Virgin Media Community

[simonNC]

Hi

I am really struggling to get parental control.  Most of the kids devices generate randomised MAC addresses so if I set up a rule it is useless if they restart their device, or after 24 hours.

The MAC filtering rules on the hub3 are therefore pointless.. kids can manage the settings on their devices to turn randomisation of mac addresses back on, not parental control but child control.

I have no control over my kids internet use, unless I manually block devices.... which is a big pain as there are quite a few devices.  I'd have to do this twice a day - but of course with a randomised MAC address it can easily be avoided too - they can just restart their device and avoid that.

Looks like MAC filtering is basically last century's technology.  I have to enter a MAC address to block something and that is as useful as a chocolate teapot.

New devices joining the network are listed as unrecognised device and being able to block all unrecognised devices might solve this problem: some routers have this feature but I can't find it in Virgin...

Is the only solution to buy a separate wifi router that has a proper parental control function and run the Virgin Hub3 in modem mode...?

[Adduxi]

Yes, a new router could solve the problem by allowing you to setup a "Parental Controlled DNS" like OpenDNS for filtering content under your control.

However tech savy kids will know how to change the DNS on their own devices.   Even if you turned off the router, I'm sure they will find a hotspot or use mobile data.

[Tudor]

"However tech savy kids will know how to change the DNS on their own devices"

The only way around this is to get a sophisticated business class router with functions to trap the DNS packets. I use dual Pi-Holes for my DNS and have my router set up so that any DNS frames, except from the two Pi-Hole machines, are automatically redirected to the Pi-Hole machines. Works a treat. My Pi-Holes redirect DNS queries to 1.1.1.3 or 1.0.0.3, Cloudflares equivalent to VM’s ChildSafe.

[simonNC]

I have no problems controlling access to sites, I can use open DNS, it's timed access for children to the internet I need to control.  We had MAC rules set up for 9am-8pm schoolnights and 8am to 9pm on other days, and we can control the total amount of screentime using other methods.  What we can't control using MAC filters is an automated shut off.  It works for 24 hours and then their devices generate another randomised MAC address.  Or they just power down and back up and it generates another MAC address.  There is no way to stop this on some of their devices, and they can get round it on others.

It's as if no-one involved in tech understands or has the power/will to restrict kids screentime - or understands what parents actually want - probably becasue of the demographic of most geeks.  And most companies actual business policy is to keep people glued to their screens with notifications, reccomendations and other teasers.    Most parental controls seem just for show...

[Tudor]

"Or they just power down and back up and it generates another MAC address. "
I do not know what devices they are, but Apple devices that generate a random MAC address always give the same ‘random’ address for a given SSID. Change the SSID new MAC address, previously used SSID same MAC address as last time.

[goslow]

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@simonNC wrote:

I have no problems controlling access to sites, I can use open DNS, it's timed access for children to the internet I need to control.  We had MAC rules set up for 9am-8pm schoolnights and 8am to 9pm on other days, and we can control the total amount of screentime using other methods.  What we can't control using MAC filters is an automated shut off.  It works for 24 hours and then their devices generate another randomised MAC address.  Or they just power down and back up and it generates another MAC address.  There is no way to stop this on some of their devices, and they can get round it on others.

It's as if no-one involved in tech understands or has the power/will to restrict kids screentime - or understands what parents actually want - probably becasue of the demographic of most geeks.  And most companies actual business policy is to keep people glued to their screens with notifications, reccomendations and other teasers.    Most parental controls seem just for show...

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Have you looked at any options which are installed on the devices themselves to moderate content and control access times?

Past suggestions on here about restricting access at night have included simply having devices kept downstairs at night to charge so they are not in bedrooms overnight.

Having been involved with school IT in the past, I can reliably say that whatever tech measures are put in place, older kids will eventually find some kind of workarounds to defeat, or reduce, them and this can lull parents into a false sense of security thinking that the defensive measures are all in place when, in fact, the kids have defeated them some time ago!

In schools, the outcomes which were most successful were having the restrictive tech measures in place as a first line of defence alongside a shared understanding with the kids of what the rules were on using the tech and why they were in place. A bit more straightforward to impose that in a school but more a case of some delicate 'negotiations' in a family setting and particularly with older teens!