How Can I Set Up a Secure Guest Network for My Home WiFi?
Users owning a Netgear Nighthawk router don’t need to panic about their home network security even after giving internet access to their guests. All thanks to the built-in Guest Network feature that facilitates users to share the router’s internet access to others without the need of revealing the WiFi password of the main network. All in all, you can call the guest network as a WiFi utility that will be a branch of your Netgear router network but will be more useful for the guests. But, is this the only benefit of setting up a guest network on the router? Let’s find out.
If we go into terms, then the term “Guest Network” comprises of two words that we do not feel the need to explain. The name is enough. One of the main benefits that you will get after setting up a secure one on your router via the routerlogin details is the home network security. Let us understand the same with the help of an example that we’ve given below.
Advantages of Secure Guest Network on Home WiFi
If we go into terms, then the term “Guest Network” comprises of two words that we do not feel the need to explain. The name is enough. One of the main benefits that you will get after setting up a secure one on your router via the routerlogin details is the home network security. Let us understand the same with the help of an example that we’ve given below.
Imagine a scenario where a visitor to your house connects to a separate network created for guests (Netgear guest network). He was having a good day and then he came across a website consisting of a malicious link. According to networking science, if he click/tap the link, the entire home network plus the devices on the guest network is likely to get affected. But, it won’t happen. Why? As we said earlier; all thanks to the Netgear Guest Access! This is how a secure guest network created on a Netgear router prevents the main network.
When security was the first benefit of setting up a guest network, the optimized internet performance remained secondary. However, it remains overlooked in the most cases. But, we will make you aware of the whole nine yards of the same. Know that when the network traffic get diverted to the guest network, there will be a great decrease in that on the main network. Hence, you will get improved performance on connected devices. You can also choose to go with a guest network on your router if you have too many IoT devices. Accidentally, if one of them gets tainted with a virus won’t let other devices meet the same fate.
Netgear Router Guest Network Setup: Via App & 192.168.1.1
| Set Up Secure Guest Network on Router |
|---|
| 192.168.1.1 |
| Launch a web browser from computer connected to the WiFi network of the Netgear router. |
| Enter 192.168.1.1 into the address bar of the web browser. |
| Input the router user name and passphrase. |
| Click Log In and wait for the BASIC Home page to show up. |
| Select the Guest Network option. |
| Scroll to find the frequency band for which you want to set up the Guest network. |
| Check the Enable SSID broadcast on the Netgear Guest Network Settings page. |
| Enter the name for your guest network (SSID). |
| Choose the security option. |
| Click Apply. |
Things to Remember: Netgear Router Guest Network
Although you will be able to set up a separate guest network of your router using the Nighthawk mobile app or the routerlogin IP address, there are a few points that you should know about a guest network setup. Here they are:
- The Guest WiFi Network Name is case-sensitive and it supports a maximum of 32 characters.
- WPA2 is the default security setting for a Netgear router guest network.
- You can create separate guest networks for the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands.
- As soon as active time duration of the Guest Network expires, it won’t be available on any of the WiFi-enabled devices.
So, have to set up a secure Guest Network on your home WiFi? You need to know that it hardly matters that you have setup Netgear router or have a WiFi router from another brand, setting up a guest network will only give you benefits.
Most Common Questions Regarding Guest Network
1. Should I enable guest network on my WiFi router?
Yes, setting up a guest WiFi network is like adding a layer of security on the home network. After all, securing the home network is the need of hour in the world full of hackers.
2. What devices should be connected to guest network?
You can connect all the WiFi-enabled devices like computers, laptops, mobile phones, tablets, etc. to the guest WiFi network of the Netgear router.
3. Does guest network slow down main WiFi network?
There have been no complaints regarding the same. As far as the network performance is concerned, it is totally up to the network consumption.