Sharing devices (such as a printer) between guest and regular WiFi

bahree
6 yrs ago
15replies
Under Consideration

Understand how the current isolation works and is great. However in some cases having guests access to certain devices (such as a network printer) would be awesome. Of course I imagine the user selects which device to expose between the two WiFi networks and this could also be on some sliding scale of time.

Cheers.

Networking features

- jalvani
- 6 yrs ago
- Reported - view
Perhaps an implementation could be creating a 1:1 NAT between the guest network an a shared device on the non-guest network? IDK. I'm spitballing.
- eero Community Manager
- Jeff_C
- 6 yrs ago
- Official response
- Reported - view
Hey bahree —

Welcome to the eero community and thanks for this feature request.

I'm happy to share it with the team. Since the guest network is completely separate from the main SSID, meaning it only has internet access, it wouldn't be possible to share devices between the two at this time.

There are some workarounds for printers, however. Have you looked at Google Cloud Print?
- bahree
- 6 yrs ago
- Reported - view
Jeff C. I have, and sure there are workaround and of course much of this is first-world problems. But having some option to have a shared set of devices between otherwise isolated network would not only be pretty sweet, but a huge differentiator in the market.

Of course fix the issue discussed at [1] first and then at some point get to this. :)

Keep up the awesome work! Thanks.

[1] - https://www.reddit.com/r/eero/comments/5xdsgt/message_to_eero_wifi_internet/?st=izuskm62&sh=e47a0d48
- bmherold
- 6 yrs ago
- Reported - view
+1!
- jfzimmerman
- 5 yrs ago
- Reported - view
Google Wi-FI implemented this feature well. It's one of the things I overlooked when switching to eero.
- mbriney
- 3 yrs ago
- Reported - view
+1 to this, even if it was only an option initially for any wired devices on the network. We have an HD Homerun box that would be great to be able to expose to our houseguests on the guest network.
- marcusrm
- 3 yrs ago
- Reported - view
I am using a Google Wifi product that already implements this feature and is very important for me. On my other network I add all of my IOT devices to the guest network and then allow those devices to access my local home-control server.

allowing us to create separate VLANs with some firewall rules could accomplish the same thing.

Either way, I'm looking into returning my eeros now to get more Google Wifi because it has the feature Eero lacks.
- covfefe
- 3 yrs ago
- Reported - view
Any update on this?

I just joined Eero and I am a bit disappointed that I cannot share any of my devices on the guest network.

At first I thought it was just my Sonos network that was acting weird, then realized my Airplay devices were not showing up either. Until I realized Eero's guest network is just not configurable.

I came across this topic as well. It seems that both could be solved by implementing sharable devices/protocols (which could be an opt-in feature).

https://community.eero.com/t/y7g40n/allow-airplay-apple-tv-chromecast-control-on-guest-networks
- jennifer
  
  3 yrs ago
  
  Reported - view
  covfefe I'm on hold with eero tech support right now. I get cut off regularly after 15 minutes but I'm hopeful I will get through. Last time I tried to add the printer to my guest network (an airbnb suite) was about two months ago and I was stymied at every turn and called support on a weekend. I got a guy who sounded like he was in Amsterdam after a long night out and he told me 'is not possible.' and that was that. I didn't really believe him and I'm thinking there must be a way ... I mean come on. RIGHT? Or else just forget the guest-specific network and password and just open them up to all your stuff. Bleh.
- covfefe
  
  3 yrs ago
  
  Reported - view
  jennifer I’m with you.
  I see the appeal of having a 100% isolated & protected guest network.
  But just give us the option! One size doesn’t fit all.
  There are plenty of people that want a different kind of secondary network. Sharing a printer is one of the classic examples among many others.
  
  I am responsible for our IT budget at work. I love the stability of the eeros I have at home but without being able to allow guests access to our Airplay devices or printers it feels like we’re back in 1999
  
  I know cMoo92 is often active on Reddit to help. Do you follow these topics as well?
- ryan.2
- 1 yr ago
- Reported - view
Still no update on this? I too wished I'd known this before switching from Google WiFi as it's an important feature for us too. Our use case is for an Airbnb where we want guests to be able use devices like a Wifi speaker or Printer w/out connecting to our main network.
- jennifer
  
  1 yr ago
  
  Reported - view
  Ryan yah, as far as I can tell. I just caved and ditched the guest network and give my guests my regular network and password. Oh well.
- ryan.2
  
  1 yr ago
  
  Reported - view
  jennifer this is a big miss imo since I generally like Eero's stance on privacy and security - esp over Google. Making customers compromise WiFi access for what should be an easier feature to implement is disappointing :(
- SETHDMA
- 1 yr ago
- Reported - view
I so agree this is a critical ad. I love my eero system; but I don't want to be giving out my main network information to Guests to access printers or basic shared items in the house. There should be some option to do this in the Guest network and share properly.
- udance4ever
- 6 mths ago
- Reported - view
+1 on this. I have a device on a guest network I wish to isolate and it would be great if I could specify the device(s) on the main network is it permitted to communicate with (file sharing) so this feature is not just for printers!