Let’s say that you have 2 laptops, 4 smartphones, and a tablet in your home, any of which could be connected to your Wi-Fi network at any given time. Let’s say you also have several smart home devices connected to Wi-Fi and a portable USB hard drive plugged into your Wi-Fi router to share files with other family members. Whenever a guest logs into your primary Wi-Fi network, they will also have access to everyone of these devices.
While it’s unlikely any of your friends would intentionally sabotage your network, there’s a chance that the device they are using to connect to your network is infected with some malware. If so, there’s a possibility that this malware could be spread to other devices connected to your network.
Fortunately, there’s a simple way to address this particular threat. Most Wi-Fi routers give you the ability to create what’s called a “guest WiFi” network. Unlike your regular Wi-Fi network that you and your family members use, the guest Wi-Fi network restricts what your guests can do on your network. Specifically, it gives visitors access to your Internet connection and nothing else. They can’t see any of your devices on the network, and they don’t have the ability to access them. Most importantly, they can’t accidentally introduce malware or compromise your devices or data in any other way.
Here’s how a guest WiFi network works. Anyone looking to connect to your WiFi will see your primary WiFi network name as well as your guest network name. For example, if your primary network is called “MyWiFi,” your guest network might be called “MyWiFi-guest”. Each of these networks has a separate strong password one you share with guests and the other that you only share with family members. When a guest asks you for your WiFi password, you simply give them the guest WiFi password and ask them to connect to “MyWiFi-guest”. Once they’re connected, they can use the Internet, and you don’t have to worry about any security threats.
To set up your guest WiFi network, you need to access the web interface for your WiFi router. You log into the network and follow the instructions provided by your router manufacturer to create and set up the guest WiFi network. If you have a GigaSpire provided by WAVE, you need to log in to the GigaSpire web interface or use the WAVE Connect App to set up your guest WiFi network.
This involves 4 steps
Turn on the guest WiFi network for the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands.
Provide a name for the guest WiFi network (also known as the SSID).
Set a strong password that’s also easy to remember for your guests.
To set up your guest WiFi network, you need to access the web interface for your WiFi router. You log into the network and follow the instructions provided by your router manufacturer to create and set up the guest WiFi network. If you have a