Did you know you CANNOT disable 5Ghz WiFi on Google Nest?

Introduction #

Well you can’t, and as it uses the same name for both 2.4 and 5g networks, you cannot connect your PIXIE Gateway!

Of course if your are using the PIXIE G3 Gateway ( SGW3/BTAM) you can simply connect your Ethernet Cable to your network and move forward with a working system.

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Solutions #

So what to do? 4 options we have thought of for you.

1. Remember 5ghz does not travel as far or through as many barriers as 2.4ghz. So move to a spot where your phone only connects to 2.4 AND you can still have connection to a PIXIE BT device ( maybe you need to use a portable Smart PLUG ESS105BT plugged in to a power board which in turn also has your gateway plugged in ) – Then connect your gateway to the 2.4 network and get on with the rest of the project.

2. Purchase an inexpensive consumer router, plug it into a network port of the Google gear, create a local 2.4 network for smart home gear – connect the gateway to that device, which is in turn connected to the Google WiFi mesh, internet etc. Not ideal with the extra device in the network but it will work and have done this on 1 project so far.

3. Don’t use nest as the WiFi mesh network device – choose something with reasonable flexibility so you are in control.

4. Update your PIXIE Gateway to the Gen3 version ( SGW3/BT) which includes an Ethernet port connection so you can connect the gateway directly to your network over an Ethernet connection instead.

Remember if you find yourself on site with 5g only and want to get on with setting up PIXIE, you can use the SAL PIXIE App just to setup the PIXIE gear first, then when you are ready to sort out the WiFi stuff, transfer the PIXIE home from SAL PIXIE app to the PIXIE Plus App.