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Author Topic: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access  (Read 5681 times)

Rooftop

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Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« on: June 27, 2018, 09:46:59 AM »
A friend was asking how best to limit how much time one of their kids spends online (kid loves to fire up the tablet in the middle of the night).  I went through some options with them, but then go thinking about a smarter way to do it.  I'd be surprised if this doesn't exist, but I haven't found anything yet.

  • Subscription service that acts as DNS / filter. Managed through web interfact
  • Parent needs to change router DNS service to use
  • Any new device connecting needs to authorise (cookie set) with parent pin
  • Parent can then control access by device : hours per week, service times, blocked sites etc

It would have all the usual challenges that DNS isn't that hard to get around, but the per-device set-up seems more useful than what I've seen on offer (Just because I don't want my kids looking at midget porn, doesn't mean I'm giving it up, etc).  Also ISP specific offerings and those build into routers suck.

I'm actually not into filtering at all, but device level policies managed offsite seemed sensible. In my friends case they want to limit the kids devices to being usable 7am-7pm, but everyone keeps suggesting that they turn the router off overnight (no tv, no parent internet) or set it on each device using whatever system each uses. 
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BoL

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #1 on: June 27, 2018, 10:01:30 AM »
>Parent can then control access by device : hours per week, service times, blocked sites etc

Most routers already have a basic level of access control when it comes to devices and time of day. They could probably be made a lot more non-tech friendly, but generally you just login, identify the device and put some limits on
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DrCool

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #2 on: June 27, 2018, 12:55:10 PM »
https://meetcircle.com/ seems like a decent solution. I haven't dug deep into it but it looks like there are a lot of options around setting time limits for different apps, filtering, tracking usage, etc.
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rcjordan

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #3 on: June 27, 2018, 02:11:28 PM »
>tablets

Dumb-ish idea that might work for young children: For crude wi-fi blocking, put in a separate router for the kids and put that one on a smarthome-type receptacle programmed to kill power overnight with the schedule locked down on an app on the parents' phone.

Of course, the older kids will just go to Walmart and buy a secret burner phone.  (Seriously. I've heard a couple instances of this).

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Rooftop

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #4 on: June 27, 2018, 03:53:41 PM »
Quote from: DrCool on June 27, 2018, 12:55:10 PM
https://meetcircle.com/ seems like a decent solution. I haven't dug deep into it but it looks like there are a lot of options around setting time limits for different apps, filtering, tracking usage, etc.

That actually looks like a decent solution, thanks.  I'll have a dig

Thankfully we don't need this ourselves yet. We had one long chat about acceptable use and the kids are so scared that I'll change the wifi password that they're sticking to the rule so far!   
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Rupert

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #5 on: June 27, 2018, 04:05:44 PM »
Quote
they're sticking to the rule so far! 

Won't last long.  :'(  My girls an Angel... not....
we just have kit outside all bedrooms.  Downstairs in fact.  Works well for parents too. do what you like after bed time, but don't get caught.

That does not stop a burner phone. Mind you, sim cards are cheap these days.  Anyone buying a burner phone can probably manage a sim card.
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rcjordan

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #6 on: June 27, 2018, 04:18:02 PM »
>probably manage a sim card.

If not, they have 10 friends who will be more than eager to help them.

>Won't last long.

Unless they're toddlers, you're already breached and just don't know it.
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ergophobe

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #7 on: June 28, 2018, 02:44:52 AM »
Gargoyle router with quotas set. If you want to deny access between certain hours, you set the quote to 0 MB. Every device gets the default quotas, and then you whitelist your own devices to let them run 24/7

Or, if you want to do a digital detox, you don't whitelist your devices.
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martinibuster

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #8 on: June 28, 2018, 05:09:06 PM »
>>>A friend was asking how best to limit how much time one of their kids spends online...

My wife and I restrict my daughter's usage verbally. She tested the boundaries a couple times to see if she could get away with it (this is natural and expected). First time a warning. Next time the device was confiscated.

Once the border probing was over she understood that this was the new normal. Done.

No offense meant to anyone, but if you need to physically restrict usage because your kid is going behind your back then that's a parenting problem. 

