Does enabling 'Guest Networks' cause any performance hits or issues?

[Charlie Mack]

Hey everyone,

I was thinking of enabling the 'Guest Network' on my RT-AC68P. However, I wasn't sure if this would cause a performance hit on my non-guest network. It's just in my home, so not a lot of traffic. But I was thinking of also using the guest network to put IoT items, like my Ring, SmartThings, etc. I was reading it's a good way to keep them separated from the data on my network as they aren't always the most secure things.

I tried looking for articles on this, but found nothing but how-tos.

Thanks!

 

[L&LD]

http://www.revolutionwifi.net/revolutionwifi/p/ssid-overhead-calculator.html

Yes, there is a hit. Just limit it to as few additional networks, or SSID's, as possible.

 

[Charlie Mack]

http://www.revolutionwifi.net/revolutionwifi/p/ssid-overhead-calculator.html

Yes, there is a hit. Just limit it to as few additional networks, or SSID's, as possible.

Thanks for that! Very informative!

 

[muckle_dabuckle]

But I was thinking of also using the guest network to put IoT items, like my Ring, SmartThings, etc. I was reading it's a good way to keep them separated from the data on my network as they aren't always the most secure things.

I was looking into doing the same thing with my IoT devices, but haven't found many articles explaining the pros ands cons (or if it is pointless). I was looking into Synology's newest router that has AP isolation on the guest network that would prevent clients from interacting with each other. I figured since most IoT devices I have require an app to configure I wouldn't be able to control them with my phone anymore.

Since putting IoT devices on the guest network would cause a performance hit would anyone recommend the practice?

 

[L&LD]

I would put any and all IoT devices on a guest or restricted network. Much better to take a negligible hit to performance than risk opening up my entire network.

Remember, the hit that happens depends on the number of SSID's. If you only have 1 additional SSID for the guest or restricted network, I think that is well worth the small hit to performance.

 

[TaylorH]

I currently have my AP set up where the primary SSID for the 2.4 and 5Ghz is the same SSID (let's call it "HomeWifi" for this discussion.)
Then I have two guest networks "HomeWifi2G" and HomeWifi5G" (both with full LAN privileges, not guest isolated.)
This allows clients to be set up to choose 2/5 at will, or attach a client to a dedicated 2.4 or 5.
I always wondered if this was "bad" to do, but so far I don't think I see a performance difference.
I sometimes set-up actual guest isolated guest SSIDs just for a single day if I have people over for a gathering then remove it at the end.

 

[TaylorH]

I currently have my AP set up where the primary SSID for the 2.4 and 5Ghz is the same SSID (let's call it "HomeWifi" for this discussion.)
Then I have two guest networks "HomeWifi2G" and HomeWifi5G" (both with full LAN privileges, not guest isolated.)
This allows clients to be set up to choose 2/5 at will, or attach a client to a dedicated 2.4 or 5.
I always wondered if this was "bad" to do, but so far I don't think I see a performance difference.
I sometimes set-up actual guest isolated guest SSIDs just for a single day if I have people over for a gathering then remove it at the end.

Just a follow-up to my own comment. I played around with disabling and re-enabling the guest SSID and as far as I can tell, there is no performance difference that I can detect.

 

[Klueless]

I currently have my AP set up where the primary SSID for the 2.4 and 5Ghz is the same SSID (let's call it "HomeWifi" for this discussion.)
Then I have two guest networks "HomeWifi2G" and HomeWifi5G" (both with full LAN privileges, not guest isolated.)
This allows clients to be set up to choose 2/5 at will, or attach a client to a dedicated 2.4 or 5.
I always wondered if this was "bad" to do, but so far I don't think I see a performance difference.
I sometimes set-up actual guest isolated guest SSIDs just for a single day if I have people over for a gathering then remove it at the end.

I tend to do similar only different.

• A "faster" (5 GHz) SSID for always close devices.
• A "further" (2.4GHz) SSID for always distant devices.
• An "either" (both bands) SSID for roaming devices.
• A "guest" SSID (both bands) for guests (which is isolated from my privates).

According to LL&D's chart performance hit is well within reason.