Sharing your WiFi with everyone who visits is a pleasure, but many new homeowners worry about their personal information staying secure. Once someone has wireless passwords, they can unlock access to the router to find financial details, browsing data, or private information within the settings. However, that doesn’t mean that homeowners can’t provide guest access on their network. With the right setup, any home router can turn into a haven for networking.
Tip 1: Set the Router Up in a Convenient Location
Before setting up a router in a new home, you need to consider which location will provide the most convenience for servicing and the most signal strength throughout the house. Try to find an open area near the center of your home, such as a living room or dining room, to avoid interference with electrical appliances or brick walls. Keep power or ethernet cords out of the path of direct foot traffic or out of the reach of children.
Tip 2: Configure Your Main Connections
Most routers use a software setup wizard to help you establish the primary network connections you and your immediate family will use to access the internet. There’s no reason not to use the setup wizard to create your primary connections unless you intend to fine-tune your network performance. During the setup, you fill in the SSID and passwords for each network (the default information is usually on the back of your router). When you choose a new password for the router, use a series of uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols, which are easy to remember.
In dual-band routers, there are two-channel frequencies (2.4GHz and 5GHz) which help your devices avoid interference with one another and offer a more stable connection. Choosing for your router to automatically pick the best frequency for each device is recommended and won’t affect security, but you may switch between either if your network becomes congested.
Tip 3: Create a Guest Access Network
Creating a guest access network is an easy way to prevent visitors from having access to the primary network connections your household uses. While guests can use the internet on this channel, it prevents them from viewing shared files, personal information, network data, IP addresses, and more.
To make a guest network, you must log in to the router on an internet browser. Find the IP address on the back of your router and type it into the address bar of your browser. Once you are at the login screen for your router, type in “admin” for both the username and password fields. Check your router manual for default router login credentials if those do not work. After you have logged in to the router, find a section in the settings called “Guest WiFi” to create a new guest network. From there, you may change the password at any time or toggle the network “on” or “off.”
Keep Your Network Secure for Years to Come
Following these steps ensures the guest access network runs efficiently, so your new house is ready for visitors to kick back and enjoy the internet in your new digs.
