Google Nest Home Network Problem Statement
I've been dealing with some annoyances with my home network setup and I just want to document them for posterity in hopes of one day fixing them / asking for help.
Today I have a Google Nest Wifi mesh network with Google Nest Wifi Routers/AP's. They're these little rounded pucks:
I like them because they work well with the rest of our Google Home setup in our house (Nest x Yale lock, Nest Doorbell, Nest Thermostat, Nest security cameras, Smart lights, etc.) but I've recently been dealing with some annoyances with them.
The main issue I'm having is that I want to have my home office wired with ethernet, so I can get the performance benefits of my gigabit ethernet for my Mac, PS5, etc. that are in there. But I also want to have an AP in there that I can use to connect my phone and other mobile devices to (I'm a mobile developer, so have a few test devices I want to have on the wifi). I also want everything to be on one network/devices to be visible to each other (more about that later).
My current setup allows me to do that for the most part, here's what it looks like right now.
*Modem = Modem/Router supplied by the ISP
In my office, I circumvent the Google Nest network to connect directly to ethernet using a series of switches (TP-Link TL-SG105). This works okay, but it has two main drawbacks.
The Google Nest AP in my office doesn't get great connectivity from the mesh network.
When my PS5 is hard-wired into ethernet this way, it's not visible to my Steam Deck (connected to Google Nest wifi) via chiaki.
#1 is pretty clear-cut. I would ideally like to hard-wire in that AP so it had guaranteed good connectivity.
#2 is a bit more of a mystery to me, but I believe it's because the hardwired PS5 is somehow on my internet in a separate kind of network than the devices linked via my Google Nest wifi (I'm not a networking expert by any stretch of the imagination). If I was able to somehow get my PS5 hardwired in via Google Nest wifi I was hoping that would solve it.
Enter my first attempt at fixing this issue:
In this attempt I connected the Google Nest AP to ethernet, and then used the AP's 1 hard ethernet port to connect my switch & my other devices.
However I learned that Nest Wifi doesn't support multiple routers like this. There's 1 router & multiple mesh access points. So this approach still means the AP is connected to the mesh over wifi (ignoring the ethernet in) and thus limits all of my devices to wifi speeds. It also didn't solve my problem #2 with the Steam Deck.
At this point, I'm back to using the setup in the first diagram.
I'm now considering moving off of my Google Nest Wifi mesh network setup and towards something else, but I'm not sure what setup will work to give me everything I want. Primarily - the ability to have two AP's connected via ethernet, but still be part of the same home network.
Any suggestions / tips / troubleshooting ideas welcome.
0 notes
scenes from the kitchen sink
Pairing: Bob Floyd x Female Reader
Word Count: 2.3k
Author’s Note: A little moment inspired by that hair washing scene from Water Rises. That movie may have stressed me out, but at least it gave us plenty of domestic Lew content!
Warnings: Domestic fluff and the tiniest of innuendos (if you squint).
Smiling, the hem of your sundress brushing against your calves in the late afternoon breeze, you step out onto the back porch in your bare feet, crossing your arms over your chest and resting your head against the door jamb to better admire him.
He’s stripped down to his boxers—that’s the nice thing about it being just you and him for miles on end—and standing under the steady stream of the garden hose he’s holding above his head, blue eyes shut tightly as he allows the icy gush to wash away the dirt and grime of the day. You worry for half a second when you realize he isn’t wearing his glasses—Did he leave them somewhere?—but your shoulders instantly relax when you catch sight of them in your periphery, the sun glinting off them as they lay resting on the ledge of the window box overflowing with the weeds he hasn’t yet gotten the chance to pull.
It’s silly of you to fret about it, you think with an amused curve of your lips. Bob never goes anywhere without his glasses.
His eyes still closed and his back to you, you continue to gaze upon him, struck not for the first time by just how beautiful he is. Water droplets cling to the broad expanse of his freckled back, winking at you as they catch the sunlight. His muscles ripple with every movement, and your stomach clenches as you recall how they’d felt stretched taut beneath your fingertips that morning.
He looks so right here, so at home standing half naked on the grass outside the little two and a half room cabin the two of you have turned into your own personal love nest these past few days. You know he’s glad that he volunteered to come here, to straighten things up at his grandpa’s old fishing cabin that hasn’t been touched in over five years.
The place has no WiFi, no air conditioning, and no hot water. The floorboards creak something awful, the windows rattle at night, and you’re fairly certain there’s a family of mice taking up residence in the walls. Still, even you have to admit that the place has its charms. Charms that are easier to see since you know you’ll be leaving at the end of the week, once you and Bob finish setting a few things to rights around here.
