VLAN

[#1]

Quote from: Steevo

Now I'm all confused!! @vilefoxdemonofdoom thanks for your suggestion but I don't want a second ISP/connection/cost etc. I'm happy to split the existing connection. Would something like this do as a second router coming off my Plusnet modem router? Or perhaps this if I were to replace the 582N? Sorry for the dim questions. I'm not too bad with technology, but happy to admit I'm totally out of my depth here.

My router - a netgear WNR1000v3 provides a basic guest capability, which I don't use.
I can't restrict its bandwidth or anything else - see attached

[#2]

you need a business grade device for the "extras" like that, it requires creating a group that's isolated from the remainder of the network firewalling it from the lan side and then you can split the bandwidth ratio between the groups however you desire,
for instance my router offers me the chance to group or ungroup each lan port and each wifi network (i can have 8 of them) all with their own dhcp server still function as a upnp virtual server host (no need to use dmz or port forwarding for anything)
but i prefer to have separate devices for each network so I can just unplug one and still work without needing to undo/redo all the setup each time i want to take it down or put it back up again.
but it seems more people would rather choose the less intuitive and more basic routers because they can save a few quid /

[#3]

I thought the TG582n had the ability to set up a guest network, but not something I've looked into? Anyone?

[#4]

to avoid confusion
the OP wants to do it wired not wireless

[#5]

then he needs a router that allows port grouping,
I don't know about any other sort of router through experience but I do know for a fact the billion 7800dx does have this facility.
it allows you to create either wired or wireless groups each group may be setup under a single dhcp server and if you use group isolation then they are totally separate from each other, it allows you to set QoS rate for each group (you can have up to 8 groups) specify which group is allowed to access the router and it allows for search filtering or url blacklisting /whitelisting per group or globally, with or without time stipulations and a whole host of other stuff that not running a business I don't use....
I'm certain others will do the same but not many of them cost under £200

[#6]

My Fritz!Box7390 allows Guest Access for LAN4

Quote

Here you can grant your guests fast, secure access to the Internet. Enable the "Guest access for LAN 4 enabled" option and connect the guest device to the "LAN 4" socket on your FRITZ!Box. The connected device has no access to your home network or the network of the guests in your wireless LAN.

I'd expect the feature to be on other models.  I'd assume switches and or access points can be connected to the 'guest network' to suit requirements.

[#7]

with respect to the number of guest devices it would depend on what is providing the dhcp server and what limit it is set at, some routers have true capabilities in this regard and fully support 252 clients others cannot, some support a total of connected clients others support a maximum per connection group,

some routers use a single chip solution and others use multiple chip solutions, with each processor chip in charge of a separate function (which means they don't loose throughput capacity) whereas single chip units often overheat multi chip units designed for the heavy workload don't ....

careful research would be required to identify the "best" device for the needs of the company both in terms of what it needs right now and what it aspires to need in 20months time, and that might well require the OP to ask for specialist help from one or more retailers, and or emailing a few different sales teams from various manufacturers to find out what the various companies products are capable of and what device they suggest would be best, any research costs are tax deductible which makes the costs negligible regardless of size.

[#8]

Question to Steevo. Does the "Business Network" need to be available from all APs or just the main modem/router?

[#9]

Quote from: Oldjim

to avoid confusion the OP wants to do it wired not wireless

Now also to avoid any further confusion, some while back I set up an additional pool on my 582n which my "home" network connects to, rather than the default LAN_private. I did this using CLI commands (although I believe it's possible via the GUI as well) and all devices (that I wanted to include) were given fixed IP addresses within that pool - all were ethernet, except I did experiment with one wireless device as well, also Fixed IP.
Unknown devices - ie guests, automatically connect to the LAN_private pool and can't see the "home" network. As it happens all of them so far were wireless guests, but I will experiment to confirm if an unknown ethernet device does as expected as well.
Depending on Steevo's "business" network needs, I'm wondering if this might not be simply a matter of correct configuration? But as mentioned earlier, I'm no expert in this area and input from someone knowledgable about this and the 582n would be good.