Wireless Internet Question

[Sassy]

Is there a way that I can give someone their own user name & a password to log into our wireless internet with out them access everything (our computers, etc.) How do I do that?

I'm trying to help a neighbor out who is very good to us and unable to offer internet right now. He really just wants it for his PlayStation III. I don't mind helping them out, but very cautious and don't trust anyone. I don't want to give them total access to our wireless.

 

[Druss]

just set up a private wifi and give him the password, by private i just mean not open to the public. This has nothing to do with your home network, you would have to configure your home workgroup to include him, for him to access other computers through the wifi. if your worried about him hacking the workgroup you can configure the workgroup with password protection, but if you dont think he could hack you, and you just want to avoid him accidentally getting in, then just not including him in the workgroup should be enough.

 

[BOOMSHAKER]

Just as Druss said, my wife and I have 1 of our hair salons in our house. My house is WIFI, what I did was lock it then limit the number of people who can use it. I think the term is called "leases"? Meaning you can set a number as to how many pc's and laptops or mobile devices can access it. So say you set the number at 10. That means ten people or 10 grants can be given out to ten devices. No matter what kind of device it is. Once the ten grants(leases) are used then every one else is locked out. You either set the number higher or leave it. In my house I set it for 20. So my pc, my wife and daughters laptops are 3. All three of our smart phones can access it. So thats 6. Then we have 4 clients that come over and need access so we gave them our password in order to access our WIFI. So thats 10 now. See how fast it adds up? Which is the reason behind usually setting your lease number a little higher. You want to make sure you trust the people you are giving your password to. What ever they search for or buy on the internet will be accessed by way of your IP address. But I'm sure your neighbors are good people. And you're a good person for doing this for them. Good for you.

One of the more techy folks here can explain it a bit better if I haven't done a good job at it.

 

[Kaiser]

Two routers is an easy way to have public and private. If you are not into networking then this may be a little difficult for you as you will need to set up the routers. First, I would recommend a router that is compatible with DD-WRT firmware from dd-wrt.com. Next, the public router will be the one facing the internet. Connect the WAN port of the public router to your modem. Make sure you power off your modem and power it back on so that the MAC address of the router will initialize with the modem or you will have no connection usually have no connection. With the public router you can set time schedule for the wireless to be active if you didnt want it to be active all the time. Then you can set up QOS to limit the amount of bandwidth for the wireless side. You do not want to QOS the wired side, as that will limit your internal connection. Then connect the WAN port of the internal router to the switch side of the external, public router. This will essentially put a firewall between you and the public side, so that they cannot access your local computers. Obviously name your wireless SSID and passwords different on both routers. If you want a great router at a cheap price that is able to use DD-WRT, go to Amazon and buy a Linksys WRT54GL.

 

[Sassy]

Thanks for your replies. This helps. I'm sure I'll have more question. I know enough about computers/internet to be dangerous. LOL

 

[VanR__]

Windows home networking?
The most simple non-tech way I can think of is to rename your shares so they won't be broadcasted by Netbios. You end the share name with a $
So: \\servername\somedrive\foldershared$

You can also create folder permissions. I don't remember how to do this off the top of my head (don't work w/ MS much)

 

[Sassy]

After chatting online with a Linksys tech support rep, he said that I can't add a user or guest. All I can do is give him our keycode.

Kaser, your suggestion would be my best option but we really don't have the money to spend on another router.

If I can setup his playstation myself, then I will. I don't think it will show the keycode. I'm think most of the time you enter a password and you get ••••••• and it doesn't show the actually password. If that's the case, I'll do it.

I just wanted to thank everyone for your replies.

 

[Mike09100]

Hmmm just change the passcode after your guest leaves?

 

[Kaiser]

Then if you feel up to it, set up a MAC pool. This is under Wireless\MAC Filter. Enable that, and only enable MAC addresses listed to access the router. Once this is done you will need to add the MAC address for every machine that accesses wireless. The MAC on a Windows node can be found by opening a cmd prompt and typing ipconfig /all. Its listed as Physical Address on the wireless adapter. On PS3 its Settings\System Settings\System Information. That way you can remove his access at any time by deleting the MAC that is his and it wont disrupt your other nodes. Realisticaly though, you should consider another router for your own security. $60 isnt much to protect your personal data.