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Status:
New Idea
Feature Request: Block or allow individual devices based on time schedule
I have an R7500 Nighthawk router that works beautifully. But one feature I miss is the ability to block individual devices based on a time schedule. There is a feature to block ALL devices on a time schedule, but not individual devices. Please consider adding that feature.
For example, I want to block my 2 kids Ipods between 9pm and 7am on school nights, and 10pm and 7am on weekends, and allow all other devices. Unless I'm missing something, this is not currently possible
55 Comments
- Please add device specific blocking. Ideakky mac address based. Shocked it is not on the nighthawk routers.
I bought the Netgear due to the advertised parental controls, which turned out not to work. I then purchased a SKYDOG on kickstarter which has been AMAZING but was bought out and my teenagers have figured out if they cut the power and restrat the timer functionality stops working. And they stream their merry way though the night. Netgear, I assumed two years on that this functionality would have been programmed in on the updates but no such luck!
- I just bought and returned the R8000 night hawk router. I was unaware that this $299 router does not have the ACL with a schedule. I unfortunately need the ability to enable my kids Internet during certain times of the day and disabling it at other times. Ended up getting the asus ac3100. Would have like to have kept the other one.
Hi, I'd like to add to the comments here that updates to the Parental Controls features should include:
1. Ability to apply content filters and basic service access by device MAC address, not by assigned IP.
2. Ability to default contect access to "everything" and time access to "all hours" for all devices except specific MAC addresses
3. Give each device MAC address the abiltity to setup various time schedules with varying levels of basic access permissions and/or content filtering
e.g. Allow low filtering from 10am-2pm, high fitlering from 6pm-11pm and no wifi access at all from 11pm-6am the next day)
4. If #2 not available, then an easy way to bypass content/time access for allowable devices without having to login to Netgenie using admin credentials and without having to change the settings (this would be in the case where your child is legitimately doing homework past their allowable hours or accessing a legit site that it flagged as suspect)
To sum up...MAC address!!! All parental control features should revolve around the devices themselves, not IP addresses (that supposedly can be changed).
I'm currently using your AC1750 Smart WIFI Router (Model 6400)
I contacted support about the issue and well I will let this speak for itself...
Hi Dan,
Thank you for contacting NETGEAR Email support.
We do apologize for the inconvenience that this has caused you.
For me to better assist you on this case, I would need to verify your product. Please provide the following information:
1. What is the serial number of your NETGEAR device? The serial number is usually printed on the bottom or the back panel of the device
2. When and where did you purchase the device?
For additional information about your product, please visit http://support.netgear.com/for_home/default.aspx
Thank you for choosing NETGEAR.
Regards,
Fahad
Expert ID 46229
NETGEAR Support Expert
**Please be reminded that this case will auto close after 7 days of inactivity.Online Comment
4/10/2016 12:34 AM
Why does it matter what I have, if Netgear does not have the software to set a time schedule for devices based on MAC address or anything else it does not matter what I have. If Netgear really cared about this issue they would answer the many customers who need this feature and can get it through other wifi routers.
That said I will provide my info although I dont know how this will resolve the issue
Product: R6900
Serial Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Country of Purchase: United States
Purchased on: 14/Jan/2016
Registered on: 15/Jan/2016
Standard Product Warranty * :
- Hardware Warranty: Available till 13/Jan/2017
- Free Installation Support Warranty: Available till 13/Apr/2016Online Comment
4/10/2016 12:34 AM
Why does it matter what I have, if Netgear does not have the software to set a time schedule for devices based on MAC address or anything else it does not matter what I have. If Netgear really cared about this issue they would answer the many customers who need this feature and can get it through other wifi routers.
That said I will provide my info although I dont know how this will resolve the issue
Product: R6900
Serial Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Country of Purchase: United States
Purchased on: 14/Jan/2016
Registered on: 15/Jan/2016
Standard Product Warranty * :
- Hardware Warranty: Available till 13/Jan/2017
- Free Installation Support Warranty: Available till 13/Apr/2016NETGEAR Support
4/10/2016 7:00 PM
Hi Dan,
Thank you for the information that you have provided.
