[SOLVED] Guest WiFi for AirBnB/HomeAway

Nov 13, 2019
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I tried searching the forum for similar issues but didn't have much luck...hopefully this isn't duplicative.

Situation - We've been AirBnB-ing our basement unit for a few months now. We setup a guest wifi network with separate passwords for guests and gave it shot for a few months. In that timeframe, two main issues have come up:
  1. A small number of guests have been blowing through our data quota. We haven't had an overage yet, but have been close.
  2. We've received a note from our ISP stating that copyright material had been shared on our network.
Essentially, this is nearly the same issue as we're having: https://raisedbyturtles.org/limiting-daily-bandwidth-on-home-router

High Level Question - Any suggestions on how to rectify either of these issues?

More Detailed Questions:
1) Are there ways to implement a daily traffic quota on an entire home network? For example, 10GB/day for any & all devices connected to the network.
I've looked at things like Netlimiter and Softperfect Bandwidth Manager, but it looks like they need to be installed locally on each machine (won't work), or have a dedicated computer setup to monitor the network (less than ideal).
Gargoyle (as mentioned in the link) installs directly on the router (which seems pretty ideal) but the range of routers seems pretty limited and I'm not sure if it's still being updated?
Netgear's Traffic Meter seems to allow monthly quotas, but that's less useful if the first guest of the month blows through the entirely monthly quota in 2-3 days.
Any other ideas/approaches that people have?

2) Is it worthwhile looking at a VPN-type service (eg: NordVPN) on a router?
It looks like some routers now support VPN type services on the router, so you don't have to install on all network devices. But if I did this it would effectively disable Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, PayPal, banking sites, etc. from the network, which doesn't seem customer friendly for my visitors.
Are there any VPN-type services that allow "whitelisting" of certain websites? (I realize this defeats the point of the VPN)
Is this worth the effort, or should I pray for more honest guest behavior?

Thanks in advance for the help!
 
Solution
Your first step is likely to get a higher cap. Been reading some discussion on some new google stadia game service. They predict this can use 14GB per hour. This will likely be very popular with travelers since you do not need to have a console or pc to play games.

For your other requirements you need some form of firewall that can restrict guests. Mostly it is used to authenticate people and track. It is very hard to prevent intentional misuse.

If you know what you are doing there are many free solution that run on a dual nic pc. Other wise you are paying someone to write the application that makes it easy to do your business. Large hotels used to have their own IT staff that did this.
Your first step is likely to get a higher cap. Been reading some discussion on some new google stadia game service. They predict this can use 14GB per hour. This will likely be very popular with travelers since you do not need to have a console or pc to play games.

For your other requirements you need some form of firewall that can restrict guests. Mostly it is used to authenticate people and track. It is very hard to prevent intentional misuse.

If you know what you are doing there are many free solution that run on a dual nic pc. Other wise you are paying someone to write the application that makes it easy to do your business. Large hotels used to have their own IT staff that did this.
 
Solution