by Having friends over is all well and good until one of the freeloaders decides that eating my food and drinking my drinks isn’t enough – they also want access to Wi-Fi. Now comes the awkward moment of verbally explaining the niche reference in your Wi-Fi username, and your equally convoluted passwords. No, it’s the number 2, not the word too. No, not “two” or “number two”. You know what, maybe just let me do it for you. It’s almost as difficult as explaining what Wi-Fi actually stands for (opens in a new tab).
The smartest among us have already dealt with this problem. It’s not uncommon to have a password written down for people to copy, but the real tech enemies use QR codes. These can be set up to automatically join a network just from the data in the code, so no manual entry needs to be completed.
Instead, having one of these poor buoys printed out hanging around the coffee table means guests can just scan and get instant Wi-Fi access. There’s no guilt in asking, or frustration in giving: just fast internet access in seconds.
That’s all well and good, but maybe hold off on painting that QR code wall in your living room just yet. Good security practices dictate that passwords should be changed regularly. For a family Wi-Fi, this may not be a concern for you, but in any case, changing the settings may render this code useless. That is precisely why Predrag Mijatovic’s Pi Pico project (opens in a new tab) (via Hackaday (opens in a new tab)), although a bit difficult, it provides a rather interesting solution.
Mijatovic uses a Raspberry Pi Pico connected to an OLED display to act as an ever-changing Wi-Fi QR code, and it does a little more than just let guests on your network. With the custom scripts, Mijatovic has coded this device to automatically set up a new encrypted guest network on Wi-Fi. This unique data is then shared to the screen via QR code, so the guest can still have the seamless login experience.
Before you get out your fixing kits, be aware that this project may not be for everyone. It is based on a MikroTik router made in Latvia, which you may not have at home. This router can be configured over Secure Shell or SSH, which is an enhanced security encryption algorithm. Other routers may allow you to do that and here is a list of the best routers for gaming, (opens in a new tab) but you’ll want to check first and you’ll probably have to mess around with the settings a bit.
You can get into the nitty-gritty by watching Mijatovic’s video embedded at the top of this article, and download the project on Github (opens in a new tab). Although even Mijatovic explains in a disclaimer that there are probably better ways to achieve this or a similar solution, it’s definitely a great place to start your mind working.
A full-fledged solution would be great for hostels and hotels, allowing guests to have their own secure Wi-Fi login with a simple scan. Similarly for coworking spaces, airports and anyone who just wants to be a little over the top on their Wi-Fi security.