Your R6900 warranty details are as follows:
•Purchase date: January 14, 2016
•Complimentary support: 90 days
•Hardware warranty (from purchase date): 1 year
For more information regarding our support options, please visit http://www.netgear.com/support/contact.aspx
Please note that the product support are available based on its warranty entitlement.
Going back to your case, if you want to scheduled Internet access to each devices, I would suggest that you configure the Parental Control feature of the router.
To configure the Parental Controls using the NETGEAR genie app:
1. Use a computer that is connected to your NETGEAR router.
2. Open the NETGEAR genie app.
Note: In the following example, the NETGEAR genie app for Windows PC will be used.
3. Click Parental Controls.
4. If you are not logged into the router, NETGEAR genie will ask for the username and password.
Type the default username which is admin and the default password which is password (unless you have previously changed the password).
5. The Parental Controls window will appear. Click Next to proceed with the setup.
6. The Setting up Live Parental Controls screen displays.
Select Yes if you have an OpenDNS account.
If you do not have one, click No, I need to create a free OpenDNS account.
7. Click Next.
In this scenario, we are going to create a new OpenDNS account.
8. Complete the OpenDNS information for your account and click Next.
9. Select the filtering level and click Next.
In this scenario, we are going to select High to block access to adult-related sites, video sharing, social networking sites, and phishing attacks.
The filtering level is now properly set.
The next step is to create a bypass account so some computers/devices will still be able to access the internet without any restriction.
10. On the NETGEAR genie Status window, click Change Custom Settings.
11. You will be redirected to https://netgear.opendns.com. Click Add a bypass account.
Note: You need to install the NETGEAR genie on each computer, iPhone, iPad, or Android device that you want to use the Bypass account.
12. Create the username and password for your bypass account, then click Add account.
13. Next is to edit the filtering level of your bypass account.
In this scenario, we are going to set it to None. Click on Save Filtering Level afterwards.
Note: You can also set a schedule on when the parental controls should filter the content and filtering level.
14. Click Add a time block. Select the time and type of filtering level. Then click Add Time Block.
Now that we have successfully created a bypass account, we are now going to use it to bypass the parental control filtering.
15. Go back to your NETGEAR genie Status window and click on Bypass Login.
16. Double-click the bypass account.
17. Enter the password. Click Login.
18. Once successfully logged in, you can now access the internet without any restriction.
If you try to access blocked content on a computer with active parental control filtering, you will get a similar page below. It means the Live Parental Control is working perfectly.
For more information on how to setup the Parental Control feature, you may refer to this link: http://kb.netgear.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/25687
After creating a bypass account for your device, please create another bypass account for each device. After you create the bypass account for each device, enable it on the Genie app of the specific device you want to limit the access then configure the Time block. Please make sure that you change the admin password of the Genie app so that they will not be able to change any settings.
If the information provided did not help in resolving your issues, please reply to this email so that we can further isolate your case and find the best solution.
Thank you for choosing NETGEAR.
Regards,
Fahad
Expert ID: 46229
NETGEAR Support Expert
**Please be reminded that this case will auto close after 7 days of inactivity.Online Comment
4/11/2016 2:03 PM
I have contacted support several times on various issues and every time I do at some point I am sent an excerpt from the user manual which I have already referred to and read and if it was any help at all I wouldn't' need to ask support. I already have parental controls set up but any of the controls do not block individual devices on a scheduled basis.
The bottom line is Netgear planning on adding this feature in an update or is it not even part of their plans that is the question yes or no?FINALLY a real and honest answer from Netgear!!!
"Thank you for the screen shot.
I understand the feature that you want to configure. However, the NETGEAR router does not have the same feature as the DLink router. We do not have the information if the said feature will be available in the future firmware release. As of now, only the Parental Controls is the feature that can block devices at specific time.
