10-10-2022 05:26 PM
I use Family Wifi to group my son's devices into 1 group and pause his devices as and when required. However, he can still access the internet by switching off the wifi connectivity on his laptop and switching it on again. In the end, i can see many duplicates of the same devices on my Google Home that is not in the family wifi group. Pls help. Thks.
10-11-2022 12:34 AM
Hi @Nuttytan
Do all these devices have the same IP and MAC address?
You could try setting up a static IP for that device to see if that helps somehow.
https://support.google.com/googlenest/answer/6274660 🙂
10-11-2022 05:55 AM - edited 10-11-2022 05:56 AM
Hello @Nuttytan
It sounds like your son's laptop may have "random hardware addresses" enabled. Take a look at this support page from Microsoft: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/how-to-use-random-hardware-addresses-in-windows-ac58de34...
Those explain how to enable it, but you should be able to follow them to check whether it's enabled and then disable it. However, if your son is intentionally using this feature to get around the network-level pausing, you may find that disabling this feature won't stop him from enabling it again. When I was getting my son through this period, I used operating system level tools from Apple (e.g., "Screen Time") and Microsoft ("Microsoft Family") to manage screen time instead of trying to use the network-level tools that, frankly, are becoming less effective as random MAC address and other features become more prevalent. So, you might consider looking into those features as well.
10-14-2022 10:18 AM
Hi Nuttytan,
I just wanted to jump in real fast to see if you saw MichaleP's latest reply and to see if you still needed some help on this or if you were able to get it sorted out. If you are still needing some help, just let us know and we'll be happy to continue helping.
Thanks,
Jeff
10-17-2022 10:40 AM
Hey Nuttytan,
I just wanted to follow up once more to see if you were still needing some help here. If so, just let us know.
Thanks,
Jeff
10-18-2022 12:57 PM
Hi everyone,
Just one quick final check in here since activity has slowed down. We'll be locking the thread in the next 24 hours, but if you still need help, I would be happy to keep it open. If there's more we can do, just let me know.
Thanks,
Jeff