Please Help me to Configure a G3100 as an extender to another G3100

[dianeCan]

Experts!  Please Advise!

I was upgraded to 300/300  and now have a G3100 connected via ethernet to my ONT.

I have coax running through my house and an E3200 extender is connected via coax but I pay $10/month for it so I bought an inexpensive G3100 and am trying to configure it as an extender to replace the E3200.

As suggested in previous posts on this topic, I followed the G1100 Bridging Guide here:    https://forums.verizon.com/t5/G1100-Bridging-Guide/bd-p/g1100-bridging-guide 

I followed the guide to give my new G3100"extender"  a new IP address and disable IP Address Distribution.   The guide does not say to disable the Broadband  as some other posts have suggested.  It also does not say to set the Wifi SSID and PW to match the Router.

It appears to work  and I have internet access however the following are of concern:

1) G3100 Extender has solid Yellow light. Which I guess is because the G3100 broadband is disconnected.  On the E3200 the light is white.

2) The Settings/Status on both the G3100Router and G3100Extender both show Backhaul = 0 instead of "Coax" and there is no Bitrate.     Does this mean that it is not using Backhaul?  What is it using?

3) There are other anomalies showing in the Web UI such as Devices showing up in both G3100 "Devices" list and all devices showing as "Connected to: " G3100... so one can not tell if device is going through the G3100 Router or the G3100 Extender.  Also in Settings Status each shows the other as an "Extender".

4) I also notice that with the E3200  there on the G3100 Router there is a Port Forward Rule for port 35000  to go to the IP of the Extender.  What is that used for?

[Cang_Household]

G3100 is using the WAN interface for gauging whether an Internet is on or off. A yellow light is normal.

Backhaul is working as long as the MoCA LAN lights up in the back.

Devices being categorized as G3100 do not matter for network connection. They are all in the same LAN.

Automatic Port Forwarding are triggered by ACS, can't be disabled.

[dianeCan]

Thanks Cang!   Just so I understand what you are saying, please confirm.

1) In in your expert opinion the G3100 can be used as an extender without any degredation in performance? 

  2) As long as the Coax "LAN" light is lit on the back of the G3100 router and extender then a backhaul  MOCA link is active even though it doesn't show in the Web UI  System Status.   Correct?

I understand what you mean that it doesn't matter how Devices show up in the two UIs, they are on the same LAN.  Are you saying everything is working "under the hood" as far as networking, WIFI bands etc and from a performance/engineering perspective it is a fully functioning  router/extender environment?

thanks very much for your help!!! 🙂

[Cang_Household · Accepted solution]

Using two G3100 together will not have any degradation in performance. You just can't have E3200s in the mix. MoCA LAN light is all you need to be concerned with in terms of LAN connectivity. The GUI is constructed under the assumption that customers would only have one G3100 on a LAN at a time, but not the case for power users.