Guest Networks are a very useful feature of a router that not many people take advantage of, and here's why a guest network should work today.
What is a guest network?
While the name might lead to a bit of effort as to the exact guest network it never hurts to be clear - what a "guest network" entails can vary greatly from router to router,and at its simplest a guest network is a separate method The basic SSID for guests in your home to connect to your network, some routers simply do not support guest mode because they do not have hardware or firmware support for it, but most routers these days even cheap models have some kind of guest mode, how this guest mode works ranges from The basic option where guests get a different SSID name and address to the more advanced where you get that but you can also apply parental controls, scheduling, and other network configuration options.
Here's Why You Should Enable Your Router's Guest Network
There are a variety of reasons to take advantage of the capacity of your router's guest network, below you'll find what we believe are the most compelling reasons to run a guest network and get more out of your router, and when operating a guest network be sure to follow best practices to make sure it's secure.
1-You can easily change your network password for guests
People hate changing their Wi-Fi passwords, changing the password again was probably not a big deal when we had a few devices in our homes but changing the password now means updating a whole amount of things and if you're the one running the technology in your home It means everyone is knocking on your door to tell you their tablet can't connect to Wi-Fi anymore, the greatest thing about a guest network is that you can give your guests a password and then change it as often as you like leaving the basic SSID password as it is, and guests can Get a new password when they visit and you can leave your main network alone.
2- Guest networks isolate guests from your network
For the most part I'm sure not many of us are really concerned that the guests in our homes are elite intruders trying to infiltrate our home network, and after all if I'm willing to invite you to dinner I'm probably not suspicious of you, but from a point of view In view of security the best practice is to never give anyone (or their devices) access to things they don't need access to, and there is no reason for a guest in your home to have full access to your home network just to scroll through Instagram in your yard or use the connection via Wi-Fi on their phones, and in the end there is usually no reason for your guests to be on the same network as a file server, security cameras, smart home equipment, or access to your stuff.
3- Guest networks can protect you from liability
If your router supports fine-tuning the guest network experience to apply parental restrictions and controls it could be a great way to protect yourself from liability, what kind of liability? The kind of responsibility that comes from people on your network running apps or services that get legal notices or unwanted attention, and of using the settings on your router to disable access to peer-to-peer file-sharing services ( P2P) and so you can be sure that you don't end up getting a letter from your ISP asking why (but in fact your visiting nephew) was sharing copies of the latest Marvel movies, and again you might not think any of your guests would launch a program BitTorrent or a similar client is on your network without asking but in some cases people don't even know, and millions of people have used Popcorn Time for example without the slightest evidence that they are actually using a media player with a built-in BitTorrent client.
4- You can isolate Smart Gear devices from your home network
Smart home gear often referred to by the acronym IoT (Internet of Things) is - in many ways - a bit of a mess from a security standpoint and from a networking standpoint, there are plenty of white-branded and unbranded smart home products on the market. Like smart plugs and Wi-Fi light switches which is almost a guarantee at some point that the products will be an issue, either they will stop receiving security updates and support at best or they will be physically hacked at worst, all of which is all the more reason to put these things on a separate guest network They can access the internet and do their smart job but can't talk to a computer or a home file server for example, however this is not without additional headaches in some cases, and sometimes putting a piece of smart home equipment on an isolated LAN can lead to Throw a wrench into the functionality of the control app or even the device itself and it will have to migrate back to your primary network.
5- You can enable and disable your guest network at any time
Turning off Wi-Fi entirely is usually a start, we have a lot of devices and cutting internet access to everyone is a drastic way to approach turning off access to a group of devices or users, but with a guest network you can easily do it without affecting your primary devices or Users eg Do you want to turn off internet access on your nephews' tablets at the end of the night?
Do you just want a bunch of your smart devices to access the internet every now and then for updates? While you can accomplish these things with more complex networking tricks and tools grouping them together on a guest network makes it easy to swap out universal access, so whether you want to keep smart home products of questionable pedigree isolated or offer a secure way for your guests to surf the web, offering a guest network to do So that's a great idea.