Easy Internet access for guests makes WiFi a very attractive amenity for many retailers and restaurants, where it can be a differentiator in a crowded market of competitors.  Libraries and schools are now expected to offer ubiquitous wireless access across their campuses and often want to offer free WiFi to the local community.  The ease of deployment and trouble-free management of Meraki WiFi networks make it simple to deploy guest access across all of these types of organizations and more.

However, sometimes administrators don’t want to offer free wireless access around the clock.  An open WiFi network can mean that folks hang around in the parking lot long after business hours, causing complaints from residential or business neighbors.  With Meraki’s new Scheduled SSID feature for Enterprise networks, administrators can automatically turn an SSID off outside of a set schedule without the need to even log into Dashboard.  Standard templates are available for typical business hours, or a custom schedule can be created for each individual day.

This feature can be found on the new SSID Availability page.  We’ve also moved the controls for hiding an SSID to this page as well from the Access Control page to make it easy to find all SSID broadcast-related controls.

Give us feedback via the Make a Wish box in Dashboard!  Enjoy!