Talk to your child. Don't yell. Just sit down and discuss. But most importantly, listen. Listen to your child's concerns and answer those.

And if your talk fails, then it's time for discipline in the form of confiscating the device. People think of discipline in terms of yelling and punishment. It's not. Discipline is about setting rules that benefit the child. Everything is about benefiting the kid, including rules.

Bed time rules are about them getting enough sleep. Children, including teens, need something like 9 hours or more of sleep in order to grow. If getting them to bed early is about you getting some "me time" then you're a failure as a parent.

It's all about the kids.

I would consider myself a failure as a parent if I had to program a Wi-Fi router to keep my teen off the Internet. 
« Last Edit: June 28, 2018, 05:12:52 PM by martinibuster »
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rcjordan

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #9 on: June 28, 2018, 05:28:33 PM »
I'd have considered my kids to be failures if they'd have fallen in line with a good talking-to and a couple of confiscations.  I was hell to raise --boundaries were meant to be broken. My most independent kids were the same --and, coincidentally(?), their success in adult life seem to correspond to just how hard they were to raise.

Good kids go to heaven, bad kids go everywhere else.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2018, 05:31:08 PM by rcjordan »
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rcjordan

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #10 on: June 28, 2018, 05:40:20 PM »
"Yeah, but you're not her parents, anymore, you and Helen. Her parents are Axl Rose and Madonna. The five minutes you spend a day with her can't compete with that kind of constant bombardment. You're outgunned, amigo." --True Lies
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ergophobe

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #11 on: June 28, 2018, 05:45:35 PM »
Quote
your kid is going behind your back then that's a parenting problem

Roger... not to offend either, but...

Consider this: My parents would scold me for wiping my mouth on my sleeves at dinner. My grandmother cut sleeves off my uncles old shirts an pulled them on as napkins.

Or let's look at it another way. I can solve the problem of my kid eating sweets before dinner in three ways
1. Leave a plate of cookies out on the table all day long and say "Don't eat those."
2. Lock up the plate of cookies completely out of sight and say "We'll have cookies only after dinner."
3. Have no cookies in the house and say "Sorry sweetie, we don't have any cookies."
4. Only have really, really crappy cookies.

To me, I as a kid, I would find it easiest and happiest to live in household number 3.

I added #4 because I realized that was my parents' strategy with TV - crappy little B&W tv with two clear channels. I noticed the kid next door with a big color TV and cable watched a lot more TV. Of course, if my mother had had her way, we would have watched a lot more too. The decision was economic.
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rcjordan

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #12 on: June 28, 2018, 05:52:42 PM »
>To me, I as a kid, I would find it easiest and happiest to live in household number 3

Milksop, hhh.

I can vividly remember discussing the consequences of our plans with my older brother:

"You know the old man is going to beat the hell out of us, right?"

"Yeah, but it'll be worth it."
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ergophobe

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #13 on: June 28, 2018, 05:57:23 PM »
>>Milksop, hhh.

Guilty as charged

I'm the youngest. My sister grew up in a house with a ton of rules. I had almost no rules. Only two that I really remember

- Must go to church every Sunday
- Never drive drunk or get into a car with someone drunk.

This was way, way before Mothers Against Drunk Driving. My dad had been a teacher and one night, in his little high school of about 500 kids, *seven* kids died coming back from drinking illegally.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2018, 06:04:13 PM by ergophobe »
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rcjordan

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Re: Does this exist : Service to manage home net access
« Reply #14 on: June 28, 2018, 06:04:29 PM »
I'm the eldest of my dad's 2nd marriage.  My two older (half) brothers were hellions, I followed their lead.  I was better at getting away with it.  Most of my teen life was spent doing what I wanted --police, school, or parents to the contrary. If I got caught, I considered it due to my own stupid fault.

Dad's rule was pretty simple: "Don't call me from jail." And we knew he meant it.

<added>
>Don't call me from jail.

So, in my world this meant having a car and boat fast enough to outrun the authorities.  And I did. Repeatedly.
« Last Edit: June 28, 2018, 06:06:50 PM by rcjordan »
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