Blocking wifi remotely for my son

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richms

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#2115459 28-Oct-2018 17:17

I recall being able to get in remotely thru a myfritz thing that I turned on that gave me some long URL that got me to my routers admin stuff. Not sure if any of the routers currently have any integration with the likes of alexa or similar yet to let you just ask her to turn off the kids internet but I recall someone talking about doing that a while back.

Richard rich.ms

blakamin

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#2115468 28-Oct-2018 17:36

TP-Link Deco will do what you want with a smaller price than the Orbi

https://www.tp-link.com/au/products/details/cat-5700_Deco-M5.html

This is a more in-depth look.

https://www.tp-link.com/en/HomeCare/

JimmyH

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#2116468 29-Oct-2018 20:27

Personally, at 16, I would have thought that he was both old enough to be responsible for his own actions, and smart enough to get around most blocking if he wanted to. By switching to cellular data if nothing else.

At that age he's legally old enough to leave school, leave home and even get married. So he should start taking some responsibility for self-managing with study as well.

If you just want to check up on him, then enabling logging at the router rather than blocking could be the way to go.

If you are really worried then about the only thing you can do is to render his devices inoperable when you want him to study. Take the phone and a couple of key cables off his computer off him, for the duration of the designated study times. But, at 16, that strikes me as a bit excessive - he's not 8, and at that age I was certainly expected to be accountable for studying for exams and managing distractions (of which there were plenty, including games on my trusty Apple IIe). And if I didn't, I understood that I wore the consequences.

vulcannz

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#2116521 29-Oct-2018 22:14

JimmyH:

Personally, at 16, I would have thought that he was both old enough to be responsible for his own actions, and smart enough to get around most blocking if he wanted to. By switching to cellular data if nothing else.

At that age he's legally old enough to leave school, leave home and even get married. So he should start taking some responsibility for self-managing with study as well.

+1 on what JimmyH said.

For all the solutions mentioned so far my kids would be through them in seconds. The easiest example would be using services like google translate, open up google translate - ask it to translate a porn page from english to french and you're away laughing. The only way to thoroughly lock a system down is to use enterprise like security which even at a basic level is going to cost you a couple of grand and need someone to set it up.

Best bet is to use something cheap that will prevent casual or inadvertent browsing, don't expect miracles, and use hard time limits (wifi turns off at 11pm). Use the turn off time as a negotiating point, bad behaviour = earlier, good behaviour = later. And remember complete denial of internet will result in them looking for workarounds.

mdf

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#2117083 30-Oct-2018 19:51

So it sounds like your son wants to be more responsible with his internet habits, just needs some help to do so. You're not actually trying to lock things down tighter than Fort Knox so he is completely incapable of accessing the internet.

I am all too familiar with the perils of internet-based procrastination and fascinating distractions (exhibit 1: my discretionary time yesterday was largely spent reading about Emperor Dom Pedro II of Brazil), a la:

In an earlier trawl of the internet's many fascinations, I came across Charles Duhigg's The Power of Habit (this is the article in which he revealed Target knew someone was pregnant before her family did. Use Flybuys at your peril). He outlines a Cue -> Routine -> Reward cycle for habits. If you can redirect your habits positively, you potentially have a very powerful tool at your disposal.

For me, I identified that my cue was finishing something off. I would then go on the internet for a "short" break as a reward for finishing. But then would invariably find something more interesting (just one more Wikipedia link, just one more video) and before I knew it an hour or two had passed.

I experimented with allowing myself strict time limits (e.g. 10 minutes each time) but it didn't really help.

Much better for me was the XKCD approach (see the hover alt text and Randall's explanation here):

I found a Chrome app that had a 60 second delay prior to actually loading a distracting website. Obviously there were lots of easy ways to avoid this (different browser, incognito mode, turn off the extension etc.). But for me, this was enough to break the habit cycle since I didn't actually want to be on the internet, and having to wait 60 seconds was more than enough of a deterrent. I didn't need something to stop me accessing these things, just remind me that I shouldn't. There are lots of Chrome extensions and various apps to do something similar.

I'd try a few approaches with your son, perhaps including the initial block or reminder, some kind of timer (ten minutes is okay, longer is not), or even a timekeeper app to show how long you've been doing something. Everyone's habits work differently and I think the best bet would be to work with him to find something that worked for him, rather than a barrier that he will probably be able to work around anyway.

josephhinvest

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#2117271 31-Oct-2018 10:08

I’m late to this thread and it’s devolved into the parental advice stage :)

But I can happily recommend a Synology router. I have the 1600something. It’s good. Has built in parental controls that you can set up per device, safe search, content filters and also time limits per device.

There is a phone app with which you can connect to the router and monitor usage and turn on or off any of the above features.

I have the kids devices set with bedtime limits, later on weekend nights etc. (Younger kids tho). Is nice as there’s no negotiation, Internet goes off at 7pm no matter what. Good stuff.

Cheers,
Joseph

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Shop on-line at New World now for your groceries (affiliate link).

Peter12345

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#2119245 3-Nov-2018 19:09

Yes, it has/did devolve into parental advice - and that's a whole other topic. To refocus it a bit, two things/questions:

Last night we were going to go out, he delayed and delayed, long story short I said I am off and I unplugged the TP-Link AV600 Powerline that was connected at the router and took with me. His connection - powerpoint in his room and connect by cable to his PC -remained. Anyway, he came along. When we got home, my flatmate said he lost internet soon after we left. My son has said something similar happens at his mothers if this occurs as well.

Doesn't make sense to us as to why this happens. Modem connects to router. Flatmate connects to wireless signal. When we attach the AV600, it connects router to power point, then in his room 2nd unit connects from power point to his PC. So, we would have thought the Powerline as connected purely and simply connects his PC directly to router via power lines, and not wireless - so why is other wireless in house affected?

2nd question- we have the Powerline to enhance his signal to PC re gaming. If we get rid of it, and have a 2nd wireless 'mesh' router unit in his room - example, Google WiFi, Netgear Orbi - would the signal to his gaming PC be as good as the AV600 Powerline? A quick look on net indicates that the signal that the Powerlines say on box - in this case 600Mbps - in real life are nothing near it - and my brother also says signal latency will be affected as gong through old power lines in house.

Peter12345

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#2119246 3-Nov-2018 19:10

Will also ask these on separate dedicated threads

Jase2985

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#2119280 3-Nov-2018 21:22

Peter12345:

Will also ask these on separate dedicated threads

don't do that

Goosey

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#2119319 3-Nov-2018 23:43

Jase2985:

Peter12345:

Will also ask these on separate dedicated threads

don't do that

He did :-)

Sounds like your powerline kit has wifi and that explains why your flatmate loses wifi (they seem to be connecting to the powerline wifi rather than your router wifi).

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