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Mac filtering

Bradbury1977 — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 07:36:23 GMT

My son thinks he’s clever by changing his MAC address on his Xbox to stop his internet going off at night, is there a way to do Mac filtering on Bt smart hub 2 to stop this? Or do I just need to keeping blocking each new MAC address from the my Bt app?

Re: Mac filtering

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 07:42:25 GMT

@Bradbury1977

Its not possible to do that on the Smart Hub 2, you would need to use a different router which supports a MAC address "whitelist", so only approved MAC addresses can connect. If the MAC address is changed, then there would be no connection.

You could disable Wi-Fi on the home hub, and use a wireless access point instead, which has filtering. That would not help on Ethernet connected devices.

Re: Mac filtering

Bradbury1977 — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 07:50:48 GMT

Then the parental controls are redundant, what’s the point of having them if it’s that easy to manipulate?
Ok I’ve have my Bt broadband for some time so now it might be a good time to reassess my options.

cheers mate.

Re: Mac filtering

Keith_Beddoe — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 07:55:29 GMT

You will have the same problem with any other provider, as they all rely on MAC filtering, and its easy to change the MAC address on most devices now.

Re: Mac filtering

licquorice — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 10:25:41 GMT

@Bradbury1977 wrote:

Then the parental controls are redundant, what’s the point of having them if it’s that easy to manipulate?
Ok I’ve have my Bt broadband for some time so now it might be a good time to reassess my options.

cheers mate.

Parental controls are essentially designed for younger non tech-savvy children. Anyone thinking that they can defeat tech-savvy teenagers with technology are deluding themselves.

Re: Mac filtering

gg30340 — Mon, 06 Jun 2022 11:18:59 GMT

@Bradbury1977 wrote:

My son thinks he’s clever by changing his MAC address on his Xbox to stop his internet going off at night, is there a way to do Mac filtering on Bt smart hub 2 to stop this? Or do I just need to keeping blocking each new MAC address from the my Bt app?

No you do not need to block each new MAC address, what you need to do is take your son's Xbox away from him until he learns the house rules.