How to Ban Someone from Your Wi-Fi Network:

Do you want to ban someone from your network? How to remove their devices from your network is provided here.

ESSENTIAL NOTES

Changing the Wi-Fi password on your router is the most efficient and safest way to ban someone from using your network. However, there are other approaches, such as MAC address filtering, and ways to set up your network, such as guest networks, to avoid this issue in the future.

Once someone has your Wi-Fi password, they can connect to your network on all of their devices and have unrestricted access to your Wi-Fi. Here's how to secure your network and turn them off.

Three Techniques to Remove Users from Your Wireless Network

You can kick someone who is using your Wi-Fi without authorization in three different ways. You can jump down to the section below that deals with identifying people on your Wi-Fi network if you would like to look into this more. However, suppose your goal is to simply get everyone who isn't below off now. What comes next? This is how to eject someone.Once you've dismissed everyone, read the article's final section for some simple best practices that can be put into practice right away to help you deal with similar situations in the future, should the need arise.

First choice: Modify your WiFi password

Changing the password on your router for your Wi-Fi network is the simplest and safest way to do this. All devices, including your own, will be forcibly disconnected from your Wi-Fi network as a result. All of your devices will need to have the new password entered in order for you to reconnect to the Wi-Fi network. Your new password will be required for anyone to connect.Reconnecting all of your devices can be a hassle if you own a large number of them. You're probably not going to enjoy it the second time around if you didn't enjoy using a remote control to peck the Wi-Fi password into your smart TV interfaces the first time. However, it is the only authentic, infallible approach.

Someone with your Wi-Fi password may be able to connect on a different device even if you are able to blacklist a device on your router so it cannot reconnect (a technique we will cover shortly). (In addition, there are methods for recovering saved Wi-Fi passwords on Windows PCs and other devices even if they can't remember the password.)

You must access the configuration settings of your router, which are often accessible through a web interface, change the Wi-Fi password, and log in. While you're at it, you can modify the SSID, or name, of the Wi-Fi network. Remember that the administrator password (used to log in and change configuration) is different from the Wi-Fi password (used to connect to the wireless network). In the event that you lack the administrator password for.However, before you proceed, read our tutorial on using the web interface on your router. You can also search online for your router's name and model number to obtain the official instructions and manufacturer's manual.In order to make sure your router is securely locked down, take a look at these risky things people do with their routers and these Wi-Fi router security tips while you're logged in and making changes.

Option 2: Set Up Your Router's MAC Address Filtering

Access control features on certain routers allow you to regulate which devices are permitted to connect. A MAC address is specific to every wireless device. You can blacklist (ban) devices with a specific MAC address from connecting to certain routers. A whitelist of authorized devices can be created on some routers, allowing you to bar other devices from connecting in the future.Not every router even offers this feature. Furthermore, it's not completely secure even if you can use it. It is possible for someone who knows your Wi-Fi passphrase to alter the MAC address of their device to match an authorized one, allowing them to join your Wi-Fi networkYou will need to manually enter MAC addresses when connecting new devices, or else an attacker will be able to connect at any time, even if no one else does. When people had fewer devices, that was a big enough hassle, but now that most homes have a large number of Wi-Fi devices, it's not a very enjoyable task.

To further reduce device tracking, privacy features like the iPhone's Private Wi-Fi randomize the MAC address sent to Wi-Fi access points. A device with this feature will simply reconnect with a new MAC address if you ban it using that address. We advise against implementing MAC address filtering for all of these reasons.However, this might work well if you only want to temporarily disable a device—perhaps your children's Fire tablet—and you don't mind if they figure out how to get past the MAC address block.

To find out if your WiFi router even supports something like this, you'll need to rummage through the settings. Although the location of the option varies from router to router, you can find it by looking for menu options like "Access Control," "Wireless Filtering," or "MAC Filtering" under the Wireless or Advanced settings..It's also important to keep in mind that MAC filtering isn't even an option on a lot of mesh Wi-Fi routers, which are frequently made with user-friendliness in mind with straightforward menus and settings. For example, Google Nest Wifi routers allow you to "pause" device internet access; however, this does not disconnect the device from your Wi-Fi.

Option 3: Take Their Device's Wi-Fi Network Off of It

You can erase the stored password in the improbable event that you gain access to someone else's device (and they haven't set a password or are unable to stop you). For instance, on Windows, you can instruct an iPhone to forget the network or to remove the saved Wi-Fi network profile. You can access the Wi-Fi menu on almost any device and select an unknown Wi-Fi network.This will fix your issue, provided you have access to the person's device and they haven't written down or forgotten your Wi-Fi password. They need to reenter the password in order to reconnect on that device. Of course, they could see it on any other accessible device that has the password saved on it.Erasing or "forgetting" the Wi-Fi network might be an effective solution when working with a young child's tablet or similar device, but it's not as dependable when working with older children or adults.

What About Apps That Disconnect Users from Your WiFi?

This is not the fourth option on our list because we do not recommend it. However, we've included it here so you know about it (and why it's

A mixture of safe apps and malicious software will inevitably surface if you search the internet for programs or tools to help you remove someone from your Wi-Fi. It's common to hear recommendations for programs like Netcut, JamWifi, or others that can send packets instructing other devices connected to your Wi-Fi network to disconnect. To temporarily boot a device from your Wi-Fi network, these software tools essentially carry out a Wi-Fi deauthorization attack.This is not a workable fix. Deauthorizing a device does not stop it from attempting to connect. For this reason, if you leave your computer on, some tools have the ability to send "deauth" packets incessantly.

