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Nest Thermostat no longer seeing Airport Extreme

I tried calling but my extreme is outside the window for technical support. For a little over ten days now my next thermostat no longer sees my network. I have reset and restarted my nest. I have unplugged and changed my SSID and password. I have unhidden my network even. They worked fine for over a year, now the nest sees the networks around me but not mine. I type in the new SSID and password and it still says failed to connect. I turned my phone into a hotspot and the nest sees it and connects fine. My phone, Apple TV, and computer all connect fine to the airport. Was on phone with nest for thirty minutes. They told me to contact Apple first. I'm lost on what to do or try.

Posted on Mar 2, 2018 5:58 AM

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9 replies

Mar 2, 2018 8:46 AM in response to TMascara

Just in case you weren't sure, you are not talking directly to Apple here. We are fellow Apple-product users just like yourself.


I suggest the following two things to try to see if your Nest will connect to your AirPort Extreme:

  1. Use a wireless network name that is 16-alphanumeric characters or less and does not include spaces or special characters. For example, try using: AirPortNetwork
  2. Temporarily disable any wireless security on this network.


Try connecting the Nest now. Please post back your results.

Mar 2, 2018 11:05 AM in response to TMascara

If your Extreme's wireless network is not "hidden" and it is not enabled for MAC-filtering, then there must be some other incompatibility between these two device that I am not aware of ... Especially since other wireless clients are not having any issues connecting.


The only other thing that comes to mind is where is the Nest thermostat located in respect to the Extreme ... same room, different room, different floor? If the latter two, the Extreme's signal quality may be suspect to provide a clean signal for the Nest to connect to.

Mar 2, 2018 12:02 PM in response to TMascara

Did you upgrade the firmware of the Airport?


What model is it?


If you are running no security just for a test.. as per Tesserax's suggestion, then I recommend you set the 2.4ghz to a fixed channel.. that can also help on occasion.


If you did upgrade the firmware.. I would seriously look at downgrading again.. the firmware update fixed the KRACK vulnerability but it is only when you have airports extending that it comes into play.. otherwise it is clients that have the trouble.. and people do experience range issues on the new firmware.


Do not use hidden network. It is useless as a security measure and is not part of the IEEE standard. Many clients have issues and it does nothing to prevent hackers.

Mar 2, 2018 12:16 PM in response to LaPastenague

Not sure what you mean by model, but the firmware is the newest 7.7.9


I do not know how to downgrade the software. But I can google instructions to roll back to what looks like 7.7.8?


I also do not have a dedicated 2.4 channel, it is set to automatic. Is there a specific channel I should think about setting it to? I admit I do not know what that does versus automatic.


I will try those steps and report back. Assuming I find how to downgrade quickly.

Mar 2, 2018 3:49 PM in response to TMascara

Factory reset the Airport.


The firmware version tells me it it the latest model.


If you are using long name with spaces.. change it to very short name.. <6 characters.. eg aewifi


Set wireless channel to 9.. it is a good channel as it is in-between main overlapping ones.


No luck then I really have to say.. you are not alone.. NEST stuff has known issues with Airports.. and lots of posts around here.


Get a cheap standard PC type wireless router.. eg TP-Link stuff is usually ok.. set it up as WAP and plug it into the apple router.. it will work fine usually with PC compatible wifi. Apple are making their stuff a little bit too unique.

Nest Thermostat no longer seeing Airport Extreme

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