Guest Network: Why Businesses And Organizations Need One?

The preference over wireless printer connectivity brought convenience to offices and organizations, but also carries a lot of risks and possible leaks to classified information. To reduce the threat a guest network is often relied upon as a reasonable solution.

What is a guest network? This is a separate network devised in addition to the network used by an office or entity. The real intent of this is to allow visitors access to the office Internet connection without the inherent risks. It is usually also a router where guests can connect to access the local Internet network.  Guests are provided with SSID different from the one used by the office staff.

Why is a guest network necessary? Wired connectivity is a done thing and wireless is in, making the idea of interconnection a nightmare. For this reason, the guest network exists to prevent access, secure and isolate the office’ wireless connectivity. Here are other reasons why a guests network is added to aid any business or organization.

1. Maintains fool-proof security and utmost privacy – total network segregation allows sweeping control of who will be allowed access to the local network of computers, servers, storage devices, printers and similar gadgets. This is crucial because trojans and malware might already be in a guests computers or mobile devices. And ending-up becoming a launch pad to probe or attack the devices of the local network.
2. Adds a lot to convenience – security of a wireless transmission depends entirely on the adapted safety precautions. For instance keying-in a 30 character password every time one accesses the network could be a frustrating experience. Simply because keying-in physically is prone to errors. Thus, network segregation offers a better option to minimize the risks.
3. Controls total use of the network – this is intended only for guests availing of the wireless office connectivity. Instead of assigning the guests similar priority bandwidth, limiting it makes sense. Just allot a speed to guests network enough that offers reasonable access, so it will not affect the network performance enjoyed by the staff.

This alternative is applicable only to business grade WI-FI and if the company do not plan to install one, deploying a parallel network solely for guests is a better option. Remember to fully support the wireless printer connectivity and other gadgets, so productivity will not suffer.  

It is important to consider that not all WI-FI access points have the capability to support one more local (guests) network.