This topic

How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

Gamer98 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:03:11 GMT

Is there a way to stop my wifi appearing to neighbours? Can I hide it so only those insidevmy house are able to see it?

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

gg30340 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:11:31 GMT

You can hide/obscure your wifi network name (SSiD) that is broadcast by the router but it is easily found if somebody want to find it.

You can not hide the wifi signal to only be within the bounds of your property as its range can be up to about 50 meters indoors and about a hundred meters out doors.

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

licquorice — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:16:59 GMT

Why does it matter if your neighbours see your WiFi? They can't connect to it without the password.

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

WSH — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:20:38 GMT

If it is protected by a decent password, it doesn’t matter if your neighbours can see it, as they can’t connect to it.

For the old WPA2 “decent” is 20 random characters. WPA3 is more secure but I’d still stick with 20 characters.

If you are experiencing interference problems, try a different channel. 1, 6 or 11 on 2.4GHz. 36, 40, 44 or 48 on 5GHz. Ignore the other channels. Without going into detail, they cause more problems than they fix.

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

gg30340 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:22:37 GMT

@licquoricewrote:
Why does it matter if your neighbours see your WiFi? They can't connect to it without the password.

Plus how do they know that the network is yours unless your network is the only other one within range of their property.

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

Kodikid — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 13:23:13 GMT

Why??

No one can access it without a password

Can be interpreted a plus as BT/EE is considered a premium provider

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

shakey1981 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:01:03 GMT

aslong as they dont know the password you should be ok an ezample video of connect to wifi

they can spend all day trying to connect they cant if they dont know the password for eample i can see the routers in my street but i cant connect as dont know the PASSWORD

if they do just change it here

anybody trying to connect will get simliar to this

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

Gamer98 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:27:23 GMT

Thanks for replies.

A couple of my neighbours are having issues with their broadband. We are close so they have asked if they can connect to my broadband in meantime.

I want to be polite so rather than say no, I want to prevent my wifi being seen.

Any other ideas?

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

imjolly — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:44:35 GMT

just tell your neighbours you do not have a guest network with your router and cannot give access to your private home network for security reasons

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

Gamer98 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:51:54 GMT

I think they may be offended so trying to be subtle

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

shakey1981 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 15:00:02 GMT

1 change the wifi name to something else and if they no it show them the name before you changed it this new wifi isnt mine if they alrady know its yours

dont show them the password

2. play dumb tell them that your isp set your router up and you dont know the password

3 tell them that you dicussed this with bt and they told you cant share wifi beyond your own homebt have told you they can see if your not in the location if you do this they are wth in rights to terminate your contract

4 just tell that they cant wifi security exist for a reason

if your stupid enough to give them access will they keep freeloading gwad knows this security implacations

i camt beleve your neighbours asing you ths to be honest

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

Gamer98 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 14:59:33 GMT

Changing the name of wifi sounds good. How can i do this

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

shakey1981 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 15:07:46 GMT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yRn2p9LMNDQ&t=86s

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/where-do-i-find-the-default-admin-password-for-my-bt-hub-

https://www.bt.com/help/broadband/learn-about-broadband/learn-about-the-bt-hub-manager

afer changing wifi you will need to reconnect wifi devices to the new network name

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

WSH — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 16:00:40 GMT

When you say "problems with their broadband", what exactly?

If the wi-fi name suddenly changes won’t that give the game away? Same if it disappears.

If we’re going to be devious, say you work from home a lot of the time, you’ve discussed this with your employer and he says, “no way”. He’s not happy with it for security reasons. Sorry, like to help but…

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

Kodikid — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 15:53:21 GMT

A friend in need is a pest

You say you're close so it's a tricky one

You could just do the honorable thing and help out while it's getting sorted

Or just lie and say bizarrely you also have broadband problems

What does she/he who must be obeyed think about all this as I'm guessing their more friends with your partner

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

shakey1981 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 16:02:09 GMT

I Would not be giving anyone outside my home to to use my internet in their home im assuming as if they were using your devices in your homr they would not need the password if they were in your house the could keep themself connected if the signal is that strong

asking for trouble even if they are trustworthy

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

shakey1981 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 16:13:02 GMT

if there paying that close attention mines been of all week aswell but if explaining why this cant happen doesnt work what more can you do besides giving them a flatout no and what do you do if they dont leave because they think there using there own wifi once fixed or justturn round an say something like ill pay half your bill and ditch my isp ?

they alrady think its ok to share you wifi from another location and dont mind asking

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

Gamer98 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 17:28:10 GMT

If i change my network name does that cause a issue for me in terms of stability of my wifi or my speed etc?

Neighbours dont know my network name anyway as its a standard bt one so i could change it to something else.

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

WSH — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 17:42:45 GMT

Changing the name would make no difference to speed/stability whatsoever. How could it?

If they don't know the name though, what's the point in changing it? If anything, that might give you away.

Re: How to stop wifi appearing to neighbours

Gamer98 — Sun, 08 Mar 2026 18:04:14 GMT

They know name of provider which is what my network starts with. Could I not make a random persons name up?