Deny a kid's Internet access across multiple time blocks.
Verath
Enthusiast - Level 1

I'm trying to set up parental controls, and finding them bizarrely limited. I need to black out Internet access for my kid's devices during his remotely-attended classes - but not lunch or a few other classes. And the class times are different each day of the week. Our G3100 router seems to allow only a >single< (!!) rule per device ... and each rule has only a single time span ... although I can at least choose which days it applies.

But what I need is for either (A) a single rule to be able to specify a collection of distinct time-blocks for each day and/or (B) to be able to set >multiple< rules for a single device (actually, >set< of devices - as allowed in current rule definitions).

ALSO:  regarding dynamic IP address assignment breaking the binding of rules to devices .... You can configure the router to >statically< assign an IP address to each device, identified by that device's MAC address. The hard part of this is simply finding the option to do so ... it's four (!) levels deep in the G3100's menus:

Starting from "Home" (https://192.168.1.1/index.htm), choose: "Network" => "Advanced" => "IPv4 Address Distribution" (under the "Network Settings" heading) => "Connection List". That >should< reveal a list of everything connected to your router. Find the device you want by its MAC address (something like C8:02:A4:63:6D:FA), and click "Edit".

That should give you a "DHCP Connection Settings" page, on which you can edit the IP address and the Host Name. It's best to keep the Host Name simple (digits & upper/lower case letters; no spaces, no underscores or other special chars, other than "-" (hyphen)).

For the IP address (something like 192.168.1.47), change only the last part (here "47") (unless networking guru) ... allowed values are from 2 up to 255. (The G3100 is .1). Make a list for yourself of what you assign, to avoid assigning same address to multiple devices. If you choose a different address than the current one, you'll have to wait a few hours, restart the device, or get it to "release" the "binding" to the current address.

I hope that helps.

{edited for privacy}

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Solved (?): Deny a kid's Internet access across multiple time blocks.
Verath
Enthusiast - Level 1

P.S. to my preceding comment ... I >think< I found how to do parental controls across a variety of time blocks scattered throughout the school week.

In brief, it seems to be a combination of setting the full list of those time blocks within a   >single< "Scheduler Rule" ("Advanced" => "Scheduler Rules" (under "Date & Time" heading) and then using that rule to define when to apply a custom access control rule (defined under "Firewall" => "Access Control"). If that rule is to apply to multiple devices, you might want to define that set of devices as a "network object" ("Advanced" => "Network Objects" (under "Network Settings" heading).

I'm still a bit tentative on this solution, though, as my first round of activating a new rule in this way seems to have knocked some >others< in my household off the net. Fortunately, once an access control rule has been defined, there's a single checkbox for activating/deactivating it.

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Solved (?): Deny a kid's Internet access across multiple time blocks.
Verath
Enthusiast - Level 1

P.S. to my preceding comment ... I >think< I found how to do parental controls across a variety of time blocks scattered throughout the school week.

In brief, it seems to be a combination of setting the full list of those time blocks within a   >single< "Scheduler Rule" ("Advanced" => "Scheduler Rules" (under "Date & Time" heading) and then using that rule to define when to apply a custom access control rule (defined under "Firewall" => "Access Control"). If that rule is to apply to multiple devices, you might want to define that set of devices as a "network object" ("Advanced" => "Network Objects" (under "Network Settings" heading).

I'm still a bit tentative on this solution, though, as my first round of activating a new rule in this way seems to have knocked some >others< in my household off the net. Fortunately, once an access control rule has been defined, there's a single checkbox for activating/deactivating it.

Re: Solved (?): Deny a kid's Internet access across multiple time blocks.
Cang_Household
Community Leader
Community Leader

Firewall Access Control is different from Parental Controls. Access Control can be MAC-address-based if you are worried about dynamic IP address. What happens when children figured out how to change their MAC addresses? Hum.... You might need other equipment.

Access Control blocks all WAN connection. This may not be ideal for blocking certain websites. Parental Controls, on the other hand, has less flexible settings.