SBG8300 is a gateway, which is the combination of modem and router so when you connect separate router or mesh unit with the gateway that will cause interference and also that will give other issues like intermittent connection, slow speed etc. So to avoid this from happening you need to enable bridge mode on the modem GUI that will secure the network. 

Thanks for the reply. If I enable bridge mode the SBG8300 - Can I assume it is ok that the internet co-ax cable input is still going into the SBG8300? The Google nest does not have a co-ax input.

After enable the bridge mode on SBG8300, I request you to connect the modem to google nest through ethernet cable.

OK - I think that is what I already have as mentioned above:

“My SBG8300 is in my basement, it has a hard wire cable that goes from here to the Google nest router on the 1st floor”
 

That cable is the Ethernet cable. 

Hi. Per another thread:

I just enabled bridge mode on my sbg8300. But after it rebooted I no longer have Internet access at all.

My Google nest network is connected to the 8300 but it no longer has internet so I can't connect.

After giving up I wanted to disable bridge mode but I can no longer get back into the 8300 using the IP address. I connected a cable directly between a known working laptop and the back of the 8300. The laptop says unknown network no Internet. And again typing the IP address does not load.

Now what do I do?

After enabling the bridge mode on SBG8300, if you are experiencing the intermittent internet connection, I would suggest checking the cable signals to make sure they are all in range.

http://arris.force.com/consumers/articles/General_FAQs/SBG8300-Cable-Signal-Levels

See this thread for what happened when I enabled Bridge mode last Friday

Nothing intermittent about this - I had zero WiFi ability from Google Nest. 

To Recap:

• My current setup is the internet co-ax cable comes into the SBG8300.
• I have a cable going from the 8300 to the Google nest router
• Not in bridge mode: The Google WiFi works mostly well about 90% of the time, but the access points intermittently go offline. But - clearly, with the nest network wifi working most of the time, I clearly have the cable connected to the right ports. :) 
• I enabled bridge mode last Friday. See above panic thread for disastrous results. But to sum it up,
  • with bridge mode ON: No wifi from Google nest. No wifi from the 8300 (expected?).
  • A direct cable from a laptop to the 8300 also had no wifi, and no ability to connect to the 8300 through the IP: address.
  • I rebooted the 8300 again, and now the directly connected laptop was able to load the SURFboard Web Manager
  • But still the Google nest had no wifi. And - a second directly connected laptop to the 8300 had no wifi. 
• I disabled bridge mode given that I had no wifi ability and I had to go to work. 

So - what went wrong?  Why would the nest have no wifi after bridge mode enabled? I’d like to try again if I can determine what went wrong and make corrections. At the moment, I’m back to where I was with the Google nest dropping offline intermittently. 

I’d also like to circle back to my original post with the second question:  Is there a list of recommended access point systems I could consider in case I need to buy a new network? If I can’t get the Google nest network to work, I’m willing to buy a new network to extend my wifi around the house. Whatever works. 

@Gamul1 It seems like you’re having intermittent connection issue on your Google Nest access point.  The SBG8300 and Google Nest do not interoperate with each other. They are managed separately.  Because your Google Nest is a router, setting up bridged mode on the SBG8300 make sense because it would turn off the Wi-Fi router function of the SBG8300 and will only acts as a cable modem.  Bridge mode eliminates Wi-Fi interference with the Google Nest and eliminate double-NAT (which means the Google Nest network is inside the SBG8300’s network).  Setting bridge mode on the SBG8300 turns off the Wi-Fi and router on the SBG8300 and not on Google Nest.  

 

Thanks Netopia. I *think* I get that, although there may be some nuance to it still eluding me. 

My problem now is after I enabled Bridge mode, the Google nest had no wifi. To be more specific, I could connect, but it had no internet. Why is that?

As mentioned above, the Google nest itself does not have a Co-Ax input that the internet cable can go into. I do have the Ethernet cable going from the 8300 to the Google nest router. So why is Google nest not getting an internet connection when the 8300 is in bridge mode?

Note that I *ONLY* have Internet - I do not have cable TV. I am/was using the 8300 as my Internet router and Wifi, and then the Google nest was intended to extend the wifi further around the house. 

Your cable connections are fine.  The coaxial cable should connect to the SBG8300 for Internet service and the Ethernet cable should connect the Google Nest to the SBG8300.  The modem part of the SBG8300 is converting analog signal from the ISP to digital signal the networking devices.

No Wi-Fi is not the same have no Internet over the Wi-Fi connection but I have some suspicion as to why the Google Nest lost Internet.

After you set the SBG8300 in bridge mode, you should only have one Ethernet connection.  If you have multiple Ethernet connections, the first device to get an IP address from ISP will get Internet.   The SBG8300 router is off when it’s in bridge mode and will no longer hand out private IP addresses.   

Next, reboot your Google Nest to get an IP from the Internet provider.  If you don’t reboot the Google Nest, it will have a private IP address assigned by SBG8300 router until the Google Nest tries to renew the IP address again.

An alternative is to keep SBG8300 as your router and bridge the Google Nest router so that the router is turned off and only function as Wi-Fi access points (if this is possible).

Thanks! I’ll try that this weekend. I don’t want to try it on a weekday as we have to work. Last time I did it and had no internet I panicked when nothing was working. Less pressure on the weekend. 

Interesting about if the Google nest can have its router turned off. I’ll look at that too because I truly do not need a router there. I just needed the three units to act as access points, which the main one does in addition to it also being a router. 

I’m always amazed in these situations how dependent I/we have become on the internet. Everything stops without it. 

OK - I disconnected everything except the Google nest from the 8300 and enabled Bridge mode. I would note that at first, I was able to connect to the Google nest, but no internet. I had to reboot the 8300 again after it had restarted from the bridge mode setting, and then I could get internet from Google. 

On the one hand, I want to see if the Google nest access points stay online reliably, and that might take some days to be sure. 

Assuming it does, now that Google is connected with wifi - is it possible to connect anything to the back of the 8300 and get internet, or will that take Google back offline? I ask because I have office equipment that was connected to the 8300 directly through an Ethernet cable and I do not have a nest access point where this equipment is located. What are my options for getting more wifi down to where this equipment is without buying a new access point. Not even sure if I can buy another access point of the same model as the other ones I have. 

Since the SBG8300 is functioning as a cable modem, you can only have one device connected to it (Google Nest).  You’ll need to connect everything to the Google Nest router and access points.