What is an SSID?
Definition
An SSID, or service set identifier, is the broadcast name of a WiFi network: the name you pick from the list on your phone. One access point can broadcast several SSIDs at once. Venues typically run a guest SSID with a captive portal and a staff SSID secured by WPA-Enterprise.
SSID explained
Each SSID is a separate logical network with its own security settings. A hotel might broadcast Hotel-Guest, Hotel-Conference and Hotel-Staff from the same access points, each with a different sign-in method and different rules. On the wired side, each SSID is usually mapped to its own VLAN.
The name alone isolates nothing. Separate SSIDs show users which network to pick, but security comes from the VLAN, firewall rules and authentication behind each one. A guest SSID mapped onto the same VLAN as the tills is still one network, whatever it is called.
Fewer SSIDs is usually better. Each SSID adds beacon traffic that takes airtime from real data, so broadcasting many of them slows a busy network. Per-device keys such as iPSK let one SSID place different users on different VLANs, and a common modern pattern is three SSIDs in total: guest, Passpoint and IoT. Across multi-venue estates, consistent naming also stops returning visitors having to learn a new network name at every site.
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