How Can I Set up a Guest Wi-Fi Network for My Home or Office?
Updated: Apr 5, 2021
When you have people visit your house or your office, normally the first question is “What’s your WiFi password?” You've probably handed out your password to anyone that enters your house, or place of business but that isn't a good idea. Inviting people to log into your network could potentially give people access to important information on your devices as The best solution to allow people access to the Internet while visiting your home is to set up a guest WiFi network. If you're not sure if you need one or need to know how to set one up, read on.
There are several reasons why you should set up a guest wi-fi network for your home and office.
It Limits Strangers from Accessing Your Stuff. With a guest Wi-Fi network, your guests aren't connected to your primary network, which means they can stream, surf, check their email, and connect to the Internet without having access to your files. Also, it keeps your primary password out of prying hands.
It Improves Your Network Security. Want to protect your home and office from security threats such as guests downloading ransomware that could spread to other computers on your network? A guest Wi-Fi ensures no viruses attack your devices.
Security for Your Smart Home Devices. If you're looking for another layer of protection for your network, consider setting up your smart home devices on guest wifi. If one of your gadgets gets hacked, the rest of your network won't be affected.
You Want To Control Access To the Internet. If you have younger kids in the home, setting up a Guest Wifi allows them to so all things Internet-related without interrupting your work. Many Guest Wifi network settings allow you to set hours from the wireless network, which means you can use it to help limit your kids access to the Internet and help them have healthy technology usage.
How to set up guest Wi-Fi. Setting up a separate guest network is fairly simple if your router supports it. If you own a 3rd party router such as one from Linksys (www.linksys.com), Netgear (Netgear (www.netgear.com), Asus (www.asus.com), or TP-Link (www.tplink.com), you have the option to create a guest network. Most routers leased from your Internet Service Provider (ISP) don't have the option to set up a guest network. To be sure, you would need to contact your ISP to find out if yours has the option.
If Your Router Has the Option for setting up a guest Wifi. Once you verify you can set up guest wifi on your router, it's a matter of logging into the setup page of your router from your favorite web browser and enter your router’s IP address in the address bar. It's usually 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1. Check the manual of your router to find out for sure. When you're prompted, enter your administrator user name and password for your router. Once you're in the router settings, look for the option to enable guest access or guest network, which is usually in the Wi-Fi section.
In the router settings, find Allow guest access or Guest network. It’s usually hidden away in the Wi-Fi section. Once you find it, enable the guest wifi. You will want to make sure the Wireless network name or the Service Set IDentifier (SSID) is different from your main network so you can tell the difference between the two. Also, make sure you set a password for the network, or else your home or office will quickly become the area Wi-Fi hotspot for strangers who want access to the Internet.
If Your Router Doesn't have the Option for Guest Wifi. If you find your router doesn't allow you to set up a Guest Wifi, you could purchase another router for your home or office that is used exclusively for guests. The brand of router you purchase doesn't matter, as long as when you set it up, you create an SSID that doesn't match your main network. Setup is easy because all you have to do is plug your new router into your existing router. The only thing left is to connect the devices to the new guest network.
Other things to consider. If you find the above instructions confusing, don't worry. Setting up router settings isn't for everyone. You can give our team at Integral a call and we can come out or remotely enable guest network access on your router.
While you're messing with your router settings, you probably should upgrade the firmware or router software to ensure your network has the latest protection from the various bots and other threats that are on the Internet which can threaten your network.
Also, another method of securing your main network is the hide your Service Set IDentifier (SSID) which prevents anyone from knowing you have Wi-Fi. Hiding your SSID can be accomplished by logging into your router and turning off SSID broadcast.
In today's connected world, it's important that you do everything you can to keep your network safe from prying eyes. Hopefully, these tips will help you create a guest Wi-Fi network that will secure home and office network Internet access and protects your local devices.
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