Routers are usually big ugly things. They're made of cheap black plastic, festooned with antennae that look like legs on some creepy spider, and fill you with the urge to tuck them away in the closet.
Since these devices are supposed to cover your house in a warm, cozy blanket of Wi-Fi signal, that ugliness is a problem. In order to spread signal far and wide, a router needs to be placed out in the open, not in an enclosed space. This dilemma has given rise to the era of the "beautiful router," smartly designed networking devices to provide your smartly designed home with powerful Wi-Fi. These devices often perform other functions too, like play music or display the time.
Google's new Nest WiFi—an updated and renamed version of its previous home networking product—looks good, or at least innocuous enough that it can live on a bookshelf or counter rather than hidden away. And, in line with the trend, Google Assistant is embedded into its mesh extension unit. The $149 satellite device, called a Point, not only extends the Wi-Fi coverage in your home but also doubles as the equivalent to a Nest Mini, with a built-in voice-activated speaker.
I tested the Nest WiFi two-pack ($269), which consists of the main Nest router and one Point extender. Google says this combo will cover 3,800 square feet and up to 200 connected devices. It certainly had no trouble covering my 1,200-square-foot home. There's also a three-pack available that adds a second Point and extends the coverage to 5,400 square feet and 300 devices.
Another option, if you don't need the Google Assistant–powered Point or if you like Alexa better, is to pick up just the router, or even two routers for $299.
The Nest WiFi system does not function as a modem, so you'll still need the broadband modem that was given to you by your internet service provider. (Most gigabit fiber connections, however, can plug straight into the router with a regular networking cable.) To get started, you plug your Nest into your broadband modem, download the Google Home app to your phone, and then connect to the Nest to get everything set up. The Google Home app had no trouble negotiating the setup with the two modems I tested, though it's worth noting that the Nest does not work in "bridge" mode, which some ISPs suggest using (Verizon FiOS, for example). You can still get the Nest to work in these cases, but there may be a bit of extra setup involved.