45

Allow AirPlay / Apple TV / Chromecast control on Guest Networks.

Hello,

I have a guest room with a TV and Apple TV in it. They are both on the guest network.

With my previous wifi setup (Apple Airport Extreme), the devices on the guest wifi were able to control the TV/Apple TV / Airplay to it. 

When I switched to Eero, I lost that feature. Is it possible to bring it back? I would like my guests to be able to Airplay to the guest Apple TV. 

(Moving the guests to the main network would defeat the purpose: I want to leave the networks separate so that they are not able to control my main Apple TV)

 

Could we please add this as a feature? 

Same thing would go for Chromecast / Roku / Smart TVs / Vizio / Airplay2 ...

Thank you

26 replies

null
    • madsocfhe
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I love my eeros.
    However the lack of airplay on my guest network makes my guest apple tvs basically useless 😥

      • Emily
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      madsocfhe yes! I feel like the best feature of my $200 Apple TV went down the drain...

    • eero Community Manager
    • Jeff_C
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Thanks for reaching out and for your feedback.

    The guest network is designed to isolate guest devices from your main network, as well as guest devices from other devices on the guest network. There may be settings you can change on devices like the Apple TV and Chromecast to improve this experience for your guests.

    I'm happy to share this feedback with the team.

      • chromecast
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. I tried setting up my chromecast last night. 

      I’m not very technical. I looked at  few tutorials but wasn’t able to find the same settings on my eero. These tutorials are for other routers but I was hoping similar settings would be available on eero. 

       

      https://meraki.cisco.com/blog/2013/10/watch-apple-tv-over-secure-guest-wifi/

       

      http://community.arubanetworks.com/t5/Controllerless-Networks/Allowing-guest-s-to-connect-to-Apple-TV-s-that-are-on-the/td-p/257822

       

      Let us know if you find anything!

      • eero Community Manager
      • Jeff_C
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      chromecast++ —

      Sorry about that. You can find the steps on setting up guest mode for your Chromecast here. The article goes through the steps of enabling this feature, which is done via the Google Home app on your smartphone. 

       

      • chromecast
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jeff C. 

      I would rather avoid the “chromecast guest mode”. This basically turns on a local WiFi network on the chromecast. 

      Anyone in proximity can connect (in NYC, this would mean all my neighbors could connect to it...). 

      There is a way to add a 4-digit pin as a security. Unfortunately this means every time anyone tries to cast, he/she would have to enter a 4-digit pin. 

       

      What I’d really like is that my chromecast on my guest network would perform the same as my chromecast on my main network

    • Raphael
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I agree with what other have said. I don't think the Chromecast guest mode is not the solution (and there is no equivalent for the Apple TV).

    I think the idea is to basically to enable the Multicast traffic on the eero guest network.

     

    Is there a way to configure these settings on Eero?
    https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Wireless/Enabling-Sonos-UPnP-IGMP-traffic-across-restricted-guest-network/m-p/1554074/highlight/true#M158932

     

    Thank you!
    https://superuser.com/questions/730288/why-do-some-wifi-routers-block-multicast-packets-going-from-wired-to-wireless

    Edit: It seems that enabling multicast would solve some issues with Sonos speakers on guest networks as well. 2 birds in one stone!

      • cMoo92
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Raphael Apple TV has supported this kind of thing since 2012 when it released the 3rd gen Apple TV ( https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT200008 ) along with iOS 8. It's called "Peer-to-Peer AirPlay" and the Apple TV can be on your main network and your guests can be on your guest wifi network and still AirPlay to the Apple TV. I don't use this feature on my home eero network, but I use this on my company's network where we have an isolated guest network, but an Apple TV that is connected to the corporate network. You just need to be within Bluetooth range of the Apple TV in order for your iOS/Mac device to see and initiate the AirPlay connection. There is no additional configuration on the Apple TV or iOS device necessary--and it works beautifully.

      • Raphael
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      cMoo92 thanks for chiming in . 

