Can you have 2 passwords (kids and parents) on home internet?

[arkydog]

my grandkids stopped by to say hello yesterday with parents, all masked and social distance. grandkids stayed in car on guest internet playing games for a while. worked perfect!!!

 

[cqaigy2]

Nice!

We visited our kids the other day. All masked up, and social distanced as well. Glad you got it worked out.:thumbsup:

 

[Grumpycat]

Rob,

Some of the wifi routers have a guest network. This way, you can use the normal home network and the kids can use the guest network. Both can have passwords setup. Now, a Linksys router and others can also allow access by hours per day M - Sun.

The point of the guest network is that it will deny connections to other internal machines. Probably will not be able to print from the guest network. No access to file sharing. Plus being the guest network one can change the password when the guests leave without having to mess with your own devices.

I've found that the 5G wifi setting with the kids streaming anything slowed the overall network down way too much. So, I've stepped it back to the normal 2.4G and no more issues. 5G worked good if you were close to the router, walk a few rooms away and it was very spotty and would keep dropping out.

5G? 5 GHz? Different things.

There are dual band routers which are not capable of operating both bands simultaneously. If one is transmitting then the other is not. Long ago after futzing with name brand commodity WiFi routers, Linksys/Cisco was the last, I bit the bullet and purchased a 2013 Apple Airport Extreme. Unbelievable how much better. Years later I bought a 2nd, used. When it appeared in the Airport Utility it asked, "add this one?" Yes. Done. The 2nd automagically extended the range and coverage of my network. I don't configure 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz separately. Both are enabled under the same name. Devices pick whichever seems best, I really don't know which they are using.

Sadly the 2013 Apple Airport Extreme was the last for Apple. They still bring $50 to $75 on Craigslist. Highly recommended.

 

[kcflhrc]

Get a WiFi 6 Mesh system and be done with it. Great for larger homes. Google Mesh or Netgear Orbi. I have never seen a Dual Band Router that didn't allow simultaneous use of both Bands. But WiFi 6 takes the guess work out of it and allows faster WiFi speeds. Still no substitute for a wired connection though.

 

[Grumpycat]

I have never seen a Dual Band Router that didn't allow simultaneous use of both Bands.

Must read documentation carefully to verify capability. Most early dual band WiFi routers could not operate both bands simultaneously. They switched in milliseconds. Some could not listen on one while transmitting the other with both bands enabled. Could not transmit both band simultaneously, but could receive.