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How to block devices from wifi

Jeffinaz
Community Member

My son keeps finding ways to use his pc after i disable his devises via the app. I dont if he is creating a new ip address to go around the block or has a program on his pc that does it. Any thoughts on how to lock him down during scheduled down times? 

1 Recommended Answer

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

Hello @Jeffinaz 

Controlling something like this on a home network is challenging. Which is to say, for a determined "attacker" who has the network password, it's impossible. Every machine has a unique 48-bit "MAC" address. This is how Google/Nest WiFi identify a particular machine and decide whether it should be blocked or not. However, it's pretty easy for a machine to change what MAC address it uses. This may not be the kind of problem that can be easily solved using technology. But, I will say that I have found operating-system level tools to be a bit more effective. Apple's "Screen Time" and Microsoft's "Family" features, for example, allow some parental control to be enforced on the machine itself rather than attempting to do so at the network level.

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1 REPLY 1

MichaelP
Diamond Product Expert
Diamond Product Expert

Hello @Jeffinaz 

Controlling something like this on a home network is challenging. Which is to say, for a determined "attacker" who has the network password, it's impossible. Every machine has a unique 48-bit "MAC" address. This is how Google/Nest WiFi identify a particular machine and decide whether it should be blocked or not. However, it's pretty easy for a machine to change what MAC address it uses. This may not be the kind of problem that can be easily solved using technology. But, I will say that I have found operating-system level tools to be a bit more effective. Apple's "Screen Time" and Microsoft's "Family" features, for example, allow some parental control to be enforced on the machine itself rather than attempting to do so at the network level.