Q: How can I make a home wireless network that only I can detect? I don’t want my close neighbors to see it’s there.
A: Although you can disable SSID (the name of your network) visibility, any 8-year-old with 5 minutes of free time will figure out how to view invisible networks.
The only real way to do so is to turn your living space/apt/home into a faraday cage. Not as hard as you may think. There is wall paint available that creates a Faraday cage – blocking electromagnetic waves from penetrating your walls. You will need to shield your windows as well. A bit of web search will find how to do both.
Another option that may be easier – do away with the wifi. Instead, use ethernet throughout your home. Although the ethernet cable puts out a readable electromagnetic wave, it takes more sophistication than the average neighbor to read it. And if that is a concern, add a RADIUS server to your network. This will strongly encrypt all network traffic.
