Time Scheduling on Guest Network - ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8)

[Mar_tin]

Hi All,

I want to use Time scheduling to ensure the kids' off-time during night. I also put my kids on the guest-network to protect the devices on my home-network from threads.

So I bought the ASUS ZenWiFi AX (XT8) that allows both and even more. I found, that scheduling works on the home-network but has no effect on the guest-network. Question 1: is that the expected behavior or is something wrong with my router? (I updated to the latest firmware with the installation).
It would work for me to disable the entire guest network during night. But I did not find such an option. Question 2: Did I overlook this option? Or do you know an alternative way to accomplish my goals? I do not want to put the Parents computers on the guest network due to NAS and printer access.
I read in the forum that scripts are used to accomplish tasks like switching off networks. I'm ready to give it a go although I'm a novice. Question 3: Where can I enter these in my router? My feeling is, that this is only possible with the Asuswrt-Merlin firmware which is not (yet) available for this router.

I'm ready to send the router back if it does not fit my purpose and to buy a different one. I found out, that I do not need an Air-Mesh setup, if the router has good signal strength like the XT8. My 6 year old Netgear R7000 Nighthawk is almost good enough. Question 4 (in case 1-3 do not provide a positive answer): What would be a good alternative router that allows me to implement my feature?

I like the XT8 because of his speed, look and extensive features. Also being future proof with WiFi6 and the Air-Mesh option is nice (cables are not an option in my old house). But currently the feature of scheduling is more important.

Thank you for your help.

 

[Mar_tin]

I investigated further and my findings so fare are:

Answer 2: To effectively separate two networks a vlan would be the way to go - seperate SSID do not provide sensible security. The WLAN router does not offer vlan set-up as a standard feature and setting this up via cron is too difficult for me. This means that I can also put my Kids on the Home Network. That resolves my problem with the XT8.

Answer 3: it should be possible to put a file with jobs into the directory /var/spool/cron/crontabs/.

Answer 4: The RT-AX86U has great reviews due to his functionality, low latency, high speed and signal strength. Also Asuswrt-Merlin firmware is available for it. This would be a great alternative I think.

 

[Mar_tin]

Answer 1: I Scheduled blocking times in the Asus RT-AX86U. Also there it has no effect on the clients on the guest network. I did load the Merlin Firmware - same behavior. It is safe to say that it is not a bug but a feature.