Do you use guest WiFi?

[FordSVTGuy]

Kind of a straw poll. I recently upgraded the network at my church to Unifi with APs conveniently spread around the building. Today being Easter Sunday I thought it would be a high water test for the system. I was shocked at how few people hopped onto the guest network. When you are out at a familiar spot, do you typically use the free guest WiFi?

 

[wwillson]

Only if the cellular signal is low, otherwise there really is no reason to jump onto the WiFi.

 

[redhat]

Also only if signal is low and I need to do something. I have been conditioned that most Guest WiFi doesn't work in that it is extremely bandwidth constrained where it doesn't pass any traffic, or I'm never pushed to the captive portal to accept the Guest terms. So I don't really look or try anymore.

 

[JHZR2]

If I was at church, why would I want to be on WiFi, especially on Easter?!?

Guest WiFi to me implies easy access, which means lower security. Why would I want to risk it?

If cell service is good, what’s the point?

 

[mrsilv04]

No need. I have unlimited ultra-wideband 5G data plan (Visible by Verizon) on my phone. The only places that I connect to wifi anymore is at home or at the office.... which is rare... or only as a last resort if there's some sort of an issue with Verizon.

When I managed the tech at my Church, I did not allow our network to allow any sort of guest connections. I intentionally had a very short list of people who I allowed to connect to it (e.g. myself, minister, youth minister, secretary, council members). I had a handful of people who didn't like my decision, and my standard response was if they wanted to take on the volunteer job, to just let me know. Never had any takers.

 

[daniel327]

Yes. Why not?

 

[CleanSump]

Inside some buildings like Walmart, big grocery store, hospital, yes. The buildings can be like a big Faraday Cage and hinder me. I might still have voice at 1 bar, but slooooow or no internet. Otherwise, no need to go WiFi.
Churches and theatres, I always turn phone off. That's just plain old respect for others, like take that bawling brat outside.

 

[dubber09]

Only if that's the only option, I must be briefly online and I have reasons to believe the Wi-Fi is reputable. Even cell service can be compromised and one won't know it, ever heard of Stingray?

 

[spasm3]

Only if the cellular signal is low, otherwise there really is no reason to jump onto the WiFi.

I have at campgrounds but only of internet surfing. No banking or purchasing or logging onto sites.

 

[K2K2]

As mentioned, only with poor signal.

And never for banking.

No bad reflection on you that church usage was low -- people were doing church stuff rather than scrolling--

 

[Arc]

Only when using netguard firewall and an old unregistered phone with the cameras and mic removed. But seriously the answer is no.

 

[FordSVTGuy]

Sounds like the use case for guest WiFi is more limited than I was expecting. I’m guessing these days more people have unlimited data plans so less concern about that… our building generally allows cellular service throughout so that’s a factor… well if nothing else our WiFi for staff is now much improved and guests can connect if they desire.

 

[wwillson]

Only if that's the only option, I must be briefly online and I have reasons to believe the Wi-Fi is reputable. Even cell service can be compromised and one won't know it, ever heard of Stingray?

I have at campgrounds but only of internet surfing. No banking or purchasing or logging onto sites.

And never for banking.

All networks are to be treated as compromised, only a fool believes otherwise. End-to-end TLS (newer version of SSL) encryption is your savior.

No banking app passes traffic in the clear, all are end-to-end encrypted. Websites that display the closed lock, like BITOG, are encrypted end-to-end. I have zero problem using any WiFi as long as I see the lock or I am using an app that is known to use encryption. Yes, I will use my banking app on whatever WiFi I can get.

The giant caveat everyone should know is this: If you are ever prompted to install a certificate to use a WiFi network, then turn your WiFi off and run away as fast as you can (figuratively). If you do install the certificate, it is likely an intermediate certificate and you just allowed a man-in-the-middle to decrypt all of your sessions and steal your data and credentials.

 

[Pew]

Absolutely not. I will walk outside for cell signal before I use any public wifi.

 

[wwillson]

Absolutely not. I will walk outside for cell signal before I use any public wifi.

Why not use public WiFi as long as you have end-to-end TLS?

 

[Pew]

Why not use public WiFi as long as you have end-to-end TLS?

I usually don't have the mindset to check and I almost never need wifi so overall better safe than sorry so I don't bother. If I need wifi at that point, usually it's for work and I'll find a spot with strong enough cell signal to hotspot my laptop to my phone.

 

[BobsArmory]

I only use guest wifi if I have a VPN running. At my house I have the guest network turned on to connect only IoT devices to the internet, nothing else uses the guest network.

 

[97K15004WD]

I use public wifi ONLY if I can use my VPN as well. Some public wifi connections block VPN addresses and I use my cell connection there.

Some shopping apps require wifi connections to show item locations in the store, so then I use wifi there. NO banking, etc. though.

 

[wwillson]

I use public wifi ONLY if I can use my VPN as well.

A public VPN? You trust them? I find the public VPN providers to be mostly scum. Ever wonder how many VPN providers harvest your DNS lookups and sell them in real time so you can be marketed to?

 

[97K15004WD]

A public VPN? You trust them? I find the public VPN providers to be mostly scum. Ever wonder how many VPN providers harvest your DNS lookups and sell them in real time so you can be marketed to?

No, I don't trust the public VPNs either. I just use the VPN to partially obfuscate my DNS trail and try to protect my banking stuff when I have to find out something. Keeps the local ISP from looking at my DNS routing also, since all they see is me going to my VPN provider (I do like them and I pay for the service - and so far it's been good enough for most things).

As we all know, If it's not your equipment it can be monitored, recorded and used in ways you might not like. Kinda like all these tik-toker influencers who are "upset" that their faces are now appearing in and on things they would rather not have it on.

After all these years, it's still the wild wild west out there.