This topic

Whole home Wi-fi - cannot get scheduled bedtimes to work at all

Jerry3 — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 12:53:01 GMT

We have BT broadband and use the Whole Home Wi-fi discs (4 of them) to boost the signal around the home. I've repeatedly tried to get the scheduled bedtimes to block groups of devices. so that we can get the kids to down screens at bedtime but it doesn't work at all.

We bought WHW around 18 months ago and the bedtime scheduling has never worked. The only thing that _does_ work is if I manually select individual devices or groups of devices and 'pause' them. I can't find evidence that others are suffering so I'm assuming it's just me.

Here are some of the things I've tried (multiple times):

disabling the guest network
resetting from factory defaults
avoiding the 'extra' 4th discs (as they came as a pack of thee plus one extra)
uninstalling and reinstalling BT Whole Home Wifi from my phone
setting bedtimes using GMT instead BST (i.e. subtracting an hour)

Nothing seems to work. The time for pausing groups of devices comes and goes but the devices stay happily connected to the wi-fi network and internet.

I should point out that when I set the schedules, these times are saved successfully. They just have no effect. I'm assuming it's me that's making a mistake somewhere as I can't find others complaining about it. Any help gratefully appreciated.

Re: Whole home Wi-fi - cannot get scheduled bedtimes to work at all

Crimliar — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 16:44:23 GMT

You may not be making a mistake at all (I'm sure I'll be corrected about this if I'm wrong). Many WiFi blocking "systems" identify devices by their MAC address. This is fine provided the devices don't randomize their MAC address every time they log on to the network. If they do randomize their MAC address, then the next time they log in, they'll not be blocked. The solution isn't to stop the MAC addresses on individual devices from rotation, as I'm sure you'll find the kids can change the settings back just as easily as you can set them.

If this is what's happening - I don't have a solution!

Re: Whole home Wi-fi - cannot get scheduled bedtimes to work at all

licquorice — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 17:06:19 GMT

Parenting by technology is doomed to failure

Re: Whole home Wi-fi - cannot get scheduled bedtimes to work at all

Jerry3 — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 21:25:58 GMT

Totally agree! Admitted failure ages ago. 🙂

Re: Whole home Wi-fi - cannot get scheduled bedtimes to work at all

Jerry3 — Sun, 10 Sep 2023 21:29:03 GMT

Thanks Crimliar - I'd thought of that too. The MAC addresses are static (for now). This is just a stop-gap until they figure out how to get round that. 🙂

Re: Whole home Wi-fi - cannot get scheduled bedtimes to work at all

Crimliar — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 06:24:39 GMT

Don't be tempted by devices such as the Fingbox though. These work through creatively abusing network protocols, and in my personal experience cause far worse than the issues they are attempting to solve.

The only babysitter I can think of that would be worse than the internet is Boris Johnson!