Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
Stephanie110
Newbie

A few months back, the device profiles stopped working for us.

I didn't realize it at first, as we were pulling the kids off xbox manually.  Now that they are staying up later and later, I'd like it to just shut off.

The parental controls just ignore the rules set up in the profile.  ie: if internet gets blocked starting at 11 pm, it doesn't turn off and the kids are still playing at 11:30 pm.

I've tried reinstalling the app and rebooting the router.  Still ignores the time limitations.

Any help is appreciated.

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Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
parent21
Newbie

did you find a solution? having same problem with schedule not shutting down internet access set up in child’s profile

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Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
HomeSchoolDad1

Does Verizon monitor this forum and offer any help or is it just us trying to figure out why Verizon tech is garbage?

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Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
Cang_Household
Community Leader
Community Leader

This poster, please relax for a second.

Parent Control synchronization is a known problem for FiOS App. The current workaround is to directly setup everything in the router's GUI.

Make sure the intended-to-be-blocked device's IP address is correct. Sometimes the router releases a different IP address for a device. Since you blocking All Internet Access, you can use Access Control under Firewall (in GUI). There, you can block internet access based on MAC address, which is sort of a permanent address for a device.

If your kids know how to bypass Parental Controls and Access Control, then it is quite easy for them to evade the restrictions. Well, at that point, they probably won't play games any more but become a network engineer. I am just conjecturing. 😄

Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
LawrenceC
Moderator Emeritus

Hello HomeSchoolDad,

This community is meant mainly for peer-to-peer support. If you need to talk to a Verizon representative, you should contact customer service directly though one of the methods available on our Support page.

Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
TheRosenator
Newbie

Hi Cang_Household - 

Thanks for the post on managing parental controls. Unfortunately, your suggestion to use the router GUI doesn't work because Verizon forces you to use the app only to manage parental controls. If I go to the router's parental controls or device management pages, the options to manage a given device are disabled and a message states that I must use the app to manage parental controls.

As you point out, the app still has synchronization issues. I'm wondering if there is a known way to force a re-sych between the router and app that you know of? This would solve the problem, I think.

I do also think you've brought up another issue as well - the router, it seems, recycles IP addresses. So the parental control groupings we painstakingly input become null and void when this happens. Worse, a device that was formerly not managed (my wife's, for instance), ends up under parental control!! How verizon chose to use IP address for parental controls is beyond me. The correct solution is to use MAC address I would think.

Any/all help appreciated!

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Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
Cang_Household
Community Leader
Community Leader

You cannot setup Parental Controls manually on the router? What router do you have, G3100 or G1100?

I referenced this Help page. https://www.verizon.com/support/residential/internet/security/parental-controls 

Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
kddc
Enthusiast - Level 2

Any resolution on this? The sync is one issue but I also get random dns errors when a computer is on the restriction list. For example it won’t load google.com reliably even though google is not explicitly blocked. 

The app is a mess for parental controls. 

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Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
Tirolia
Newbie

Thank you for the reply. I do have a budding computer coding kiddo...so I may just be out of luck. I want to be able to see all devices in the household via Verizon app or Admin access, and turn off internet access as needed. With the IP addresses not static, I can’t know which device I’m flipping on or off. My system was working until the IP addresses changed. Can I use the MAC address? I am not an engineer so please forgive me if my question is not worded properly. Thanks in advance for any help.

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Re: Parental controls device schedule/profile not working
Cang_Household
Community Leader
Community Leader

You can block devices from Internet access based on MAC address. Although MAC address is not meant to be changed from time to time, your kid can learn to manually change it.

To complete disable a device from accessing the Internet, off-the-shelf home/office routers are not able to achieve it. You would need a managed access point or a L3 switch to setup policies to suspend connections if a rule is violated (such as unauthorized IP change, MAC change, schedule violation, and so on.) These advanced devices are geared towards enterprise deployment. They are not cheap.