SSID is short for Service Set Identifier. Every wireless network has an SSID – we often call them Wi-Fi names. Here are some tips of naming your SSID.
Make The Name Memorable
You can probably see your neighbors have named their Wi-Fi networks so why not do the same. it is important to pick out a unique name that will not get confused with anyone else’s.
Band Steering
The most common reason to have more than one SSID on a single access point is using one SSID per frequency band. This may be pre-configured by your vendor or service provider. Typically, one SSID will contain the number 5, and the other name the number 2, pointing to the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz frequency bands respectively. For example: my_wifi_2G and my_wifi_5G
- If your router/access point has band steering, you should only have a single SSID for both bands, so that the access point can pick the best band supported for each device and the user does not need to think about it.
- If you do not have band steering, you are better off with two SSIDs, but will need to keep in mind which devices support 5 GHz Wi-Fi and which do not. Naming the SSIDs to indicate new versus old equipment rather than numbers or standards may make this easier to manage and remember.
If you do not have band steering, but still go with a single SSID, you are essentially playing Wi-Fi roulette. Every device connecting will be making its own decision on which signal is the stronger and more appealing. In most cases this will be the 2.4 GHz signal, even for devices that would have performed much better on the 5 GHz band.
Guest Policies
- Guest networks should be configured on the same equipment as the main Wi-Fi network to avoid creating interference between the two.
- If you do not have band steering, consider having two SSIDs for your guests as well.
Visible Names
For convenience, guest networks should always be visible, or you will likely end up spending an inordinate amount of time on helping your guests connect to the network.
Hiding your main network’s SSID is often recommended as a security measure. However, consider that:
- Any Wi-Fi scanner will still be able to detect your network.
- Hiding your SSID may negatively affect performance, because more requests are required to connect.
Sensible Repeaters
- If your equipment supports any sort of client steering, a single SSID is by far the easiest and the most practical way to go.
- With no support for client steering, you have two main options:
- If you pick a shared SSID, you leave it up to each device to figure out where to connect. Some devices do a very good job with this by themselves. With others, you may have to restart Wi-Fi on the device to force a new scan and pick up a change in signal strength.
- Leaving each access point with its own SSID is definitely cumbersome, but does make it easier to see where you are connected and to manually change where you connect. In this case, we strongly recommend naming access points after their locations in the home for ease of use, rather than having to remember (and explain to visitors) which goes where.
Source: https://eyenetworks.no/en/guide-to-selecting-best-ssid/
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