I am looking to limit a particular device's access to the internet by cumulative daily time, as opposed to unlimited access during certain time periods. EG, rather than merely limit device A to access between 7-10PM, I would like to limit the access time to 1 hour. Any suggestions welcomed, with controls which are router or proxy server based preferred.
Limit network access by AMOUNT of time per day
- Thread starter gblasius
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Is this for parental reasons? If so Windows can do this with parental controls which require a password. Most routers do not support this, and will only do time slot allowances
It is for parental reasons, but a) I don't use anything Wintel, and b) most OS provided parental controls are crap, and c) its almost impossible to maintain this at the device level. I'm not looking to convert myself into tech support!
Understood on the router front - most provide access control by time. But what if you want to allow your child access to the web for, say, only 1 hour a day?
I should add that I use "OpenDNS" for access control to specific websites - its a much better tool for whitelisting/blacklisting, as the IP addresses are categorized and also community maintained.
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Ok, so if you're not wintel there are still soloutions, but I've not booted my 'nix for a while so I wouldn't know them. Perhaps your ISP can help?
I'm based in the US. With all due respect, ISP's are morons, only interested in maximizing fees and with absolutely no support at all. Besides, this seems to be a question handled at the local network level. I thought that there would be an easy router implementation. Routers have all the information they need (access time by MAC address), and they implement the 'access by time of day' functionality. This would appear to be a simple firmware add on.
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Yes, it would be a simple firmware add-on, its a case of finding a router which has that add on available, there used to be lots of custom firmware routers around but they seem to have dried up over the years as the manufacturers have added more features. Linksys generally have good firmwares and flicking through a couple of manuals they dont support what you're asking for - which is pretty annoying, I think its a reasonable request
Might check this out: http://www.timesupkidz.com/
This is good for gernal content filter. Will need to make sure the kids dont have user pirvledges to change dns settings though. http://blog.opendns.com/2010/06/23/introducing-familyshield-parental-controls/
This is good for gernal content filter. Will need to make sure the kids dont have user pirvledges to change dns settings though. http://blog.opendns.com/2010/06/23/introducing-familyshield-parental-controls/
This is close to what I want, but:
a) It is windows based, and I'm primarily an OSX house;
b) It seems to be implemented directly on the pc. Not a deal breaker, but it would demand individual installation and would not prevent ipads/iphones/etc from accessing the internet.
Basically, a decent answer in 2007, but not practical in 2014 with preteens!
Many public spaces implement this feature, where you are required to 'log on' and then it logs you out after a certain period of time. Does anybody know who the suppliers of this product is?
a) It is windows based, and I'm primarily an OSX house;
b) It seems to be implemented directly on the pc. Not a deal breaker, but it would demand individual installation and would not prevent ipads/iphones/etc from accessing the internet.
Basically, a decent answer in 2007, but not practical in 2014 with preteens!
Many public spaces implement this feature, where you are required to 'log on' and then it logs you out after a certain period of time. Does anybody know who the suppliers of this product is?
Can I make sure I understand that? You can flash a router with 3rd party software to provide this service? Interesting, and probably the best route. However, it sounds like such a simple add for router manufacturer, I'm surprised they haven't done it already. PC based parental controls are a joke, and don't accomplish what most parents want in the first place.
There is a lot of features flashing dd-wrt or other third party firmwares add that a router does not come with.
The routers dont come with them because the company that makes the router is a business and their driving factor is money. If it costs 2 million dollars to put this featue in all of their routers, but if not putting it into the router would only result in the loss of $100,000 in sales since it is not a very common feature, then the business is not going to do it.
Most routers can be unlocked and flashed to dd-wrt, except for many newer linksys models and some other brands, while brands like ASUS and Buffalo ship with a custom version of DD-WRT already out of the box.
The routers dont come with them because the company that makes the router is a business and their driving factor is money. If it costs 2 million dollars to put this featue in all of their routers, but if not putting it into the router would only result in the loss of $100,000 in sales since it is not a very common feature, then the business is not going to do it.
Most routers can be unlocked and flashed to dd-wrt, except for many newer linksys models and some other brands, while brands like ASUS and Buffalo ship with a custom version of DD-WRT already out of the box.
