Find date MAC address/IP first ever joined router

[Matilds99]

Long story short, my teen has been banned from having his phone as a punishment, yet yesterday I’ve found another phone he’s been using instead (no idea where it came from)!!

anyway, I can see it in the network, but wondered if there is a way to look back at history of when a MAC address or IP first ever joined network? Ie I want to figure out how long he’s had it!

thanks very much!

[Les-Gibson]

There's no easy way that I know of but you could try exporting the event log to a .csv file then open the file you've created in a spreadsheet or in notepad and search for the IP address. Don't try searching for the MAC address, you'll be wasting your time

[Keith_Beddoe]

If the offending device is using MAC address randomisation, each time the MAC address changes, a different IP address will be issued by the home hub, so searching IP addresses would be a waste of time. In fact the user may not actually be using another phone, and is just enabling that feature.

You would need a router which only allowed Internet access to specific MAC addresses, so that if the device MAC address was changed by the end user, they would not get Internet access. They would not know what the allowed MAC addresses are. This method is used by many corporate networks, to keep out unauthorised devices.

You would in effect need to create a "whitelist" of allowed MAC addresses, just like you would do on a call blocking phone.

[Matilds99]

Thanks for reply.

I knew it was a different phone for sure as was an android phone when we are an Apple family!

Good point on randomising, I know he had already figured out how to do it on pc after I set his device to disable wifi at bedtime! Pesky teens!

I think I will definitely explore routers that can give me additional functionality to ehitelist Mac addresses amongst other things, I’ve heard of Fritz being good unless you have any other recommendations 

thanks 

[Keith_Beddoe]

Many routers  have wireless MAC address filtering which only allow connections to specific MAC addresses, so unless that "allowed" list is known, then a user cannot connect unless they are on that list.

Which router you use depends on whether you have an ADSL, FTTC or FTTP connection. The main problem is is you use your landline phone, then you will be restricted to using the BT Smart Hub 2 which does not have any extra features that allow a MAC "whitelist"

The alternative is to disable the wireless on the BT Hub, and use a separate wireless access point which has MAC address filtering where only allowed devices can connect.

The only issue with a "whitelist" is that you have to manually add the MAC addresses of all your wireless devices, and keep it up to date as devices are added and removed.

[licquorice]

Parenting by technology is doomed to failure.

[Les-Gibson]

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@Matilds99wrote:

Thanks for reply.

I knew it was a different phone for sure as was an android phone when we are an Apple family!

Good point on randomising, I know he had already figured out how to do it on pc after I set his device to disable wifi at bedtime! Pesky teens!

I think I will definitely explore routers that can give me additional functionality to ehitelist Mac addresses amongst other things, I’ve heard of Fritz being good unless you have any other recommendations 

thanks 

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That could work in your favour.

Android only started using MAC randomisation with V10 so if it's an older phone running anything less than Android 10 then you can search for the MAC address as it will remain constant.