it sounds like you have the ATT router connected to the networking port in your media closet, when in reality you should have the ethernet out from the main Google hub connected to the networking port in the wall. The connections should go as follow, ATT fiber to ATT router to Google Hub to networking port. The networking port would then split out to the home network, where you would plug in the Google access points on the various wall ethernet jacks. Now this assumes that there is a networking switch that the networking port is connected and to manage the various connected devices on the home network.

Interesting, not sure how I know whether it's on 2.5 ghz or 5 ghz.

Also, I think I have to plug one of the google units into the modem which has to be in the closet. Not sure how to avoid that part.

Going to look into the advice listed above, thanks yall. Any other thoughts, keep them coming

Not sure if you have the Google WiFi or Nest WiFi, but I think the setup would be similar on both systems. I have att fiber with Google WiFi, and it works great.

As mentioned you should have one of the Google WiFi pucks in the media closet connected to the att router. If you have a Ethernet port in that closet that ties into the rest of the network connections you could connect the Google WiFi in the media closet to that Ethernet port. Doing so would then allow you to have a wired connection to the other remote Google WiFi pucks. Right now those WiFi pucks are connecting wirelessly, which is why you don't notice the added speed. All of this assumes that the Ethernet port in the media closet has a networking switch somewhere that would assist the Google WiFi in managing all of the network connections.

For my setup I have the att router and one Google WiFi puck connected to each other in a closet. From the LAN port coming out of that Google WiFi puck I have a networking cable that goes into the attic that is connected to a networking switch. That networking switch then has various network connections that run through the house to Ethernet wall plates. With the Google WiFi tied to the network, I can then connect the remote WiFi pucks to any Ethernet jack in the house and have a wired connection to the main Google WiFi puck and ATT router.

With the 500mb fiber service and this setup, I consistently get 500+ upload and 500+ download speeds.

Did you turn off the original wifi network from your ATT router when you turned up the Google system?

I'm not all that familiar with Google mesh, but I think the main hub typically acts as a router. Might try to remove the ATT router completely. Go from the ATT modem into the WAN port of the Google router and then from there, connect to the wall ports going to the satellite APs in the other rooms.

Assuming you have a BGW320 from AT&T, log into it (usually 192.168.1.254) and disable the wireless radios. That will at least eliminate having the two networks. Only other thing I'd recommend would be to hard wire the mesh system pucks individually back to the AT&T router (or to a switch connected to it if you run out of ports).

I had a single Asus router when I had CenturyLink fiber. When I switched to Google they threw in a mesh system for free so I switched to that but I found it to be awful. Within a couple months went back to a single Asus router and it's far superior. Since then I added a second Asus router in a mesh for better backyard coverage.

Already covered but to reiterate - make sure you turn off wifi on the ATT modem. you want only Google's wifi running and not the ATT band as well.

I'd start there before moving on to other suggestions which may also be required.

Okay, I finally made it home from traveling for the Holidays! Thanks again for everyone's input.

I disabled the WiFi on the ATT router by going to that numbered website that was stated above. That got rid of the two network problem and the remaining network is the Google network I created when I installed the pucks.

I ran a speed test in our home office area and it came back to me with a 51 mbps Download speed and 41 mbps for upload. That's a far cry from the 500 mentioned above. Anything I can do to speed that part up? I have AT&T fiber running to the house so I should be getting a lot more. My Zoom and Teams meetings tend to lag the most here so this is the crux of the issue.

Thanks again, keep the comments coming

Interesting, I ran a speed test using the Google home app and it showed download/upload speeds in the 800s all over the house.

The speed test I did earlier that showed 51 mpbs was through Fast.com

With those speeds it sounds like your Google WiFi pucks are still only connecting wirelessly. The reason the Google app shows higher speeds is because it's taking the reading at the main Google WiFi puck that has a wired connected to the att router. Have you run the "Test Mesh" feature. That should tell you how good of a wireless connection the remote pucks have (or wired connection if you set them up that way)

ORBI mesh reporting in
Location location location
trial & error
FINALLY solved the lion's share of the problem but what to do about "Optimum" (a misnomer)

Apps to monitor signal & channels to your cell phone might help
No, I didn't read all the advice about, so sorry if out in right field