Google Nest WiFi

I was fairly happy with my Google Mesh routers until the main one just died randomly after about a year, and now I don't trust the other 2. I bought a Deco x60 to replace them, but I've found that if you reboot it without an internet connection, it won't provide DHCP (and possibly anything else) for the rest of the network, and so you're screwed until the internet comes back, even for stuff that is just local. So I'm not happy with them, either.

I'm still using my time capsule. I don't really trust the hard drive inside of it, but I basically use it to connect to an SSD that I attached to it. Unfortunately, Nest Wi-Fi, that I use as a router doesn't have any USBs, unlike some cheaper routers. I know that it's, I know that it will be gone after Tahoe. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do about this. I mean, I don't really want to fool on us I mean, it's basically just like a time machine backup plus, uh, a little bit of some older files that I don't want to keep on my main Mac. seems like any NAS would take way more space than I would love to. I suppose one alternative would be actually getting some kind of like Beelink PC and then maybe setting up a proper home server, moving some of my side projects in there, running plex from it. The problem is that the current ram prices, it's a surprisingly expensive solution.

In recent times, I found 2 troublesome issues: one was network-side and another was client-side. 1. Google/Nest WiFi mesh APs being "too close" to each other (30 ft / 10 m), causing a periodic backhaul mesh collapse. There was no user-visible indication of this, it was completely locked away and only noticed by support. I ditched Google's junk and moved to Ubiquiti. 2. On macOS, ObjectiveSee's LuLu has nondeterministic packet loss that causes SSH connection resets and a whole host of other weird problems. It's totally untrustworthy and shouldn't be used by anyone until it's proven reliable.

I used to run everything Google: had an OnHub, then a set of Nest WiFi pucks, my domains were in Google Domains, my Photos in Google Photos, have a bunch of Nest cameras and other IoT stuff, Stadia, etc. They started by killing my OnHub, suddenly it wasn't good enough to operate as just another Nest puck. I moved off that. They killed Stadia, OK fair enough. Surprisingly, they killed my Nest Guard system too, now I have to move on to some third party they partnered with. Half of my cameras don't work as expected in the Home app, only the "new" ones do. Then they killed Domains for whatever reason. I don't think I'll be paying for any new Google products any time soon. When the cameras and smoke detectors stop working, I'll move on to something else. Unifi perhaps?

I recently rented at a place where the owner used Google Nest Wifi to get coverage of the whole property. One of those devices was placed in the window sill in my bedroom and didn't really cause any issues at the start. Until one day it replied to something I said and I found out it had a microphone, because of course it does. When I found the hardware switch for the microphone the whole base of the device lit up in orange, with no way of turning the LEDs off without turning the microphone back on. The device also started speaking every time I touched it to "gently" remind me that the microphone was turned off while I was putting tape over the lights. I had to 10+ thin strips of duct tape in multiple layers in order to remove most of the light it radiated.