Limiting a teenagers internet usage

T

tsonka

Limp Gawd
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Nov 21, 2006
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I have a teenager that seems to have trouble picking up after herself and getting things around the house done, but there seems to always be time for Myspace. The problem with just putting the smack down and saying get off the internet is that I do not get home from work untill 6pm and I go to bed at 10pm, she gets home from shool at 3 and stays up who knows how long.

Is there any way to go into my router settings or something along that line and program her router port to be "off" during certin times. Such as setting it to only allow a connection between 4pm - 10pm?


I doubt there is but thought Id ask
 
Don't know, but you could probably just unplug the router when you want her off. (but you've probably thought of that already)
 
The problem with unplugging it is she gets home from school at 3 and I dont get home till 6. She has alot of unsupervised time and I would hope that she is smart enough to check connections if something isnt working.

Its a shame when you have to treat a 16 year old like you would a 10 year old
 
Does your router have URL blocking? If so you can just change the password of the router and you can enable it when you have time. She is probably fornicating over MySpace.
 
Indeed you can.

Login to your router and goto 'Access Restrictions' you can set times to block the internet for 'everyday' or select days ... eg. allow her full access on the weekends but not on weekdays etc....

Have a look you'll figure it out.
 
I use Kids Watch and it does everything I need it to. Check it out and see what you think. I researched all sorts of parental control solutions and this one seems to fit the bill. I've been using it for over a year now and somehow, the chores seem to get done, where before I had to constantly fuss with my three kids to get stuff done. (picking up their rooms, taking out the trash, feeding the pet, etc).

It is fully customizable and you can set it as open or as locked down as you want. Fortunately for me, none of my three kids has discovered how to bypass it ;)

...just my $0.02 :cool:
 
Linksys Routers are really flexible in controlling internet access. You set up an access policy that allows or denies a certain computer (by MAC Address, usually) during certain times of the day. If you just want to deny her access to web browsing, you can set up to allow access 24/7 but deny HTTP services during certain hours (no web browsing, period, but other things work such as email and IM) or you can just block specific sites based on URL or keywords.
 
Tcalp said:
Indeed you can.

Login to your router and goto 'Access Restrictions' you can set times to block the internet for 'everyday' or select days ... eg. allow her full access on the weekends but not on weekdays etc....

Have a look you'll figure it out.
Click to expand...

devman said:
Linksys Routers are really flexible in controlling internet access. You set up an access policy that allows or denies a certain computer (by MAC Address, usually) during certain times of the day. If you just want to deny her access to web browsing, you can set up to allow access 24/7 but deny HTTP services during certain hours (no web browsing, period, but other things work such as email and IM) or you can just block specific sites based on URL or keywords.
Click to expand...

Wrong. The BEFSR41 does not have this access restriction tab. Almost all newer Linksys -- including the famous WRT54G -- does have this tab where you can add a MAC address and an allowed/disallowed time.
 
Yeah, just about all new routers include access restriction. It may be worth it to pick a WRT54G, it is a great router all around anyways.

Just do a little research, almost all of them advertise parental controls and all of that fun stuff nowadays : )
 
Thanks for the replies, looks like it's time for a new router. I looked at the WRT54G but it is wirless and I need something wired..
 
Quite a few decent software packages out there which "manage" the computers internet use. NetNanny types...like NetNanny itself, or CyberPatrol, or WebWatcher.
 
tsonka said:
Thanks for the replies, looks like it's time for a new router. I looked at the WRT54G but it is wirless and I need something wired..
Click to expand...

It is wired AND wireless.... and you can disable the wireless if it's not needed...

I've had a WRT54GL for about a year and my parents have had a WRT54G for the last 3+ years without any issue....

Just make sure that she doesn't know how to hard reset the router (physical access to the button on the back)....
 
OSUguy98 said:
Just make sure that she doesn't know how to hard reset the router (physical access to the button on the back)....
Click to expand...

Or set it up with a different from default IP and set a static IP for her computer. ;)
 
no worries about her resetting the router. If she does yo uwill know about it and have physical proof. at that point its time to take the cable modem with you when you leave... Kids need to have respect.
 
take her computer


break it with hammer


problem solved... doesn't sound like an IT issue IMO
 
I work at a school for troubled teens and maintain all the computers on campus (100+) ..and have setup a computer lab just for the kids in which they do school work , type papers , play games (Halo, Serious Sam 1st & 2nd encounters , NFSU 1 & 2 etc ..) and have controlled supervised internet access

during the day I leave the windows boxes blocked from internet and only the linux boxes are allowed out from the lab ..then at 5pm I open up everything so the computer lab comps can get updates and what not (turn in their works units for F@H ;) ..and get new ones).

I use a computer running Smoothwall Express 3.0 with mods from the homebrew section in forums there. I have Dansguardian with ClamAV , Timed Outgoing Block mod ..and a list of others ... one fun one that I just started playing with is called "squirm" ..

..what it does is redirects any given site you choose to any other given site you choose

example:

with an entry in the "squirm.patterns" file like such

Code: 
regexi ^http://www\.myspace\.com/.* http://barney.com

when your daughter tries to open up http://www.myspace.com ..it will redirect her and http://barney.com will come up all the time instead :p

SW Express is free for corporate use hence the reason why I use it at work in conjunction with it's excellent community to draw help from ..but there are other distros free for home use that might do the same thing "out of the box" that you could try

so in affect , with a hardware appliance (old computer and a couple nics) you could restrict your daughters internet access all together to certain time intervals ..or you could allow limited access and block just "myspace" ..or you could frustrate here with a redirector and watch your log files fill up with "http://barney.com" entries ..lol

..or just sit down and talk with her and express your concern for her and her not respecting your rules/requests and get her to be more responsible on her own ..:(



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