Your holiday guests are arriving and they will ask for WiFi access
Many of us will receive visitors to stay over the holiday season. What our guests want besides the great food is access to the WiFi. We need a plan to ensure that no one complains about the WiFi.
The first step is to ensure that we have good WiFi coverage around the home. There will be dead spots without a signal, there will be spots where the signal is low and so Internet access is very slow.
A great way to check the WiFi signal strength is to install a phone app. WiFi Analyzer is a great app that can measure WiFi on both bands, 2.4 GHz and 5.8GHz.
What can we do in the case of dead spots?
The only solution is to add wireless points, however there is no Ethernet in other parts of the house to plug in a wireless access point. The answer is to upgrade the WiFi to a mesh network. This extends the range of the WiFi by connecting several wireless access points using wireless.
Give your guests access to the Internet WiFi but keep it secure
“What is the WiFi password” is a question that you will hear many times. It is not a good idea to remove the password as the neighborhood will have free Internet, which will slow the Internet even more for your guests.
A good idea is to temporarily change the WiFi password from the alphanumeric string of characters to the name of your dog or cat, or some easy to remember name.
The WiFi password is changed by connecting to the WiFI router. Look for the wireless router model number then Google the manual and follow the instructions. This will require you to open a browser then open a tab using a specific IP address.
Finally use the default username and password in the manual to open the router configuration page. Make a note of the current WiFi password before changing to a simple name. While you are logged in it is a good idea to change the login password to a more secure one and note it on a Post-it then stick on the underside of the router. Remember to change the WiFi password back to the previous jumble of letters and numbers after your guests leave as your dogs name is easy to hack.