Orbi RBK22 - Verizon Fios Gigabit - NordVPN Issue

I need some help with a situation I've recently experienced. Sorry in advance for the long post.  First some backstory.

 

I recently upgraded to Verizon Fios Gigabit service. This required that I get a new Verizon Quantum router. Due to the cabling in my home, I also had to get a Verizon Wi-Fi Extender (connected to the Quantum router via coax). After the upgrade I kept having Wi-Fi issues which Verizon tech support was unable to fully correct. Therefore, I purchased the Orbi RBK22 Mini System at Costco (consists of 1 RBR20 router and 1 RBS20 satellite).

 

I connected the Orbi router to the Fios Wi-Fi Extender via ethernet and set up the Orbi in AP mode (as per instructions for getting Orbi to work with Fios gigbit found online). I turned off both the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wireless antennas on both the Fios Quantum router and the Fios Wi-Fi Extender. Everything was working fine for over two months.

 

In my home, I have a mix of Wi-Fi devices (connected to the Orbi) and hard-wired devices (Desktop Mac, printers, etc) connected to the Fios Wi-Fi Extender and a switch.

 

That's my setup.  Hopefully all this info is helpful. Now for the issue I ran into...

 

I run NordVPN software on most of my machines. This has worked fine for over two months with the above setup. Suddenly, last weekend, my NordVPN was unable to connect to any of their servers. When I logged out and tried to sign back in, I received a "service unreachable" error. This happened on all devices connected to Wi-Fi (Mac/Chromebook/iOS). I verified with NordVPN that the issue was not on their end. In troubleshooting the issue, I discovered that if I disconnected from the Orbi Wi-Fi network and connected to my iPhone hotspot, NordVPN worked fine.

 

I called Netgear Orbi support and the nice lady who assisted me said the issue was that my Orbi router was in AP mode and needed to be in "Router" mode. She said that the Orbi was getting the same IP as the Verizon Extender and was creating the issue. (I'm not sure why this worked for the two months it did.)  She had me change the settings to put the Orbi in Router mode. This solved my NordVPN issue immediately.  I thought all was fine. Yesterday however, I discovered that a NAS (hardwired to the Fios Extender) I have was unreachable as were all of my hardwired printers. After thinking about this for a minute, it made sense. The Fios hardwired devices and the Orbi Wi-Fi are actually on two separate networks since the Orbi is acting as router. This is a problem as I need access to my NAS and printers.

 

I decided to put the Orbi back into AP mode (back to where I started). This solved the latest issues. Printers, NAS, etc., now appear and work fine. Also, at this time the NordVPN is working fine on all devices. I can connect and disconnect without issue. I have not tried logging off the app and trying to sign back in (which gave me the "service unreachable" error).

 

I'm concerned that this Nord issue will appear again. Is there something I can do in the Orbi settings to prevent this (while keeping my entire household on the same network)? Would setting a static IP on the Orbi (instead of allowing it to get the IP from the Fios Extender) be helpful? Are there any settings that could to be changed in the Verizon router/extender to help?

 

Sorry for the long-winded question. I thought too much info rather than not enough would be helpful.

 

Thanks in advance for any help someone can give.