This isn't a reliable method of keeping someone disconnected and kicking them out of your network forever. At the very least, you should reset your Wi-Fi password and consider upgrading your router to use higher security standards if you've reached the point where you're using network tools like these.

How to Find Out Who's Using Your WiFi Network

Occasionally, you can decide to remove someone from your network without conducting a Wi-Fi audit. You may have an exact reason to lock things down, such as a roommate who refuses to pay their share of the internet bill or discovering your neighbors who live an apartment over are using your Wi-Fi for personal use.However, before taking any action, you might want to look into your network to see if there are any people you don't know. Luckily, you can view the current DHCP table in your router's settings menu and see who is connected to your Wi-Fi network at any given time. Every connected device is listed there, along with its MAC address and IP address.

You can also use software tools to monitor your network over time if you'd like a more in-depth look. If you want to do some digital detective work, we go over how to accomplish both in our guide to viewing who is connected to your Wi-Fi network.We will acknowledge, though, that because of the sheer quantity of Wi-Fi enabled devices in the average modern home, this task has become somewhat more difficult over time. Saying "Well, that's my laptop, that's the Wi-Fi bridge for my Xbox, and that about wraps it up" would have been simple in 2005. The typical home network just didn't have much of anything.

The typical home today has dozens of gadgets, not just the obvious ones like a laptop or tablet. It includes smart plugs, thermostats, and everything in between. Working through the DHCP table one by one to determine which device is which can be a pain, unless you've already cataloged every single Wi-Fi device on your network. Once you've secured everything down, you might want to just focus on following the instructions below and worry about identifying every network device afterwards.

How to Avoid Future Security Issues with Wi-Fi

The most important lesson to be learned from the first part of this article, which concentrated on the actual procedures for removing someone from your Wi-Fi network, is that changing the password is the only reliable way to guarantee that your network is safe when someone else has access to it.That is a major inconvenience that you should avoid doing frequently (unless you find it calming to enter your login information again on numerous devices, we suppose). In order to help you steer clear of this circumstance in the future, let's examine some best practices for Wi-Fi routers.

Utilize the Guest Network on Your Router

By creating a guest Wi-Fi network on your router, you can greatly simplify the process of granting a guest access to your Wi-Fi network. With its own SSID and password, the guest network is a distinct Wi-Fi network. You may, for instance, have two networks: "HomeBase" and "HomeBase_Guest." One of the strongest arguments in favor of turning on the guest network is the fact that you will never allow your visitors access to your primary network.

This feature is provided by many routers; in their settings, they may refer to it as a "guest network" or "guest access". You can set a completely different password for your guest network. You can simply change the guest network password in the event that you need to, saving you from having to reset your primary network password and turning off your own devices. Furthermore, you are able to turn the guest network on and off as needed.Guest networks can frequently be "isolated" from your primary network by utilizing the Access Point Isolation feature.If you set "isolation" or "allow guests access to local network resources," or whatever the option is called, your guests' devices won't be able to access file shares on your computers or other network-connected resources. When setting up a guest network on Wi-Fi, one of the settings you should check is network isolation.

Guest networks have the advantage of being widely available on modern Wi-Fi routers; in fact, they are usually present even on routers without access control or MAC filtering.

Configure a Backup Network for Intelligent Home Appliances

You can go one step further in simplifying life for your future self if your router supports more than just the primary Wi-Fi network and a guest network.

Create a third network for your smart devices in addition to changing the password on your primary Wi-Fi network to exclude unauthorized users and creating a guest network for upcoming visits.Using the same naming convention as before, we can name this third network "HomeBase_IoT" to indicate that it is for your Internet of Things (IoT) devices, which are any gadget that isn't a computer, phone, tablet, or portable device that you use outside of your home

You'll have a primary network for your phone, laptop, and portable devices if you configure your network in this manner. After that, a guest network for actual house guests will exist. And everything else will be connected to the Internet of Things Wi-Fi network you set up, including your smart thermostat, smart plugs, smart TV, and so forth.If you use the guest network with guests exclusively, you probably won't need to reset the password for your primary Wi-Fi network. However, just in case you do need to reset it for any reason (perhaps your child gave it out instead of using the guest network), you won't have to spend a half day going through your house and plugging passwords into every device.

Update the Firmware and Hardware on Your Router Continually

Changing the password on your Wi-Fi to disconnect your unsatisfactory roommate is primarily a social issue rather than a hardware or software issue.However, you have more serious problems on your hands if you discover individuals who aren't family members or visitors with whom you have previously shared your password freeloading on your network. Your router probably uses outdated Wi-Fi security protocols like WPA and is older. You want a router that is immune to popular exploits, can run the greatest Wi-Fi security protocols, such as WPA3, and receives regular firmware updates.Hopefully, all it takes to fix your issue is to simply change the password on your Wi-Fi network. However, there are several indicators that your Wi-Fi router needs to be upgraded if it is older, such as missing updates and out-of-date security measures. There's never been a better moment to replace your Wi-Fi router—especially if it's been five years or more.