cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
1,027 Views
Message 1 of 16

Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

I have full access to my parent controls, as I am the account holder. I can turn them fully off, or add websites and I can adjust the custom settings to tick or untick all the different content. Everything used to work fine, when I knew my children did not have their devices late at night (phone on charge in the room I was in), I would turn off the controls to have fun adult access.

 

Now though, despite turning it off, leaving it many hours, adjusting different content settings, adding approved websites, it all doesn’t work! The controls act as if they are permanently on and no approved site works either, all this despite turning it off and adding sites to try. It all used to work within a couple of minutes of me changing the setting. I wondered whether the time delay had increased, but it doesn’t work even after 12 hours. This is the case for the last couple of weeks I think, or close to that.

 

As a side issue, in the months before this happened, I’d also find the availability of turning off parent controls interment late at night. I’d often find the service down. It’s late at night that I want to turn it off, late at night is probably when the service needs to be available, when children are asleep.

 

I’ve read all the other topics on this problem. I’ve seen the solution it to complete a full reset of the router. This seems only possible via BT engineer, remotely I guess.

 

Please can I be helped with this situation.

0 Ratings
Reply
15 REPLIES 15
968 Views
Message 2 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

Hi @MrRat

Welcome to the BT Community and thank you for your post!

I am sorry for the problems you're having with Parental controls.  We can pick up from here and help you out.  I have sent you a private message with instructions on how you can send us over your details and we'll look into this for you. See: Private messages

Thanks,

Robbie

0 Ratings
Reply
438 Views
Message 3 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

I am havig similar issues. I have turned off Parental Control, but still won't allow blocked site 'youtube and roblox' work. 

I have restarted my router about 3 times already, still no luck. I still want to have the ability of having full control of sites are visited on my network via the Parental Control which I have found very helpful all these years. 

Please can I get some help on this.

Thanks

Basil 

 

0 Ratings
Reply
414 Views
Message 4 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

Hi @Gozie005 

Thanks for coming to the community. 

If you get in touch with our technical support team they will get the parental controls looked into for you.

Leanne. 

405 Views
Message 5 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

Hello @Leanne_T ,

I called the Tech team and was advised to do a factory reset, which still didn't fix my issue.

The call ended with the technician telling me to wait 2 weeks and that the offline team would help look into it. This is not helpful at all.

0 Ratings
Reply
374 Views
Message 6 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

It sounds like the technical support guide that you spoke to has escalated this to the next level, @Gozie005 .

Hopefully they'll be in contact with you to fix it soon.

Chris

0 Ratings
Reply
363 Views
Message 7 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

I hope so too @Christopher_G.

I am also inclined to think the issue might be with the router, but I will wait to hear from them soon. 

0 Ratings
Reply
350 Views
Message 8 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

The problem is in the update service for parentals controls of BT's DNS servers, where the content filtering takes place (I'm having the same issue, can't get updates for an old Oculus Quest 1 that I'm trying to resurrect because I can't get to meta.com due to parental controls). When this happens, it usually takes a few weeks for them to fix it and clear the backlog of updates.

In the meantime, there are 3 workarounds (for use only if you're comfortable them):

1) Manually configure the TCP/IP settings for your device and use a different primary DNS service, like Googles (primary = 8.8.8.8, secondary = 8.8.4.4 which has not parental controls) or OpenDNS (primary = 208.67.222.222, secondary = 208.67.220.220 if you still want some content filtering capability) to bypass the BT parental controls and DNS.  This is the one I used to prove it is in the BT servers in their data centres, not our routers or devices.

2) Replace the BT Router with a different one entirely that you can control the DNS settings for (the BT Home Hub has the DNS settings locked so you can't change them). While this is an option, I refuse to do this on principle - It is BT that needs to do a better job of monitoring the parental controls update service, respond to failures faster and make it more reliable.

3) If you are using Apple devices, make sure they have the latest software installed and enable Advanced Tracking Protection that will bypass the BT DNS and parental controls entirely and use the Apple DNS servers (parental controls are in family settings in Apple IDs if you want them).

0 Ratings
Reply
340 Views
Message 9 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

There's a 4th option I just thought of (and it's working to solve my oculus resurrection blocker) - tether to mobile phone and use your mobile data plan for anything urgent.

Again, not endorsing this as a long term solution because there's a cost involved, but I can't wait around for BT to fix their service in this case.

0 Ratings
Reply
225 Views
Message 10 of 16

Re: Parent Controls not working

Go to solution

@MightyGeorge  Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, I manually changed the DNS settings on one of the devices as my other half works predominantly from home and needs YouTube regularly as part of her job. 

I will try the Advance Tracking protection, but BT needs to own this kind of issue, and like you rightly pointed it is in their data center/domain. 

Thanks once again @MightyGeorge  for the suggestions. 

BT please do get back to me on this as you know these actions taken are just a workaround, and I do need a permanent fix for the issue across my home network.

0 Ratings
Reply