Most organizations deploy a robust wireless infrastructure for employees, yet hesitate or underestimate the importance of guest Wi-Fi. Treating guest Wi-Fi as a non-critical service is a mistake: poor guest connectivity can directly impact productivity, user satisfaction, and even security.
Enterprises regularly host visitors such as IT consultants, auditors, partners, and contractors who require reliable internet access to perform their work. At the same time, employees must not be tempted to use guest Wi-Fi as a way to bypass corporate security controls. A well-designed guest Wi-Fi strategy addresses both needs while preserving security, compliance, and performance.
Below are five key points to consider when deploying enterprise-grade guest Wi-Fi.
What is guest Wi-Fi?
Guest Wi-Fi is a dedicated wireless network (SSID) that provides internet access to visitors while remaining logically isolated from the corporate network. This separation prevents guest devices from accessing internal systems, applications, and sensitive data.
In enterprise environments, guest Wi-Fi typically includes additional capabilities such as captive portals, user identification, access policies, session logging, and branding. When properly implemented, guest Wi-Fi delivers a seamless experience for visitors while preserving security, compliance, and operational control.
Guest Wi-Fi also plays an important role in visitor experience. Branded login pages and controlled onboarding workflows reinforce a company’s professionalism and help meet visitor expectations for reliable connectivity.
Note: This article focuses on guest Wi-Fi for visitors inside corporate facilities. If you are evaluating different hotspot architectures, you can refer to this article on hotspot deployment topologies.
1. Legal consideration
You should go to your legal council to be aware of the legal requirements applicable in each of your country of operations. Most of the time companies offering enterprise guest Wi-Fi are subject to the same regulations than Internet providers. This usually leads the company to identify the users and records their activity logs in case the police department ask for it. In various countries, local laws may imply more constraints (phone numbers collection for example). In the meantime the collection of private data for non corporate employees is regulated. For example, the EU GDPR is enforcing how the private data should be collected and stored.
2. Registration process
Your enterprise legal department will ask you to collect users identities. This can be achieved in various ways with various end-users convenience levels:
#1 Lobby pass: The receptionist checks the ID, create an account for the visitor with a lobby portal and give the guest a login and password. This requires some extra time from the receptionist and the guest. As an option the credentials generation can be automated with the lobby software together with the badge creation however as any manual process this is not mistake-proofing.
#2 Employee pass: There is also a trend to have the guest account created directly by employees. The employee is sponsoring his guest and is responsible for checking guest identity and creating the credentials on a dedicated interface. An alternative to using a dedicated interface is to have the guest request the access from the guest Wi-Fi (email being sent to the employee) and the employee to accept the request with a link to click.
#3 Self service: The visitor uses self service registration and creates the account with an email address or phone number directly on the guest portal. If you need the information to be accurate, just send the password by email or SMS. The guest SSID being an open network, the signal has to be restricted to corporate use. Administrators can manage guest access by setting time limits for each session or generating QR codes for easy login procedures, making it simple to oversee and control who is connected and for how long.
I do think that you should implement both solutions. By default, the visitor creates his account however the solution should still allow the receptionist or IT support to do maintenance tasks: bulk account creation or removal, password reset, credentials renewal.
3. Security
You may think there is no need to filter the access to Internet for the guest Wi-Fi but let me argue the opposite:
- If you have web filtering enabled for your employees but not on the guest Wi-Fi, internal users will use guest Wi-Fi to bypass security. My advice is to apply at least the exact same security rules.
- You certainly don’t want to bump into someone watching porn in your premises.
A guest Wi-Fi network acts as a separate access point within the same router, allowing guests to connect to the internet connection without accessing personal devices or other devices on the home network. This setup enhances home network security by isolating guest's smartphones and other connected devices from the main network, preventing unauthorized access and reducing potential threats. Guest Wi-Fi networks provide security features such as strong encryption protocols (like WPA3), content filtering, and parental controls, which help prevent malware from spreading and protect sensitive data. Keeping IoT devices and smart home devices on a separate guest network prevents congestion and reduces the risk of vulnerabilities impacting the main network. Regularly updating the guest network's unique password and managing access controls are important security measures. Guest Wi-Fi networks are safer than public Wi-Fi due to controlled access and enhanced security measures. Additionally, a guest network allows you to enforce acceptable use policies through a captive portal, which can reduce legal liability in business settings.
Also, please remember that most people connecting on your guest Wi-Fi still need to work. You should consider to allow some protocols which may be forbidden on the corporate network such as email protocols and IPSEC to Internet. This is also why it is important to keep track of who is using your guest network.
When implementing web filtering, you must also filter HTTPS. This may not be trivial because only few solutions are able to filter HTTPS without explicit proxy (which by nature cannot be used with unmanaged devices).
4. Bandwidth use
Regardless of how you choose to deploy your guest SSID, you will share network resources. Being able to restrict the overall guest consumption can be critical. Therefore, implementing per user bandwidth limitation is a good way to prevent visitors from using your limited network ressources (radio bandwidth, WAN bandwidth, internet links…). Creating a separate guest network also prevents congestion and helps maintain optimal network performance. The limitation can be achieved by any device on the path between the visitor and Internet, some examples:
- Access Point - At least Cisco WLC and Meraki can implement per-user bandwidth limit directly on the access point.
- First router on the path - Usually, the router acting as the guest user’s default gateway can implement per-user shaping.
- Security solution - Most of the web security solution can also implement bandwidth quota.
Limiting the bandwidth available to guests ensures that high-usage activities do not slow down your primary network.
5. Embracing a BYOD mindset
Organizations should accept that employees will connect personal devices to the network. Ignoring BYOD usage often leads to inconsistent practices, security gaps, and increased support requests.
A controlled guest Wi-Fi framework provides a secure and compliant way to support personal devices while maintaining a clear separation from corporate access. Guest Wi-Fi should primarily serve visitors and personal devices, while employee Wi-Fi remains reserved for managed and authorized endpoints.
Adopting this approach reflects a modern, pragmatic IT strategy that balances usability, security, and operational efficiency.
Conclusion
Guest Wi-Fi access is typically reserved for visitors and personal devices, while corporate Wi-Fi remains dedicated to authorized and managed endpoints. When properly designed, guest Wi-Fi enhances productivity and visitor experience without compromising security or compliance.
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