Time Schedule and Parental Controls

When speaking with OpenDNS support person, they told me that my router could not be identified by them. I did send them my MAC address. I am not sure what that means but I am waiting on there answer.  I have the DNS values already added to the router.  Configuring this router is more of a hassle than it needs to be.  On a Linksys and Asus routers, blocking sites and setting a time schedule is straightforward, very easy and they make it easy.  Everything is done on the router itself.  

On the router, I have set an IP reservation belonging to my iPod. In OpenDNS, I have set a time schedule from 9pm to 9am and filtering set to HIGH.  I am not sure that is restricting internet access to my iPod and the filtering is working as it should.  At 8pm, my iPod is set to HIGH for filtering but I am still able to access FB or Youtube or Movie Star Planet.  Netflix still comes up and I can watch a movie. I am not sure that filtering is working properly on devices.

My two goals: 

1) I need to be able to set filters to block social media (FB, Twitter, KIK, etc..), movie streaming (Netflix, Youtube) and games (Movie Star Planet) PER device on an HOURLY basis. If I don't want my daughter to access Netflix for two hours in the afternoon, I should be able to make that quick restriction and it takes immediate affect on ALL of her devices. After two hours pass, I can grant her Netflix access. 

2) I need to be able to set a time schedule PER device on an HOURLY basis. I need the ability to set a time schedule to block internet access after 9pm on certain devices.  During the day, if I don't want my 2nd daughter to have internet access on ALL devices, again, I should be able to make the quick restriction to block time on all of the devices. After an hour or two has passed, I can grant her access on her devices.

I am able to achieve both goals on a Linksys and Asus rotuers. Without any trouble or delays, I can block sites and time to certain devices without affecting the rest of the devices in the home. I don't understand why is it so complicated on a Netgear router. 

Hi guyguy,

The router is limited to the features previously described and suggested.

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

guyguy you can configure this on NETGEAR business firewall. 

I have another question.  Lets say you have 2 adults and 3 kids in the house. The adults have iPads, Macbooks and Windows laptop while the teenagers have iPods, Windows laptop and Android phones.  The adults are on the 5 band and teens are on the 2.4 band.  The filtering is set to HIGH and the 2.4 band wireless radios are set to turn OFF between the hours of 8.30pm to 9am every day.  The 5 band radios are NOT set to turn off.

Lets say the time is 7pm, what happens if one of adults is on FB and clicks on a link to read an article but it is blocked. How is the adult suppose to access this article or link if it comes up blocked on the iPad? 

Continuing with a similar situation, what happens if you grandparents that come over to the house and they have iPads and Macbooks.  Obviously, you want to give them unrestricted internet access with no blocks to any site.

I guess the question that I am asking, how do you give adults unrestrictive internet access regardless of the device? I don't want to install something like Netgear Genie on there device just to give them access to sites which is normally blocked by OpenDNS or the router. On the router, if I know the IP or MAC address to the device, can I set unrestrictive access to that device which ignores any OpenDNS blocks? 

Hi guyguy,

If you do not want to install the Genie app on their devices to use the bypass login, you can set the filtering level to "None" on your select devices by the previously suggested Per Device Filtering. Please check the link below.

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/29913

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

Hi guyguy

Did you ever figure out how to do what you wanted with controls by device/by kid/by hour? Or did you end up buying a different router? What you outline is what I would like to do...also I would like to specifically block certain sites, not just a black/white list but rather by time of day and specifically not just by general category of social etc.  I would love to hear what solution you ended up with in the end as I am looking at this right now too and this nethawk seems to have limitations. thanks. Liz

Hi lizpadula,

You can check the link below for an overview of LPC and see if it is something that suits what you need.

http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/25687

Regards,

Dexter

Community Team

lizpadula- Sorry for the late response. Let me first say, most preteens and teenagers love their devices regardless if it is a phone, iPod, game system, laptop or something else that connects to your router. Obviously, I can't speak for every preteen and teenagers enviroment. I try to put myself into my own teenagers life and try to find out which sites and Apps they are using today.  That is the purpose for me to have "testing" devices. I use an iPod Touch 5g and a Windows laptop. 

I tried using the Nighthawk r8000 router in two different configurations. The first part, I configured it and was using, cough.. cough.. OpenDNS to set the content filtering level to most of the devices. I set the router to turn off wireless at 9pm which affects EVERY DEVICE. There was no way to set a time schedule on a single device. I used this configuration for about a week and I used an iPod and a wired computer as test devices to make changes to the configuration.  Also, I wanted to see what sites were blocked and which Apps were blocked based on the configuration. Unfortunately, I was disappointed because not many sites were block as I hoped for. 

The second part, I configured the router but instead I didn't use OpenDNS at all and I didn't use parental controls as PC is tied to OpenDNS. I used the same methods as I did in Part 1. I didn't see any benefits of this configuration except you can't do much unless you use OpenDNS.

In my conclusion, Netgear sucks. PERIOD. The router is a waste of money and time. The Genie App is terrible too. Does a "perfect" router exist? No, of course not. My definition of "perfect" must include the following features ie. Speed, Parental Controls, Firewall, Time Schedule, Web History or Log and a good App to manage the router. Everyone uses the router in a different way. Trust me, I have used Linksys 1900ac, Asus 68u, Apple Time Capsule and HomeHalo router. None of these are "perfect" routers but Asus came close to being a really good router.