Again, thank you for choosing NETGEAR.
Regards,
NETGEAR Support Expert "I had this scheduling feature in my DLINK Extreme router. I absolutely LOVED it. It was easy to setup and very effective at access control for certain devices at certain times. Specifically for limiting and controlling my kids iPods iPads and phones access to reasonable and acceptable hours of the day. It was simple, input the MAC address of the device. Set the acces shedule for that MAC address. Save, and done.
When I moved to a NetGear R6400 I have to say that I was promptly disappointed. This new router is physically huge in comparison to my old one. The wifi signal isn't any stronger. Throughput is definitely better though, probably only because this new one is AC, and we have a multitude of devices connected to it. HOWEVER, a big huge gargantuan disappointment in the firmware/software features in this router as compared to my DLINK ones. If this can't be improved, and soon, through a firmware update. I will simply replace this by going BACK to the 10 year old slower DLINK just because of the size and the software. Netgear has good hardware which "may" be better than DLINK. DLINK has the controller/parent software that is WAY BETTER than Netgear.
So, I am going to make suggestion, which is admittedly biased based on my experience.
a) If you want fantastic and easy parental and device access controls --> go get a DLINK.
b) If you don't have a household to monitor and actively parent (or you just don't care), and you want a monster big black box with raw power and minimal software features --> go get a NetGear.
By the way. The "Live Parental Controls" and "NetGenie" things are absolute joke and are archeaic compared to the DLINK features. NetGenie and the NetGear blocking just don't work. You get it all setup and turned on. Then go do some surfing testing and are amazed at how everything still works and is accessed with no blocking on at all.
The core OPENDNS is great and everyone needs to know that you can use OPENDNS completely separately from your NetGear router. You can setup and use a free OPENDNS account with any router or computer or device that you have. Just go to the opendns website. All you do is put the OPENDNS server address into your router/computer/device DNS server settings, works on ANYthing. There is no magic to this and there is no glorious netgear exclusive feature to this.
Please add a mac based scheduled access blocking to the device. I cannot recommend this router without an easy way to do **bleep**. Look at D-Link if you need an example.
For those still struggling with this. Here is another thought and option which you can do. ..... which is what I will end up doing. If you are like me you probably have a really really good old router laying around but you needed the better wifi and that is the only reason you got into this netgear.
This idea will, should fix it up for you up until you figure out a way to get out of the netgear.
- Use a dlink (or other) as the dhcp server that has all the access controls and scheduling features you need.
- Use your netgear as wifi access point only, so you have the high speed wifi.
Get a cheap or use your old cheap gigabit rated DLINK or some other good router that has all the access control features you want. For this you don't care at all about the wifi ratings of the router. You will use the dlink as your main dhcp router/server, and the netgear will only be the wifi inpoint.
1. Set your netgear as a wifi acces point only, disable the dhcp on the netgear. Disable anyt and all access or filtering features.
2. Disable the wifi on the dlink.
3. Enable the dhcp server on the dlink. This will be your actual "network" router.
4. plug the netgear into a gigabit Lan port on the dlink.
5. plug the other end into a gigabit Lan port on the netgear.
6. Plug your ISP into the wan port on the dlink.
7. Turn everything on and configure your network, filtering, schedules, accesses -- all on the dlink.
Done and done. Your IP addressing and access controls are all done now by the dlink and you can enjoy having control over your network. Your netgear now only provides the high speed wifi access point, it does no control or filtering. it is only a high speed radio. Easy.
It is a workaround. Yes. But for those like me who made the mistake of getting a netgear, at least this way you can realize the high speed wifi feature and not be limited by the other shortcomings.
Another vote for this. I just got my new R8000 setup and was surprised to find this really basic feature was missing. Please add it ASAP. It seems silly to put my six year old Linksys back as my main router and use the R8000 as nothing but an access point.