Guest Network .. What is its importance? And why do you use it?

Your router is your gateway to the internet, but at the same time it can also be a vulnerability that hackers can exploit to tamper with and harm your devices. If you are concerned about the security of your home Wi-Fi network, you can activate the guest network, which is one way to increase the security of your Wi-Fi network. What is a guest network? And what is its importance? And why do you need to activate it in your router? This is what the next report will answer.

 

 

What does the term "guest network" mean?

A guest network is a network that runs parallel to the main network on a router. They both originate from the same router, but the SSIDs are different. Some routers don't support guest networks, but most routers these days, even the cheap models, have some kind of guest mode.

By activating the guest network feature, your guests can have a different name and SSID, parental controls, and many other network configuration options can be applied.

How to activate the guest network in the router

If your home router has the option to activate the guest network, it will be easy to set it up and get its benefits. Routers vary by manufacturer, so the method for activating the guest network is different for each one, but there are general steps you can follow to activate it.

 

 

You can find out if this feature is available on your router by looking at the administrative control panel or in the help files, it is usually hidden in the Wi-Fi section, and if it is not present, you can upgrade the device, especially if it is very old.
Check the documentation, find the guest network option, enable it, and create the guest network manually.
If your router supports guest networks, it will determine whether or not you can use it. If your router does not have a guest network option, you might consider installing DD-WRT or some custom router firmware.
If guest networking is an option, make sure the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands are enabled as some devices can only use 2.4GHz.
If there is an option to enable local WiFi access or allow network access or anything like that, please make sure this is not enabled.

For these reasons, you must activate the guest network

There are many reasons why you should activate the guest network on your router, including:

Stay safe from hackers

Hackers want to control your private data, control your devices, and force you to pay to release your data. By activating the guest network, you can secure your router. For best results, be sure to change the default password on your router, and change (or even hide) the SSID of your home network. Next, create a guest network to circulate to the main network.
These steps help unless you are being specifically targeted by hackers, they may take the easier route and limit themselves to network guests rather than spending time searching for a potential network.

You can easily change your WiFi password for guests

In the past, when we needed to change the password of a Wi-Fi network, it was easy to do, all you have to do after changing it is to enter the new password on one or two devices at most. However, in the current period, many suffer from hesitation when needing to change the password, due to the updates generated by the password for a large number of Wi-Fi devices such as smartphones, tablets, laptops, smart screens, printers, and others.
Of course, if guests show up and you have to enter the Wi-Fi password on their phone, you'll have to change it after they leave your home unless you enable the guest network feature. The great thing about a guest network is that you can give your guests a password and then change it as often as you like while leaving the base SSID password the same. Guests can get a new password when they visit, and you can leave your main network password unchanged.

Guest network isolates your guests from your network

You may find it safe for your guests to connect to the Internet through your main home network, but you should avoid doing so. Even if you completely trust your guests, their children may be able to access and manipulate things and upload malware to your devices with unpleasant results.
Know that a guest network protects your privacy, and there is no reason for your guests to be on the same network as your file server, security cameras, or smart home equipment, or to access your stuff.

 

Guests may accidentally download malware or connect an already infected phone or laptop to the network. Many malware can spread over a local network, and if the infected device is connected to WiFi, it will try to contaminate everything in its range.

The guest network protects you from liability

If your router supports optimizing the guest network experience to apply parental controls and restrictions, it can be a great way to protect yourself from liability. Someone on your network may be able to run apps or services that receive illegal notices or attract unwanted attention.
Then the settings on the router help you disable access to peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing services, etc. Also, one of your guests may fall victim to using BitTorrent (a protocol for sharing files over the Internet between Internet users called peer-to-peer or peer-to-peer where files are shared between people without an intermediary) without their knowledge, as it can be combined with some other software they use.

You can isolate your smart devices from the main network

Smart home equipment, often referred to by the acronym IoT (Internet of Things), is a mess from a security and networking perspective.
There are a lot of unbranded smart home products on the market like smart plugs, Wi-Fi light switches, and smart cameras that can cause trouble. This device may stop receiving security updates and support and it could be more serious than that, it may already be hacked. Hackers will then be able to access other devices on your network.
For these reasons, it is best to put your smart devices on the guest network, so that they can access the Internet and do their smart work but not access the computer, for example.
Unfortunately, you may have trouble controlling or accessing one of these devices when you move it to the guest network, so either put it back on your main network or ditch it and buy another from a trusted brand.

You can enable and disable guest networking for some devices but not others

You may need to disconnect Wi-Fi from one of the devices connected to the router while keeping the rest of the devices connected, and this is where completely disconnecting the router is not really appropriate. However, with a guest network, you can easily do this without affecting your primary devices or users, so you can easily disconnect a specific device when it's time to go to sleep, for example.