One of the best free parental controls that runs on multiple platforms is K9.
Even most parental controls in third party firmware are somewhat limited. It is easy to say allow mac address xx:xx from 5pm-7pm. But to say allow mac address xx:xx 1 hour of time between the hours of 7am-7pm the router now must keep track of session data for each mac. It does not really have anyplace to store it since it does not have a hard drive so it would have to keep it in memory.
I am not sure if any have elapsed time limits. I know there is gargoyle that is one very few that can put data caps on..ie xx MB/day. It would have to store this data similar. Unfortunately it is not as big as other firmware so the supported router list is much shorter.
Even most parental controls in third party firmware are somewhat limited. It is easy to say allow mac address xx:xx from 5pm-7pm. But to say allow mac address xx:xx 1 hour of time between the hours of 7am-7pm the router now must keep track of session data for each mac. It does not really have anyplace to store it since it does not have a hard drive so it would have to keep it in memory.
I am not sure if any have elapsed time limits. I know there is gargoyle that is one very few that can put data caps on..ie xx MB/day. It would have to store this data similar. Unfortunately it is not as big as other firmware so the supported router list is much shorter.
I get the cost-benefit analysis. But this is something that alot of parents might like. To carry your example further, if I knew that for $2Mn in development costs (sounds too expensive for this) I would sell 500,000 more routers than I expected because of this feature, I should do it.
What does DD-WRT mean??
I can't seem to access the K9 website....but if its device specific installation - forget it. That technology is too old to capture the ipad/ipod/iphone generation. Needs to be controlled at the source.
There must be a workaround. All devices know the leasing time for each IP address they hand out. Why not give them the functionality to limit leasing time per day?
@GBlasious - what you are looking for might not be easily implemented at router level. Just think about that - what is considered "time online":
- browsing websites
- using YOutube / Netflix /etc
- using Skype / chat
What about backgroud sercices like iCloud (in your case), OS updates? What if your child just leaves the desktop open, and goes playing for an hour - what happens during that hour? What if he/she has Skype/Twitter/chat open, and someone is constantly sending blind updates without anyone reading/reacting to them? What if a homework reqiures collaboration with five more kids, and time runs out?
With my kids out of home already, I might have different view on that, but parenting is not just "You have an hour online, and that's it".
- browsing websites
- using YOutube / Netflix /etc
- using Skype / chat
What about backgroud sercices like iCloud (in your case), OS updates? What if your child just leaves the desktop open, and goes playing for an hour - what happens during that hour? What if he/she has Skype/Twitter/chat open, and someone is constantly sending blind updates without anyone reading/reacting to them? What if a homework reqiures collaboration with five more kids, and time runs out?
With my kids out of home already, I might have different view on that, but parenting is not just "You have an hour online, and that's it".
I may have a solution, depending on your router. I have an old Linksys E2500 that I use as a subnetwork for my kids to access. I have their mobile devices blocked on the main network. On the subnetwork, I also have them blocked as in the following image:
Notice that the setting for Block Internet Access is set to 'Always'. What I found is that when the device attempts to connect to this router's network, it is prompted for a password. If the password is successfully entered, the user is granted access to the network for exactly 1 hour. After that, they will be prompted for the password again, which you can enter or not, thereby extending access for another hour and so on.
What I don't know is whether this only works on the Linksys E2500 or if there are other routers it will also work on. Linksys doesn't seem to publicize this, and I only discovered it by some random web search a year or so ago. If nothing else, you could buy an old E2500 for a few bucks and do what I did. Good luck!
Notice that the setting for Block Internet Access is set to 'Always'. What I found is that when the device attempts to connect to this router's network, it is prompted for a password. If the password is successfully entered, the user is granted access to the network for exactly 1 hour. After that, they will be prompted for the password again, which you can enter or not, thereby extending access for another hour and so on.
What I don't know is whether this only works on the Linksys E2500 or if there are other routers it will also work on. Linksys doesn't seem to publicize this, and I only discovered it by some random web search a year or so ago. If nothing else, you could buy an old E2500 for a few bucks and do what I did. Good luck!
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