Network-controlled broadband control

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Ralph

33 posts

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#228858 25-Jan-2018 20:58

Hi all,

the main reason we went with BigPipe as an ISP is it allowed us to control the services using an app. Ie we could "turn off" gaming or social networking during homework hours.

Now that BigPipe has removed that capability, is there another ISP that offers a similar level of control? Even an on/off functionality would be sufficient. Better still would be something that could be controlled by time ie cron.

Any ideas?

Cheers,

Ralph

michaelmurfy

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#1946864 25-Jan-2018 21:03

Not that I would recommend them but Stuff Fibre does: https://stuff-fibre.co.nz/safezone

Else depending on what you're needing (and if you want to stay with an actual good ISP) then there are appliances that do it like the Trend Micro Home Security box: https://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=21653

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blakamin

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#1946872 25-Jan-2018 21:13

Get any brand of "mesh" router (I use a TP-Link deco but just as APs)... So easy to control.

Lias

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#1946910 25-Jan-2018 22:55

My mum is a foster carer, and she uses one of these to control internet access along those lines for the older kids. May or may not meet your needs:

https://koalasafe.com/

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

Ralph

33 posts

Geek

#1946951 26-Jan-2018 06:59

Thanks Michael. Looks very good. Will have to investigate it some more. An ideal solution would be to configure it to be on at certain times and off at others. With BigPipe you had to manually turn it on/off and I suspect Stuff is similar.

Another question if you don't mind - does Stuff Fibre allow a username/passwd on PPPoE on the ONT? Seems our son has worked out he can bypass our router and go direct to the ONT. BigPipe currently don't allow the changing of the PPPoE password (ie any uname/passwd combination works for them). Or do any ISPs allow that? Possibly that's a Chorus config.

Cheers,

Ralph

chevrolux

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#1946957 26-Jan-2018 07:18

Hah! Kudos to your son for working that out!

Potentially a quick way of sorting that is by going to an ISP that requires VLAN tagging. Still possible to plug directly but requires a few more steps and some NICs don't support setting vlans in their drivers.

If he is clever enough to work out plugging in to the ONT I feel you might struggle for a solution. For a simple on/off solution I would just use Mikrotik and set up to WLANs and take the Ethernet ports out of the bridge. Then you can use firewall rules with schedules to stop access on the "kid" wlan.

That trend micro unit, or maybe the synology router might be able to apply that sort of policy to the Ethernet ports too.

Ralph

33 posts

Geek

#1946961 26-Jan-2018 07:29

Hi Chevrolux,

yes, actually my mistake for showing it to him when we got the ONT, but not yet the router and wanted to see if Chorus had done the install correctly without a router. :(

Stuff looks like the goods, as that will work even if he accesses via the ONT. Thus the requirement to have the control network-based.

Alternative could be to hard-wire the power via an electrician to a timed electrical plug. Not sure such a beast exists but that would be a brute-force alternative.

Cheers,

Ralph

Coil

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#1946978 26-Jan-2018 08:35

If you are on Fibre then I really do not understand why you'd even need or want this app other than self satisfaction.

QOS technology has never failed myself............ Besides, you'll most likely find it made no difference.

*edit, I noticed after re reading your OP that you mentioned homework hours.
For this you could use Tomato firmware, I am also certain net nanny has a homework mode.

Cheers

Andib

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#1946986 26-Jan-2018 09:03

As others have said, Ask bigpipe to enable vlan tagging on your connection. This means that in order to connect to the ont and get a PPPoE connection the nic needs to have the correct VLAN set (not impossible, But harder to do than just dialing a PPPoE connection from Windows.

Then look at something like Michael suggested so that you can control access. A much better solution than going to Stuff Fibre imo.

Ralph

33 posts

Geek

#1947010 26-Jan-2018 09:34

Thanks for the tips folks! Really appreciate it. I did ask BigPipe if they could do a passwd on the PPPoE and they said they couldn't. Are you confident they can enable the VLAN tagging?

Really appreciate everybody's input to this!

Last question - in general, is it possible to CLI into routers these days to enable/disable WiFi/WAN etc? I could cron from one of the Raspberry PIs in the house to enable/disable things, but not 100% sure it would work. Seems I can telnet to the router and there's some sort of CLI. I guess I could use expect tcl/tk or something to control it.

Cheers,

Ralph

michaelmurfy

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#1947018 26-Jan-2018 10:07

@Ralph Yes they can enable VLAN tagging (as I have got a VLAN tagged line through them). There is also a cheaper solution called Fingbox (https://www.fing.io/fingbox/) that may work for your needs if you're just needing to stop internet on some devices. The beauty is it'll alert your phone via a push notification if somebody unplugs it. I bought one on Black Friday and it is quite neat knowing what is connected to my network and if my sister shares the password to the main SSID instead of the guest one to her friends as it notifies me on an instant. Not quite as advanced as it won't block certain sites like the Trend Micro box.

At CES there were a few more boxes coming out that do these things - my favourite was the Bitdefender box (https://www.bitdefender.com/box/) as it looks badass, and has some great features. I'll hopefully have one to test shortly.

Ralph

33 posts

Geek

#1947019 26-Jan-2018 10:09

Super-duper! Thanks everybody! I see the formation of a plan here!

Appreciate everybody's views of this!

Cheers,

Ralph

Aredwood

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#1947025 26-Jan-2018 10:17

2degrees use username and password over PPPOE. And they also use VLAN tagging as well.

I don't think that controlling the power to the ONT would work. As they just use 12V. So it would be easy for him to obtain another 12V wall wart power supply to operate it. The pinout for the power plug on the Chorus ONT is also on the net as well. So he could make it work just by cutting the plug off a 12V wall wart power supply, and poke the wires into the correct terminals.

Ralph

33 posts

Geek

#1947420 27-Jan-2018 09:32

@Aredwood, thanks for the info on 2D. That PPPoE username/passwd combination, is that a per-user combination, or is it general - ie same for everybody?

I don't think my son would be so bold as to rewire the power to the ONT, so that's probably not a concern. More of a concern would be the ONT going on and off a few times a day - probably not designed to do that! Not sure if there's a way to gracefully turn on/off the ONT.

gareth41

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#1948014 29-Jan-2018 08:32

The easiest solution would be to lock the gear away in the back of a cabinet, get a small rack or something that can lock and locate the gear in there

Aredwood

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#1948058 29-Jan-2018 10:56

@Ralph it is per user. But note that I haven't fully tested this, in other words I haven't tried changing my PPPOE password as configured in the router, to see if the 2deg radius server blocks me from access.

Or wether it will accept any password As long as the username is valid.