Controlling Teens Time on Wifi - Parental Controls

[zac72]

We haven't long joined Virgin Broadband and I have been trying to get my head round the security included with the package.  I have 2 kids, one boy just nearly 18 of whom I do not wish to control his access, but my 15yr old has been sneaking his mobile out in the middle of the night to play games, I then confiscated his mobile after 10pm each night but he is now using his smart TV to access internet during the night - my husband has been getting so cross that he just cuts the power to the hub from 9pm every night, which is annoying to the rest of us who need to use it after this time.  I can't work out a way of just cutting out my 15yr olds access (he has a smart TV as we cannot easily or without massive expense get an aerial/signal to his bedroom for normal TV/Freeview due to the location of his room, we've even tried the portable aerials and none work) , from an internet search I have come across what looks like an US product 'Webcurfew' that on the tin seems to do exactly what I require, but just wondering if anymore with more technical knowledge than me can suggest anything apart from ripping out every piece of entertainment equipment from my son's bedroom!  Many thanks in advance.

[Shelke · Accepted solution]

You can configure the hub to block Internet access for a device. Browse to http://192.168.0.1 - sign in -> Advanced Settings -> Security -> MAC Filtering.

Select the smart TV from the device list, assign it a device name, then click add device. Now you can add timed access rules against it. For example if you wanted to block Internet access for it from 9PM to 8PM every day you would create two rules:
* EVERY DAY, 21:00~23.59
* EVERY DAY, 00:00~08:00

There is a limit of 7 rules and ensure you click the Apply button to save the changes.

Rules must be added this way (24 hour based), it is not possible to add a single rule for say 9PM to 8AM as that will error and tell you the end time cannot be earlier than the start time. Example screenshot follows:

[zac72]

Thanks - will definitely be giving that a try when I get home, thanks for the screen shots too, I'm sure that will make the task easier 🙂

[zac72]

Hopefully all sorted apart from his mobile phone (which has not appeared on the list yet so assuming he hasn't yet used it on wifi when I've been home), instructions were fab thanks, unfortunately the device names that came up were hard to trace to each item in our house, but by elimination I think we are there and have added the rules to the correct pieces of equipment.

[marrtin]

Remember also that your son's mobile phone can connect to the internet via 3G or 4G and if he doesn't notice that the WIFI connection has been blocked, it could potentially result in running up a huge mobile phone bill through data usage.  I could imagine a situation where he may not realise the time and miss the phone switching from a WIFI to a mobile connection.

Best perhaps to leave the phone connected and just continue with removing the phone.

[Shelke]

Yeap devices can and do often report very abbreviated/odd device names, I'm happy to hear that you've got the setup done

Edit: sound advise above there about 2G/3G/4G on the phone

[MrHalfAsleep]

Make sure your kids can't do a factory reset!  Or at least make it difficult for them. 

[rgbl61]

Hi - this looks as though it's exactly what I need, however, the interface for my hub (Hub 3.0) looks very different, I can't see where to apply time restrictions. Can you help?

[Cerise69]

Thank you Answered some questions from a technophobe but still working thru where do i finx the Mac address for the devices i want to limit?

[cybmole]

find mac address - on the device, try in settings -> about.

 or via the hub interface at 192.168.0.1 advanced options the mac addresses are shown on the devices list under DHCP reservations. you may need some trial and error to determine which address matches which device