This article will tell you how to configure your guest SSID with the new MyOpenRouter independent firmware for the WGR614L. Let's get started!
What is a Guest SSID?
A Guest SSID allows users to assign two SSID's for a single wireless interface. It will behave as if you have two network interfaces. Let's take a real life problem where this feature can be of great value.
Most of the offices today offer secured wireless connections. This is generally connected to the normal office LAN, where all of the other PC's are most likely connected. This LAN should be secure, restricted among the employees, and cannot be offered to visitors.
Providing a Guest SSID is a quick way out of that problem. You can provide two different networks to different sets of people, all while using a single access point. With this feature, you will be able to configure two different SSID to a single AP, with IP addresses in two different subnets. The benefit there is so that the hosts in one subnet will not be able access hosts in the other subnet.
Since you can configure two different security settings, you can also restrict the unauthenticated log to your secured network also. Here is how to configure that, using the MyOpenRouter firmware build (click to download.)
How To Configure A Guest SSID with the MyOpenRouter WGR614L Firmware Build
Step 1: Go to the Wireless page of the UI, and assign a guest SSID.
Step 2: Go to the LAN page and configure your guest network. In my case, the guest network IP was 192.168.2.1 while the secure network's IP was 192.168.1.1. The guest network had security disabled, while the default network was configured with WPA2-PSK. Here is my LAN configuration page:
With this configuration, I will have two SSIDs visible from the adjacent stations. One is "MyOpenRouterWGR614L" and the other one is "Netgear_Guest." DHCP server was enabled at both sides - meaning that both the client connected with "MyOpenRouterWGR614L" and "Netgear_Guest" will get their IP dynamically, but in a different subnet.
The former will be assigned an IP in 192.168.1 subnet while the later will be in the 192.168.2 subnet. Since the client's subnet is different, they will not be able to access each other. Thus, we can restrict the authority - the client (visitor) connected with "Netgear_Guest" will not be able to access employees connected to "MyOpenRouterWGR614L" but both of them will have the Internet connectivity that they need!
Quick Links:
Download the MyOpenRouter Independent Firmware Build for WGR614L
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