“Thank you for coming here with me,” he whispers to you every night before you fall asleep.
But there’s no place else you’d rather be. You belong wherever he is.
Even if that means showering with a rusty old garden hose.
Which, considering the veritable deathtrap the shower in the cabin is, it does.
Your chest tightens as you watch Bob wash the day’s hard-earned sweat away, your heart filled nearly to bursting with love for him as he bounces on the balls of his feet, gritting his teeth and bearing it as the cold water trickles down his back and snakes a path along his legs, pooling in the dirt at his feet. As soon as he’s able, he’s running to twist the spigot off, winding the hose up in a neat pile before reaching for his glasses.
When he turns his head and catches sight of you standing at the back door, watching him, his face lights up in a way that sets your pulse racing.
No one’s ever looked at you like that except for Bob Floyd.
“C’mere,” you tell him softly, crooking your finger at him to draw him closer.
“I’m all wet,” he murmurs ruefully, stopping short a foot or so away from you.
“I don’t care,” you grin, holding out your arms, which he gladly steps into. You can feel the warmth emanating from his body even as the chilly water droplets seep through the thin cotton of your sundress.
With him still standing in the grass and you at a slightly elevated position in the doorway, you’re able to look down at his wet locks, glistening in the waning afternoon light. You run your fingers through his hair gently, feeling the way it knots even as you try to smooth it down.
Bob makes a valiant effort to hide his wince, but you spot it all the same.
“I know just the thing you need,” you whisper to him, dropping a kiss on his forehead before reaching for his hand and tugging him inside the cabin.
“Where’re you going?” he asks with a laugh as he stands shivering in the small kitchen, his eyebrows rising above the rims of his glasses as you move hurriedly out of the room.
“To get you a towel!” you call back, already in the bedroom and digging through your bags.
When you return a moment later, however, it’s with more than a towel in hand.
Bob watches with a quizzical expression on his handsome face as you set down your shampoo and conditioner bottles next to the kitchen sink on your way to come wrap a warm towel around his shoulders.
“You want to wash off, too, honey?” he asks sweetly, looking down at you as you towel him off. “I can hold the hose up for you.”
“No,” you reply with a smile, shaking your head and meeting his blue eyes. “Not right now.”
“Then what’s that for?” he questions, gesturing towards the bottles of coconut-scented shampoo and conditioner.
“For me to wash your hair, silly,” you tease, booping his nose before dropping the towel to the floor and reaching for a chair from the rickety kitchen table. Before he can so much as open his mouth to reply, you already have it propped against the sink, the back perfectly level with the edge. Bending down, you scoop up the towel you’d been using before and drape it over the back of the chair.
Bob just stares at you in surprise, rubbing the back of his neck as the tips of his ears turn pink. “Aw, sweetheart, you don’t have to—”
“I know,” you cut him off, your eyes twinkling. “I want to. Now sit,” you command, resting your hands on his bare shoulders and gently pushing him down into the seat.
“But you don’t have to use your shampoo,” he protests as he lowers down into the chair. “Isn’t it expensive? My shampoo should be in my—”
“Robert Floyd, I love you, but that 3-in-1 shampoo you travel with is a crime against humanity,” you laugh, making a face to underscore your point. “Probably explains all these knots,” you add, lightly tugging on his sandy brown hair.
“Fair enough.” he mumbles sheepishly in response.
Giggling softly, you bend down to press a kiss to his forehead. “Just relax and enjoy, honey. Let me take care of you.”
Before you can reach to turn the faucet on, Bob snags your wrist and uses the momentum to pull you back down to him, his lips skimming yours as a smile stretches across his face.
“Okay,” he murmurs, pecking the corner of your mouth before you can straighten back up. “Thank you.”
Even after all this time, he still manages to throw you off-kilter in the very best of ways. Your cheeks feel warm and your heart is singing when you pull back and reach for the faucet a second time, managing to turn the water on this time.
It’s just as cold as the water from the hose, but your hands are warm and gentle as they tip his head backwards, thoroughly rinsing his hair and running your fingers through it once again.
“Has anyone ever told you that you have the world’s softest hair?” you query, admiring his glistening locks as they catch the light filtering in through the small window above the sink, the one you had spent about an hour scrubbing the day before.
“Hmm,” he hums softly, his eyes closed and his long fingers laced together across his chest as he loses himself in the feel of your delicate hands in his hair. “Well, you certainly have. On more than one occasion,” he teases, cracking one eye open and gazing up at you.
You grin in response, ducking your head to peck his oh-s0-kissable lips. “At least I’m consistent,” you joke in return, nudging his nose with your own before straightening and reaching for your bottle of coconut milk shampoo.