      Wouldn't that create other issues? It seems that anyone within range could connect, including all my neighbors. 

      https://www.reddit.com/r/apple/comments/6aanwr/neighbor_connected_to_apple_tv/

      While the features can come close, it still seems that the setup won't be quite right without allowing multicast, don't you think?

      I can see why the peer-to-peer airplay would work well in a conference room. But in a guest bedroom with the TV turning on in the middle of the night because the neighbor tries to connect seems inconvinient

    • supersaonhddu
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I was wondering why I could never get my guest Apple TV to work. I upgraded to the lastest model last September and got the 3 Eero Pack. 

    My family in law kept complaining that they couldn’t use the Remote App or Airplay to it. 

     

    Take my upvote!

    • Facemash
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I bought the 3-eero pack to try it out and upgrade my 2011 routers. 

    I am coming from a mesh network of Apple AirPort Extremes. So comparison might be tough. I’m used for everything to work out of the box. 

     

    I am a little disappointed that in 2018 the top and most expensive router (if you believe the amazon reviews) do not support Apple TVs on the guest network. I think Raphael is right here in that the other suggested solutions are bandaids that have more cons than pros. At this point I’m almost considering returning my eeros to amazon (still under 30-day return policy) and keeping my ancient Apple mesh network. 

     

    , are there any plans to add Multicast traffic control for the guest network? I really like the app and other network monitoring tools eero has. Unfortunately my return window only has few more days and I don’t want to miss it if this is a dead end.

      • eero Community Manager
      • Jeff_C
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Hi Facemash —

      Thanks for taking the time to add to this topic.

      The guest network is designed to isolate devices from your main network. This ensures no guest devices can access your main network or any of the devices on it. At this time, there are not any plans to change this functionality.

      As posted above, many streaming devices do offer alternative settings to allow guest devices to still stream or control these. You may also want to try setting up your device with the guest network as well, so your guests can switch the network on their own.

    • cMoo92
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    There seems to be some overall confusion about how the eero guest network works as opposed to the guest network on a lot of other routers (such as the Apple Airport routers). A lot of other routers offer a "guest network" option, but all it's really doing is allowing you to have a different network name and password for that network. It doesn't isolate the network. This is why there's some confusion about why services like Chromecast and AirPlay work on those guest networks, but not eero. eero's guest network is truly a guest network and it isolates the device to only being able to access the internet--no other devices on the same network. This actually makes the guest network secure (unlike Apple Airports and other routers).

    Apple TV supports peer-to-peer AirPlay (as I mentioned in a previous post) which allows devices that are not on the same wifi network (i.e. your eero guest network and not your main network) to still AirPlay to the Apple TV. You cannot disable peer-to-peer AirPlay. So the previous mentioned statement about concern about neighbors being able to interrupt your Apple TV use is true, regardless of what network the Apple TV is on.

    As I and Jeff C. have mentioned, Chromecast and Apple TV both have functionality built in to allow devices that aren't on your main network to still stream to the video device. If this doesn't work for you, I'd suggest that it's probably not really that big of a deal for friends and family who are visiting to be on the same main wifi network as you are. I'm a professional IT geek and it's literally my job to care a lot about security, but I don't have the guest network enabled on my eero network at home. If I trust someone enough to stay in my home, I have no problem with them being on my wifi. Now in a business environment, or a rental/vacation home, etc, that's a different story. That's an excellent use case for a guest network that is isolated.

      • Raphael
      • 5 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      cMoo92 I think you’re right. 

      There is a little bit of confusion in this topic. The way I see it, people are talking about 3 different features:

      - Apple TV connected on main to work on main network (eero supports that, which is great!)

      - Apple TV connected on guest network to work on guest network (does not work: multicast is disabled)

      - Apple TV connected on main network to work on guest network (would require multicast + inter-subnet forwarding). 

       

      While I could see the benefits of #3 , I also understand that there would be security concerns. 

      From my understanding, what other competitors have done is #2 enable multicast on guest networks. This is different than guest devices talking to each other. The only devices able to communicate through multicast would be Apple TVs, Chromecasts, Roku,...  2 laptops/phones/... would NOT be able to talk to/see each other  

      It is also different than inter-subnet communication. 

