Help and advice required

Hi all

I'm after a little advice from someone with a little more experience with networking.

My lad has figured out that if he changes his MAC address he can bypass parental controls. So, i figured set it up only to allow x MAC addresses. However i was limited to 16 addresses, which then i needed more due to wireless devices.

Anyway. Adter all the messing with that router, it decided to give up the ghost and die. So i bought a TPLINK Archer c59, horrible device and it getting sent back to Amazon in the morning. Ive now got a Asus router, but that dont allow LAN MAC filtering, and the wireless MAC filtering seems a little hit and miss.

So, as the house has cat6e throughout, i thought ~~~~ it, get another NIC and put him through my PC by running a new CAT6e into loft where my pc is stationed.

So i want to know which would be easiest solution to block him at x time. Remember he can change his MAC/IP/PC Name i either need to disconnect him via my MAC address in router access table (would this work or would it act like a switch as its not data end point?)


Any suggestions ideas guys

Does his the computer have the capability to be connected by wired Ethernet, and if so can it be permanently disabled or so inconvenient as to make it impossible to connect without you knowing it?

The reason I ask is that most modern routers now have guest WiFi capability. You basically end up with two separate WiFi networks. My thinking would be that your primary WiFi network that the adults use will have a password that only the adults know. You can also hide the SSID so the adults would not only have the password to themselves, but they would also have to manually connect to the hidden network.

The guest WiFi would be for the child and most of the routers that have a guest WiFi channel also have all the settings available associated with it, included scheduling when it is available.

Another option would be relatively the same - your main WiFi you keep for yourself and you get a second router and or WiFi bridge that the child connects to and you set the schedule for when that router provides a connection.

Does your son have a cell phone with WiFi/data capability? It's pretty easy for him to use that as his own hotspot and connect the computer through it, BTW.

Hi and thanks for the reply.

He has his own pc on a cat6e (well had waiting on new cable arriving)

I've considered this with guest network however there are only 'lease' times say 1 day 2 hours no set schedule like parental controls.

Atm I'm networking my main pc to my laptop to try severing mac address there however from trial it still passes though so this might not work.

Then I would look at a second cheap router. What about your old one that you are replacing with the ASUS? The second router would fill the role you are currently trying to achieve with your PC.

I have. Still serves no purpose. New main router handle all dhcp and Mac filtering won't work as it acts as a switch in ap mode so data passes through on its way to the end point

If your router will run DD-WRT, then you could get the MAC filtering and more.

Can't you take away his admin privilege on the computer in question?

cunny said:

So i want to know which would be easiest solution to block him at x time. Remember he can change his MAC/IP/PC Name...

Low-tech brute force method: Put a mini-hub (like this) between him and the router and plug its power supply into a timer switch (like this). Oh, and lock it away in a cupboard :)

The switch mentioned I tried a netgear similar however it had no mac blocking/allow tables. Nor schedules.

I don't want to touch his pc to put admin control on as it's his,he bought it.

Other than timers on the electric outlet I can't believe there is no other way?

Just to be clear, you need working MAC address filtering at the router level and your ASUS router is spotty on this feature (at least on Wifi)?

Here are a few thoughts:

0. Report defect on mac wifi filtering to ASUS
1. Firmware update from Asus..are you running the latest?
2. Turn your idea around: turn off DHCP, use static IP addresses assigned by the router at the MAC address level...if it has that feature...and this may be problematic
3. Reflash your router with DD-WRT, if your router supports DD-WRT and you are up for reflashing your router with non-stock firmware, this will probably have the features you need. Here are a few links to review:

Access Restrictions - DD-WRT Wiki
Adding security to your WIFI network with a MAC whitelist. | SnazCom Information Technology Consultants, Surrey, BC.

4. If all this fails, then maybe look at using DNS level filtering instead of MAC based filtering:

Introducing FamilyShield Parental Controls, the Easiest Way to Keep Kids Safe Online | OpenDNS
Web Content Filtering and Security – OpenDNS