“That you are,” Bob smiles, bunching up the fabric of your sundress as he raises his hands to grab hold of your waist.
“Don’t distract me,” you giggle, shaking the bottle and squeezing a quarter-sized dollop of shampoo into your palm.
He lets out a soft groan as soon as you run both your hands through his hair, the tropical scent of coconuts filling the distinctly midwestern air. “Feels nice,” he confesses, dropping his hands back down to his chest as he stretches his long legs out in front of him and relaxes further into your touch.
“Good,” you murmur softly, a small furrow appearing between your brows as you concentrate on lathering the shampoo through his honey brown locks. You’d once told him, in a loopy state of exhaustion, that the color of his hair reminded you of Teddy Grahams. To this day, he still finds it hilarious and buys you boxes of the little teddy-shaped crackers whenever you go grocery shopping.
Bob sighs softly as you scratch your fingernails against his scalp, his slightly sunburned chest rising and falling in a steady rhythm that matches the beat of your heart. You can see, as well as feel, the tension oozing out of his body, the stress from a long several days of labor being washed away with the coconut suds. Your hands still for a moment as you simply gaze down at him, suddenly moved beyond words at the total trust and vulnerability in his posture.
You must pause for longer than you realize because suddenly those cerulean eyes are fixed on your face from behind his wire-frame glasses, a small smile crinkling the corners of his mouth.
“Getting tired?” he asks with a playful nudge, letting his fingers run over the soft cotton of your dress.
Shaking your head, you smile sheepishly, your hands getting back to work. “Just admiring the view,” you admit, feeling your skin grow warm at the way he looks at you in response.
“Me, too,” he says in a low voice, turning his head ever so slightly to press a kiss to the inside of your forearm.
You massage his scalp for a few minutes longer, then reach for the faucet once more to rinse his hair out, gently detangling all the knots as you do so. Good thing you grabbed the conditioner as well.
“Conditioner, too? I’m really getting the royal treatment,” he chuckles when he feels you rubbing it through the ends of his hair. It’s gotten a little longer while he’s been on leave. He’ll have to cut it again soon enough, but you’re enjoying it while you can.
“Only the best for you, Lieutenant,” you grin, rewarded for your comment by the adorable blush spreading across his skin.
Bob’s eyes pop open again and he watches you this time as you carefully tend to him, so focused on taking care of him and making him feel good.
“C’mere,” he whispers, the husky tone in his voice turning your knees to melted butter as he reaches up and tugs on your waist, pulling you down into a kiss while your hands still rest in his hair.
You’re not sure if it’s just something in this fresh country air, but his kiss tastes like sunshine and wildflowers.
You can feel the “I love you” mouthed against your skin, his lips closing around your bottom lip as he bites down softly.
It takes every ounce of willpower you possess to pull back, a small laugh bubbling up in your throat when you see his little pout, his mouth still searching for yours.
“Let me finish,” you murmur soothingly, washing the conditioner out of his hair.
You let the frigid water cascade over his head a few minutes longer than necessary, your fingers turning to ice as you continue to card them through his Teddy Graham hair. It's only when you see the goosebumps rising on his shoulders that you finally turn the water off, squeezing the ends of his hair in a gentle fist to release some of the excess droplets.
“All done,” you say, laughing when he sits up and begins shaking his head back and forth, looking suspiciously like his family dog. “Stop, stop!” you scold him good-naturedly, reaching for the towel on the back of the chair.
“My goodness, you are impossible,” you tease, stepping between his legs and draping the towel over his head, scrubbing his hair as he reaches up and links his hands behind your back, trapping you against him.
“And you are beautiful,” he murmurs, leaning forward once you lift the towel and pressing a kiss to the center of your chest, just above the neckline of your dress. If he can feel your heart nearly jump out of your chest, he doesn’t say anything about it.
“There, good as new,” you hum, pleased with your work as you watch the silky soft strands of his freshly washed hair glide through your fingers. “And now you smell like coconuts, too,” you add with a grin.
Bob only smiles in response as he slowly stands up, wrapping you in his arms and kissing you soundly.
He still has his arms around you as he kicks the forgotten towel away and begins walking you backwards out of the kitchen and in the direction of the small bedroom, the one with the rickety full-size bed the two of you have been sharing since your arrival.
“What’re you doing?” you laugh, your bare feet tripping along the creaky floorboards as you let him guide you.
“You took care of me,” he says softly, blue eyes twinkling as he rests his forehead against yours, his hands resting securely on your waist. “Now I’m going to take care of you.”
888 notes
·
View notes