This topic

How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Dave1000 — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 10:46:48 GMT

On the BT app I thought I had scheduled Wifi to disconnect at night time on my 15-year old son's desktop computer. However, in the middle of the night he resets his computer so as the restrictions no longer apply. Even though the "reset" computer has the same PC-id, the night time controls do not work because the PC appears as a new device on my BT app. I've tried changing the password on the hub, but that doesn't work as I have to input the new password in the morning so as he can do school - I can't do that every day for the whole family.

There doesn't appear to be a facility on the BT app to schedule the Wifi to switch off to all devices at night - that would be the most helpful answer.

I cannot unplug the hub, or use the "pause Wifi immediately" function , because I go to bed earlier, and the rest of the family want Wifi to be on until later.

Is there really not an option to schedule the Wifi to disconnect from all devices at at night?

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

NeilO — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 12:00:44 GMT

Hi @Dave1000 welcome to the community and thanks for posting, the pause wifi option is the only way I'm aware of to turn off the connection to everything and I appreciate you've mentioned that's not practical when other members of the household still need access after you've gone to bed.

Would the Homework option in the parental controls be suitable? You can set customised filter times to block certain content such as gaming and social networking sites.

Thanks

Neil

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

gg30340 — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 17:49:46 GMT

For every software solution there will be a way easily found on the Internet for any computer wise 15 year old to circumvent it.

By far the best solution is to either remove the PC from his room at night or if the power lead can be removed take that away at night until he learns the rules of the house.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Les-Gibson — Sun, 18 Apr 2021 19:03:59 GMT

Open http://192.168.1.254/bt_access_control.htm in a browser, I've not done it myself but it seems self explanatory.

Edit: That's assuming you have the Smart Hub 2

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Dave1000 — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:14:23 GMT

Thank you for suggestion. I had tried that too. By logging into //192.168.1.254/bt_access_control.htm and selecting advanced controls, it does let me switch off all Wifi to everyone, but only from now. I can't seem to pre-schedule it to switch it all off all Wifi to everyone at 10pm every night, but I do appreciate your time in suggestion it Les-Gibson.

When I searched for my discussion by typing "my son" in the search bar - it came back with dozens of similar discussions about 15-year olds who can hack their way round WiFi restrictions and parental controls ...some discussions go back to 2016, so its not a new issue with the BT app.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

licquorice — Mon, 19 Apr 2021 19:23:53 GMT

It's not a new issue with tech savvy 15 year olds who will outwit any attempted technology solution.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

TimCurtis — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 11:23:49 GMT

@Dave1000

More chance with a third party modem/router. My Asus DSL-AC68U has time scheduling fixed by MAC Address which should work fairly well. Likewise wifi can be time controlled as well.

Alternatively physically remove his keyboard at bed time.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

gg30340 — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 13:34:27 GMT

@TimCurtis wrote:

@Dave1000

More chance with a third party modem/router. My Asus DSL-AC68U has time scheduling fixed by MAC Address which should work fairly well. Likewise wifi can be time controlled as well.

Alternatively physically remove his keyboard at bed time.

That will only work until his son searches how to change/spoof MAC addresses and if he is using a Windows computer he can always use the On Screen Keyboard.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Dave1000 — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 14:12:53 GMT

Yes - simple solution to remove keyboard is excellent idea. Thank you. (Sssh don't mention the spoofing the keyboard on screen)

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

gg30340 — Tue, 20 Apr 2021 14:19:34 GMT

Remember and stop his pocket money so that he doesn't spend £5 on a new keyboard or borrow one from a friend.

Please keep us updated on how long it takes for him to circumvent your efforts.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

TimCurtis — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 15:20:00 GMT

@Dave1000

With a modem/router like mine (Asus DSL-AC68U) you can set rules that only specific MAC addresses are allowed to connect and any others - spoofed or not - will be rejected.

Then there are time schedules that can be set again for specific MAC addresses.

Pretty good solution really.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

gg30340 — Wed, 21 Apr 2021 16:13:34 GMT

So what happens if you spoof the MAC to that of a device that is white listed and is allowed onto the system?

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Dave1000 — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 10:03:28 GMT

It took him 24 hours to circumvent that effort. I put the computer in the loft last night. He is supposed to be working and revising for his final year 11 assessments...Most of his subjects use online resources and expect typed submissions online - so that adds to the conflict. Bring back National Service.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

gspearson — Sat, 24 Apr 2021 12:00:35 GMT

As a former son, I can assure you they are hard-wired to resist control. Rather than seek a technological solution a direct bargaining session is needed - it may be bribery but getting Apple to fix it won't work.

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Dave1000 — Thu, 06 May 2021 19:51:49 GMT

Phil from BT Customer Services in Middlesbrough has found a solution in Parent Controls which seems to be working. He suggested I could include gaming in my Parent Controls, and with BT Hub 2 you can schedule times for when Parental Controls are ON/OFF. Mine run from 10pm to 7am. My son has not been able to overcome this and because he can no longer play games after 10pm he goes to bed at a proper time. Hoorah 🙂

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Les-Gibson — Thu, 06 May 2021 21:46:51 GMT

@Dave1000wrote:
Phil from BT Customer Services in Middlesbrough has found a solution in Parent Controls which seems to be working. He suggested I could include gaming in my Parent Controls, and with BT Hub 2 you can schedule times for when Parental Controls are ON/OFF. Mine run from 10pm to 7am. My son has not been able to overcome this and because he can no longer play games after 10pm he goes to bed at a proper time. Hoorah 🙂

.............Or has he just gone to bed because he wants you to think you've succeeded ? 😏

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Carlusha — Thu, 06 May 2021 21:57:48 GMT

@Les-Gibsonwrote:
@Dave1000wrote:
Phil from BT Customer Services in Middlesbrough has found a solution in Parent Controls which seems to be working. He suggested I could include gaming in my Parent Controls, and with BT Hub 2 you can schedule times for when Parental Controls are ON/OFF. Mine run from 10pm to 7am. My son has not been able to overcome this and because he can no longer play games after 10pm he goes to bed at a proper time. Hoorah 🙂
.............Or has he just gone to bed because he wants you to think you've succeeded ? 😏

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

Dave1000 — Sun, 09 May 2021 14:54:43 GMT

Maybe, but I'm not sure he is that clever. He is clever pushing buttons, but not at interacting with humans, so I hope not. He has stirred from his pit every evening so far, just after 22.00, and seldom does he monitor the time as closely as that normally. To the neutral observer, this might seem like rubbish parenting....but that is why we invest in parent controls and suchlike, to help us with enforcement. Thank you for everyone's contributions 🙂

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

chriso57 — Sun, 09 May 2021 15:39:37 GMT

or password control his pc and don't tell him what it is.....

Re: How to prevent my son overriding restricted Wifi access at night

gg30340 — Sun, 09 May 2021 16:06:36 GMT

@chriso57 wrote:

or password control his pc and don't tell him what it is.....

Which will require the parent to log him on every time he wants to use the PC and once logged on, the child can find the password for his particular log on relatively easily if he knows how and if he doesn't know he soon will with a search of the Internet.