How do I just turn the internet off overnight?

freda

Hello

I *really* need to be able to turn off any internet access from my teenage son's devices overnight. If this means turning off internet access for the whole family thats OK (not ideal, but ok.) 

I have tried a timer plug to turn the router off over night. But it seems to totally mess up the power to the router. I tried a 'fing' device but my son has, somehow, managed to get around it. 

How can I turn off the internet from say, 1030pm - 630am? (short of physically unplugging it every day?)

I use plusnet, if it makes a difference?

Thank you. 

PS Please, no comments about how my son should learn to self regulate. He is unable to do this for many reasons.

Yorkshire_Pud

I physically unplug the router every day from bedtime to when I get up in the morning when I plug it in to the wall socket again. I don’t switch off the router first. Saves a few quid, maybe up to £10 in electric per year and negates any wi fi brain frying if you believe in that sort of thing (but not from neighbours wi fi). Engineers say it’s bad to switch off a router as it’s designed to be kept on all its life. Can’t see any difference in performance myself and router is over two years old with no issues. I also turn off the broadband on any device so it is not searching for a wi fi signal all night when my router is off.

QrizB

I don't know if your router has this option but I used to have one where the router settings allowed you to set times during which the WiFi was on or off.

If your router doesn't offer this, you could buy an aftermarket one with that function.

Or, alternatively, buy a separate WiFi access point that you attach to the router, put the access point on the time switch, and completely switch off WiFi on the router itself.

(If you have an old router from a previous broadband contract lying around, you might be able to use this rather than buying a WiFi access point.)

All of the above options need a little bit of knowledge to use effectively. If you need specific pointers, you can ask here.

Abbafan1972

You should be able to log into the admin page of your router to put in settings like this - so that the internet is inactive or block certain devices between set times. I’m not with plusnet though. 

Neil_Jones

freda said:

Hello

I *really* need to be able to turn off any internet access from my teenage son's devices overnight. If this means turning off internet access for the whole family thats OK (not ideal, but ok.) 

I have tried a timer plug to turn the router off over night. But it seems to totally mess up the power to the router. I tried a 'fing' device but my son has, somehow, managed to get around it. 

How can I turn off the internet from say, 1030pm - 630am? (short of physically unplugging it every day?)

I use plusnet, if it makes a difference?

Thank you. 

PS Please, no comments about how my son should learn to self regulate. He is unable to do this for many reasons.

Any technological "solution" you put in place will be bypassed by the child in about two seconds.  As you've already found out.

The easiest solution is to physically unplug the device and put the power block elsewhere, ideally not in the same room...

jon81uk

You can limit the internet to specific devices in the hub settings.

Here is a guide for one of the plusnet hubs How to use your Plusnet router - Hub Two| Help | Plusnet look under "How do I set-up Access/Parental controls on my Hub Two?"

MACKEM99

I just switch mine off at the electric plug when not using.

cajef

MACKEM99 said:

I just switch mine off at the electric plug when not using.

How does that help they want to stop their son using the internet overnight switching it of at the plug does not stop him he can just switch it back on again. 

victor2

Neil_Jones said:

freda said:

Hello

I *really* need to be able to turn off any internet access from my teenage son's devices overnight. If this means turning off internet access for the whole family thats OK (not ideal, but ok.) 

I have tried a timer plug to turn the router off over night. But it seems to totally mess up the power to the router. I tried a 'fing' device but my son has, somehow, managed to get around it. 

How can I turn off the internet from say, 1030pm - 630am? (short of physically unplugging it every day?)

I use plusnet, if it makes a difference?

Thank you. 

PS Please, no comments about how my son should learn to self regulate. He is unable to do this for many reasons.

Any technological "solution" you put in place will be bypassed by the child in about two seconds.  As you've already found out.

...

Many routers do allow you to restict internet access at certain times, but as said above, youngsters should not be underestimated in their ability to bypass such restrictions. You could find he factory resets the hub to get it back to default settings every night, for example. Unplugging the hub and physically locking it away every night might be an option, but quite a bit of hassle.

I use a Tapo P110 plug to control some things on a timer, but it literally is child's play to bypass it, unless it is in an inaccessible point and it's not possible to simply plug the router into another socket..

Edit: Take a look at this:

https://www.plus.net/help/broadband/how-to-use-plusnet-safeguard/

It appears that you can put restrictions on through your Plusnet account, rather than the hub. So song as your son can't access your account (give it a password he won't know and can't guess!), he should have great difficulty bypassing it.

 

victor2

OP hasn't been back since posting the question, so we may not hear any more about it....

QrizB

victor2 said:

OP hasn't been back since posting the question, so we may not hear any more about it....

Hope she hasn't been locked out of the internet by her son!