Currently, I am using a Synology rt2600ac router.  Synology is based on there NAS products and they have only two routers ie. 1900ac and 2600ac.  The 2600ac is more expensive than the 1900 due to hardware reasons.  This router is not "perfect" but Synology is heading in the right direction in terms of features. I like what I see so far. 

I am SO disappointed in the lack of flexible device access scheduling on this router. I cannot believe a company with the consumer base of Netgear hasn't figured out that parents want flexible control on a per device basis in their household. I just "upgraded" to this modem router (xfinity user) because I wanted fuller support for the xfinity service i have, and because netgear has in general been more on the ball with needed firmware udpates.

Netgear--seriously--content filtering is at best a very limited form of parental control. I have teens in my house, and desperately need a way to schedule their access by device by day and by hour--variable. I did figure out how to block services on a schedule, but it only allows me to set one schedule, so I can only block access to services in one way regardless of the day of week. OMG--my kids have different weekday/weekend access schedules!!! Are you kidding here? Get some parents involved in your product ideation. 

This may or may not stall my netgear adoption.

storm1985 im trying to do exactly that on a FVS318Gv2,  can you send me more details on how?

jdoo5434

I have said this time and time again.  Netgear SUCKS.  They are clueless when it comes to parental controls. They use OpenDNS for content filtering which they suck too.  Don't waste your time and effort fixing OR looking at fixing something that you that is out of your control.  Stop using their product.  Depending on your budget, buy a Linksys, Asus or Synology router. 

bob1057 - it is under OUTBOUND rules ( Under Security > Firewall) 

*** you can set service (HTTPs,VPN or any service you want or set ALL services to be sure :)

*** actions (block or allow, set per schedule or always)

-- schedule profile is configure under Security > Schedule

* ** LAN users ( where you can set the IP addresses) 

Let me know if it works for you.

I agree that the parental controls are trash. Not what the description/feature-set were prior to purchase. 

Setup an OpenDNS account for what... blocking phishing sites? Total BS.

Where are the controls on time of day, device or user? 

The existing parental settings ARE GARBAGE and worthless.

I have said this time and time again. Today I will say it again, Netgear SUCKS.  They are clueless when it comes to parental controls. They use OpenDNS for content filtering which they suck too.  Don't waste your time and effort fixing OR looking at fixing something that you that is out of your control.  Stop using their products.  Depending on your budget, buy a Linksys, Asus or Synology router.  Buy something other than Netgear products. 

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chowphx wrote:

Setup an OpenDNS account for what... blocking phishing sites? Total BS.

 

Have you been out into Google land for information on this?

I fear that you will find that OpenDNS, now a part of Cisco, is a common feature on "parental control" technologies. Linksys, for example.

Home Internet Security | OpenDNS

You will find discussions just like this one on the support forums where they support other makes.

Some of the technology behind Parental controls, like other services, comes from third party suppliers. So whoever you buy hardware from, you may end up back at the same place.

It might be worth doing some background reading if you want to find an alternative that avoids the bad stuff that you see in Netgear's approach.

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guyguy wrote:

 

When speaking with OpenDNS support person, they told me that my router could not be identified by them. I did send them my MAC address. I am not sure what that means but I am waiting on there answer.  I have the DNS values already added to the router.  Configuring this router is more of a hassle than it needs to be.  On a Linksys and Asus routers, blocking sites and setting a time schedule is straightforward, very easy and they make it easy.  Everything is done on the router itself.  

 

On the router, I have set an IP reservation belonging to my iPod. In OpenDNS, I have set a time schedule from 9pm to 9am and filtering set to HIGH.  I am not sure that is restricting internet access to my iPod and the filtering is working as it should.  At 8pm, my iPod is set to HIGH for filtering but I am still able to access FB or Youtube or Movie Star Planet.  Netflix still comes up and I can watch a movie. I am not sure that filtering is working properly on devices.

 

My two goals: 

 

1) I need to be able to set filters to block social media (FB, Twitter, KIK, etc..), movie streaming (Netflix, Youtube) and games (Movie Star Planet) PER device on an HOURLY basis. If I don't want my daughter to access Netflix for two hours in the afternoon, I should be able to make that quick restriction and it takes immediate affect on ALL of her devices. After two hours pass, I can grant her Netflix access. 

 

2) I need to be able to set a time schedule PER device on an HOURLY basis. I need the ability to set a time schedule to block internet access after 9pm on certain devices.  During the day, if I don't want my 2nd daughter to have internet access on ALL devices, again, I should be able to make the quick restriction to block time on all of the devices. After an hour or two has passed, I can grant her access on her devices.

 

I am able to achieve both goals on a Linksys and Asus rotuers. Without any trouble or delays, I can block sites and time to certain devices without affecting the rest of the devices in the home. I don't understand why is it so complicated on a Netgear router. 

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I totally agree!!! I have the Nighthawk R8500 and I'm very frustrated to find the settings to cut off my kids' internet from 10pm to 6am the next morning. That is so simple to do with Asus routers! But why NOT Netgear?? This WILL be my last Netgear router for me!! I will NEVER buy Netgear again!! Very angry and disappointmented. One of my other option I need is "Wake ON LAN" on Netgear routers but I cannot find it!