Has this ever happened to you? You’ve secured your home Wi-Fi with WPA encryption and a strong password, and then an army of your kids’ friends show up with an arsenal of mobile devices and demand your Wi-Fi password to get online. What are you to do? Hand over the keys to the same network that protects your family computers and personal data? Luckily you have a safer option.
Most modern Wi-Fi routers come with a feature called “Guest Wi-Fi”. This function allows your guests to get on the Internet but restricts their access to the other devices on your home network. To activate it, simply log into your router’s administration panel, enable the Guest Wi-Fi, and give it a name and a password you can share with your guests.
If you are using the Wi-Fi router provided by your internet provider, it most likely does not have the Guest Wi-Fi feature. However, you can easily add your own Wi-Fi router to your network. Simply connect your Wi-Fi router to one of the data ports of the modem provided by your cable company, and then set the cable company’s modem to the Bridge mode, so your new Wi-Fi router can handle assigning IP addresses to the devices on your network. As an added benefit, you will likely get a much better wireless router with stronger signal than the Wi-Fi built into the cable company’s modem.