      I wish I could edit the main post for people to understand that this is NOT about inter-subnet communication. It seems that the edit option goes away after a few minutes. Hopefully people will read the thread to understand that this is simply about multicast. 

    • Raphael
    • 5 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Another way to solve the problem would be to have an ON/OFF switch for a secured guest network.
    Right now we can Enable/Disable the guest network.
    The new switch would toggle between a "guest" network and a "2nd main" network, allowing devices to talk to each other but still be separated from the main network. 

    Maybe that would solve everyone's troubles? 

    • Raphael
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Any update on a toggle switch for Bonjour + Multicast on the guest network?

    This would make it very easy to give access to network apps to guest (Sonos, Savant, Apple TV, Chromecast, Wifi TV Controls, ...). It would be great if it was up to the buyer to chose what kind of Guest network to deploy.

    • SonosBeamOne
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Can we please make this happen?

     

    It’s 2019. I would love to have 2 main SSIDs instead of 1 main SSID and 1 guest SSID. 

    The guest SSID that is currently implemented is not flexible at all, and blocks all the device to device traffic. 

    I was hoping to install some Sonos speakers on my eero guest network, unfortunately it’s impossible. Only the main network allows it. 

     

    Please allow us to setup the guest SSID as a second main SSID

    • Jonathan_Cluts
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    We really need the ability to have the guest network be able to see other devices connected. I would use this for IOT things (Sonos, Airplay, etc.) and guests are used to being able to share among their devices when connected to networks.

    I would support this being an ON/OFF switch for a secured guest network as described above.

    Thanks

      • Emily
      • 4 yrs ago
      • Reported - view

      Jonathan Cluts yes! 100% support this idea.
      An ON/OFF switch to Enable/Disable device-to-device communications on the guest network would please everyone

    • Emily
    • 4 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    This could be a good alternative as well https://community.eero.com/t/k9mj1h/feature-request-support-more-than-one-non-guest-ssid

    • Emily
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    @Is there any update on this topic? 
     

    It would be great to have a whitelist of devices allowed to be accessed by guests. 
    Devices would be manually added to the whitelist.
    Typical devices a user might add:

    - a printer

    - an Apple TV

    - WiFi speakers (Sonos,...)

     

    cMoo92

    • AtticusG
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    This seems to be a frequent request, both here and in other forums.  I also have a guest network, because I am not willing to let guests have free reign on my main network.  But I also need to let guests print a designated guest printer.  And I'm not the only one with the need for similar functionality.  As I review this thread, the only substantive comments from Eero are to tell us the purpose of the guest network is to isolate guest devices on the guest network.  Well duh.  How about giving us something with real substance, like a solution for how to accomplish what your customers are clearly asking for??

    • coral_hat
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    Looks like this is a frequently requested feature that other wifi networks offer but had fallen on deaf ears with eero.

    I just replaced my old router with an eero 3 pack. I offer my tenants use of the guest network like they had with the old router. I get a complaint that they can't print or use Chromecast like they could before. I do some research and find that eero has had this limitation for years. A simple toggle to allow this feature for those who want it would be great but seeing how long this thread has been going on doesn't give me much hope that eero cares about implementing this at all.

    Good thing I'm still within my return window and the Google Nest mesh wifi is currently on sale.

    • Bzirkle
    • 3 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    I don’t like that eero has taken the option of how to manage my network out of my hands. its my home, my network, my devices and I want the ability to control how, what, and when devices can access resources and communicate. 

    the argument that eero is making it simple for people who don’t know how to configure doesn’t hold water because they could easily design the interface with toggle buttons to allow specific types of traffic. 
    That’s pretty standard functionality that is missing in these devices and its disappointing that eero has taken a different path. I wouldn’t mind an isolated network, if the device offered it as a third network and had two networks the user could manage. 
    In 2020 it should be about empowering the user not restricting the user. 

    • chrisduk112
    • 2 yrs ago
    • Reported - view

    It’s now mid/late 2021 and this feature still isn’t available :(

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