Home Network - guest connection

[Merry]

My son-in-law has set up a guest connection on his Shaw home network which he wants me to use when visiting. His regular home connection has Security type WPA2-PSK but the Guest connection is showing as "unsecured".

Is there a way to make the Guest connection secure, or does it automatically have the same security type as the regular connection? My son-in-law thinks it's the latter, but I want to be sure before accessing any sensitive websites.

I'm hoping some of you Castanet computer savvy folks can help me find the answer to this.

Thanks

[Bsuds]

If it has a password to access then it's ok but if it doesn't then be vewwy vewwy careful.

[Merry]

Thanks Bsuds. My son-in-law said the same thing, but as he's not all that computer savvy I wanted to be sure before I did my banking on it.

It does require a password, so I guess I'll go ahead and use it.

Thanks again for setting my mind at rest.

[TylerM4]

Weird it's showing as unsecured but requires a password. The 2 are usually mutually exclusive.

Regardless - I wouldn't be super-concerned about using an unsecured wifi hotspot at a residential address. Lot less of a chance there's going to be someone aware of it and snooping in on your traffic vs a coffee shop or something. Also - most sensitive services use a HTTPS connection meaning it's encrypted traffic (even the login page) - not easy to inspect that traffic.

At the end of the day - very few people are "hacked" this way and when it does happen, it's usually targeted.

[Urban Cowboy]

Thanks Bsuds. My son-in-law said the same thing, but as he's not all that computer savvy I wanted to be sure before I did my banking on it.

It does require a password, so I guess I'll go ahead and use it.

Thanks again for setting my mind at rest.

Just be sure the browser used doesn't remember login details, and if you aren't sure of that, then simply clear its history and cache when you are done.

Assuming you are using Windows 10 and the Edge browser, how to clear history and cache is detailed here........ http://www.thewindowsclub.com/delete-br ... -data-edge

If some other browser this page covers most of them..... https://kb.iu.edu/d/ahic

[mexi cali]

That depends on what you mean by "sensitive".

In all seriousness, check the wifi accounts on his PC. It will be designated on the list and it will either say secure or have a padlock icon next to it. If it isn't secure, it should say so.

[Jlabute]

An unsecured guest network is just lazy, and is asking to have your internet borrowed by passerby's which is dangerous. Although, if you connect to an unsecured network within your WiFi range, information is unencrypted and not 'likely' to be sniffed by anyone. You would still be relatively safe using secure websites. Question is, is your son-in-law trying to capture your WiFi information or is there a suspicious and shady character in a Van 50 feet from the house, or someone with an open laptop walking back and forth in front of the house within WiFi range.

I find the password required thingie a little odd.

[Bsuds]

On a similar note I just replaced a router because my old one was dropping us off the internet frequently.

I got an ASUS AC1200 from Best Buy on sale and it worked well but every time I turned my Laptop on it would claim to be connected and Internet avail but would not load anything. Disconnect from the network and sign back on and I was fine till the next time. I took it back and got a TP-Link C1200 and it has been working fine.

It has guest capabilities so I will look at setting that up as well but it's not something I need very often.

[JagXKR]

The guest network is more or less a protection of the network from other computers. It usually will block access from the guest computer to all the computers on the network. Also helps protect the network from a computer that may be infected.

Good explanation here

https://www.lifewire.com/guest-network- ... ial-818204