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So I did some more digging on this and in some TP-Link guidance it says:

To solve this problem, please follow the steps below:

1.Log in to your router and disable the MAC filter, wireless access control or ACL.

Note: For more information about how to disable your router’s MAC filter, wireless access control or ACL, please refer to your router’s user guide.

2.Power on your extender, and run the Quick Setup to configure your extender.

3.Connect all of your devices to the extended network, and make sure the router’s Link LED remains lit.

4.On your router, add all the Online Devices’ MAC addresses to your router’s MAC filter table.

5.Enable the router’s MAC filter, wireless access control, or ACL to complete the configuration.
 

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I was able to find MAC filtering buried in the settings but it was disabled.

I did connect to the extender and go to the setup IP address and found this for the 2.4Ghz

TP-LINK MAC ADDRESSES

Channel 2 MAC A4-2B-B0-E6-7A-...

Channel 36 MAC A4-2B-B0-E6-7A-...
 

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I did see where I can change to disable to allow the addresses added ot a list of deny access to addresses on a list. I was going to add them and set it to allow, but I didn't know all the MAC addresses of all the devices that use the network on a regular basis and was afraid with adding them all to the list I'd lock them out. 

So maybe someone can guide me in this.Can this extender work with the ATT gateway at all? and/or what settings or what can I do to get it to work? I've seen some other posts on this subject, but no replies. Hopefully TP-Link is monitoring this. ATT is a big player at least in the US, lots of people have U service and/or use their equipment. If this doesn't work it should be well known. Years ago, long before fiber optics, ATT provided a "Two Wire" gateway. It just didn't work with my Linux computer. I got a third party one, and it just worked. I didn't make any changes or do any special setup for the computer or the gateway.
 

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Was one message, but got an error message saying text contained illigal links or something like that. No links at all. Edited a few non-links that might have been issues, but other than not telling you as much, it changed nothing. Turning this into several posts makes it harder to read and follow, but I can post it. It sure would make more sense to state up front what the character limit is, list any excluded items like links and then have context sensitive error messages. You know like a message warning me ahead of time I'm approaching the maximum number of characters instead something about non- existent links that are illegal.
 
Hey, I'm here to try to get some help. I'm already frustrated and tired enough.

  @eternalether 

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For the record, I figured this out. In olden times devices came with books or booklets. They cost money and nobody wanted to read them so they replaced them with quick start guides, etc. Why they don’t still put together a full manual and publish it online is beyond me, but generally this isn’t done either.  So a little clue or procedure here or there can be found now and then.

So what I had to do is login to the router setup and get (I just took a screenshot) of the router’s IPv4 and subnet mask values. I then had to via cable login to the extender’s admin setup and set it to use the IPv4 values and subnet mask and set the lease time value of 1440.  That is per the instructions found here (I also saved that as a pdf). Having to refer back and forth to a bunch of links is not much help when you are logged to the extender or router and not the www.  Here is the link describing that: https://www.tp-link.com/us/support/faq/2965/. There terms used for the IPv4 values on the router were a little different than what the extender setup used as well. So that was a little confusing. I don’t mess with this sort of stuff very often so never really have gained much familiarity with it.

  @eternalether 

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Something screwing about the TP-Link setup is that after it runs it, it doesn’t say success or anything like that. There is a checkbox that says you are connected that you have to check before can press finish. Since at that point I was  connected directly to the extender via wire, not the www I didn’t know.  So I found this explanation of the lights useful: [sorry can't post this link it is fine but not on their list and is blocked] Just search on TP-Line RE450 what do indicator lights mean. The extenders setup page also listed the stats of the router’s connection to the internet as unknown when I did it this way. Maybe that is tied to using the automatic connection method.

If a set of full instructions was available online I could have saved a lot of time looking around for bits and pieces of useful information all scattered in with lots more bits and pieces that were of no use.