Can I connect a NAS to a Fios Router or Extender?

[VikasMG]

I had a puzzling chat conversation with a support person on Verizon’s site. I have a Verizon Fios router and a Fios Extender. I asked if a NAS connected with an Ethernet cable to the Router or the Extender will be visible on my WiFi network. He said no it would not. That doesn’t sound right - specially if the NAS is wired to the router!

Can anyone advise if this is right?

[gs0b · Accepted solution]

It will be visible to all devices connected to the LAN, whether they use WiFi or Ethernet.

[VikasMG]

Thank you.  That's what I figured.  Would this be equally valid for the router or extender?

[Cang_Household]

Short answer is yes.

A longer answer is that as long as two devices are on the same network segment, they can communicate with each other without routing. The extender is a layer 2 device and the router's WLAN and LAN are switched in layer 2 as well.

That's not the case for Guest Network. It is a separate network segment, and therefore requires a layer 3 device (a router or a layer 3 switch) to route the inter-VLAN traffic.

[gs0b]

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@VikasMG wrote:

Thank you.  That's what I figured.  Would this be equally valid for the router or extender?

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Yes, as the Verizon extender doesn't create a new network.

I'm not sure why another poster mentioned the guest network.  Short story, don't worry about it.  Longer story; the guest network is only available to WiFi devices, not Ethernet devices like your NAS.  The router prevents traffic between devices on the guest network, so even if you did manage to WiFi connect a NAS to the guest network, no other devices could see it.  So, don't expect to share any local resources on the guest WiFi network.

[VikasMG]

Thank you!

[VikasMG]

Yes I understand - I’m not using the Guest network anyway :-).