Consumer Routers Most everyone should be familiar with the standard consumer-grade wireless router. Many Internet Service Providers lease modems that have a built-in wireless router, which most consumers are likely to use because it is convenient. Other users choose to purchase their own wireless routers to have a better quality wireless router and/or to have more control over their home network.
Ideally the router should be placed in a central location in the home.
When I initially created VLANs on my UniFi wireless access points, I was still new to VLANs in general, and I was not quite sure how to configure my network switch. I was wanting to join my wired and wireless devices together on several different VLANs for various purposes (IoT network, guest network, security camera network, etc.).
Setting up VLANs on a TP-Link switch is not too difficult once you understand how VLANs work.
It is not uncommon for many home networks to utilize an all-in-one network device provided by the users’ Internet Service Provider (ISP). For ease of setup and use, ISPs typically include/lease this equipment by default when users order Internet service. These all-in-one devices are essentially a combination of a modem, router, switch, firewall, and wireless access point. They can also include VOIP (Voice Over IP), home security, and cable TV services.
One great feature of enterprise ready wireless access points is VLAN support. This feature allows greater control over the flow of data on your wireless network as with wired networks. Quality of service controls may be applied, the broadcast domain of the wireless network may be reduced, and traffic on the network may be isolated. VLAN support on your wireless access point also allows you to extend your wired VLAN networks to your wireless VLAN networks.
For my guest wireless network, I like the idea of all of the network devices on the guest network to be isolated from one another. Since the guest network should be used for visitors and other untrusted devices, it makes sense to restrict communication between the devices to improve security.
Even though captive portals are a pretty cool feature that can provide a “wow” factor for guests that log onto your guest network, I have read where the captive portal on UniFi wireless access points can reduce the throughput of the guest network.
