5 Reasons a Wi-Fi Guest Network is a Good Thing For Your Network Security

Do you frequently have guests over that need to use your Wi-Fi network to get to the Internet? Do you want them to have access to the Internet but not necessarily other things on your network such as access to shared storage, security cameras, printers, etc?

If you answered "yes" to the above questions, then a Wi-Fi Guest Network might be for you. More and more modern wireless router / access points are offering the guest network feature, but many people don’t know that it’s offered or have no idea why they might want to use it instead of just giving their guests full access to their main Wi-Fi network.
Here are 5 Reasons a Wi-Fi Guest Network is a Good Thing for Your Network’s Security:
1. The Guest Network is Isolated From the Rest of Your Network
One of the biggest features of a guest network is the ability for it to be a logically isolated segment of your network. This means that your guests can use your Internet connection but aren’t joined to the rest of your local network.
Being isolated helps to prevent guests from accessing file shares, networked printers, and other resources that might be available to those who have joined your main wireless non-guest network.
This can be an important feature in a business setting when you have outside vendors or partners that may also be competitors that you want to provide Internet access to, without giving them “the keys to the kingdom”.
2. Access Still Requires a Password That Can be Changed Easily
Once you’ve given someone the password to your Wi-Fi network, if you want to change it, you’ve got to change it at on the router and then update every device on your network with the new password. This can be a real pain in the butt, especially if you have a plethora of wireless devices that you use.

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On the other hand, with a guest network, you can change the password at will, and only your guests have to be given the updated password. Also guest’s passwords are cached differently and won’t give them permanent access like a cached standard Wi-Fi password allows.
3. Parental Controls and Access Restrictions Can Still Be Enforced on a Guest Network
If you have younger folks who are using your guest network, you can still use features such as parental controls and access restrictions.
Depending on your router manufacturer and how they implement guest networks, you may be able to establish different levels of access controls and parental controls for your guest network then the ones used on your main wireless network
4. You Can Turn Off Your Guest Network Without Turning Off Your Main Wireless Network
If your guests get a little too comfortable and start hogging all your bandwidth you can easily turn off the guest network without it affecting the rest of your non-guest network traffic.
This feature could come in handy when your kids have friends over and you don’t want any late night Internet browsing occurring but you might still need to use your network.
5. You Can Limit Guest Network Bandwidth
Depending on your router’s features and configuration, you may be able to limit the bandwidth provided to your guests so that you can keep your main network’s traffic as the priority. To see if your router has this capability, look for Quality of Service (QoS) options in your router’s administrative console (available via your web browser).