TinyBubu Posted August 22 Posted August 22 Hi all, I'm wanting to block internet access overnight for all my kid's devices. Works fine and as expected for all devices except my son's Google Home. Even if blocked, I've just discovered that he can still use it to watch YouTube videos etc! Any idea why this particular device is still able to access the internet even when blocked and also how to fix this apparent glitch?
Administrators Netduma Fraser Posted August 22 Administrators Posted August 22 Could you provide a screenshot of how you have setup your rules currently to block devices? Then we can advise from there
TinyBubu Posted August 22 Author Posted August 22 Hi Fraser. Thanks for your reply. Nothing that elaborate... I'm simply selecting the "BLOCK INTERNET" button in the app. As previously explained, it works fine for every other device, just not my son's Google Home.
Administrators Netduma Fraser Posted August 23 Administrators Posted August 23 6 hours ago, TinyBubu said: Hi Fraser. Thanks for your reply. Nothing that elaborate... I'm simply selecting the "BLOCK INTERNET" button in the app. As previously explained, it works fine for every other device, just not my son's Google Home. By the looks of it, the Google Home has a network feature called Random/Private MAC addresses enabled, I haven't got/used a Google Home so I can't say for certain but this may be something you can disable in the app for it. Essentially what it does is as you can see there, sets a new MAC address for the device everytime it connects to the router. A MAC address is a unique device identifier, essentially showing as a new device when connecting to the router so in theory he could just be unplugging it and replugging it in and then it will allow him to bypass the block. A couple of potential solutions: Disable Random/Private MAC addresses on the Google Home app - if he has access to the app and knows about this he could just re-enable it Set a static/reserved IP address for the Google Home device - verify the internet works outside your block - then disable DHCP on the modem - this would require you to set a static/reserved IP for every device connected to the modem otherwise they would not be able to connect with DHCP disabled. If any of those devices have the MAC address enabled then they may not be able to connect when this changes. Any new devices you want to connect to the network would have to be given a static/reserved IP on the device itself to connect, you can then mirror that on the modem. Your rule there is showing it as purely connecting to 5GHz, similar to what I've mentioned when connected to 2.4GHz the device will have a different MAC address so he could be connecting it to 2.4GHz when the rule shuts it off for 5GHz. Identify the device that appears/uses traffic at the time using 2.4GHz and block that as well. Combining the WiFi into one may also be a good idea. If all else fails then probably the simplest and guaranteed way to prevent him using any tech savvyness to counteract what you do - remove the device from his room every night
TinyBubu Posted August 28 Author Posted August 28 Hi Fraser. I understand your logic but unfortunately don't think it is correct hypothesis. Yes, multiple IPv6 addresses are being assigned (as is the case with most devices on the network) but only one MAC address. I've checked and the MAC address listed in the DUMAOS app matches the MAC address of the device. The Google Home is an old device and has quite simple network functionality / configuration. It certainly doesn't support Random/Private MAC addresses. If it did, then it should show up as multiple devices in the app (one online and the rest offline), each time a new MAC address is generated, which is the case for the iPhones that connect to the router. In fact, as a side issue, that is one of my pet peeves, the Offline Devices get filled with multiple entries (for devices that have Random/Private MAC addresses enabled) and these redundant multiple entries have to be cleaned up manually, one by one! When will bulk select and delete functionality be available (is it on the roadmap or perhaps already included with the latest build)? Also, the Google Home is only connecting via 5GHZ. When it is blocked, it doesn't alternatively try to connect via 2.4GHZ. I've tested and monitored this to confirm. The 5GHZ and 2.4GHZ bandwidths are already combined as a single SSID. The Google Home is actually his alarm clock, so I don't really want to have to physically remove it every night (especially when I should simply be able to block Interest access at the router)! Any other ideas (or can this be escalated to the dev team for comment), as it definitely seems to be a glitch.
Administrators Netduma Fraser Posted August 28 Administrators Posted August 28 You're absolutely right, that'll teach me to do a very early morning response! What you have said has got me thinking, when it comes to the time where it should be blocked, can you actually see traffic being used on it? For YouTube it should be showing quite consistently. If it doesn't, obviously I don't know the specifics BUT if he has a mobile with data he may be utilizing it as a hotspot to connect the home to unless I'm mistaken and it's not one of those Home ones with a screen but more akin to a simple Alexa and he's using it as a bridge to get the TV to play YouTube for example?
TinyBubu Posted 22 hours ago Author Posted 22 hours ago Picking up this conversation thread from a couple of months ago... as still battling this issue! Just to clarify, my son isn't hotspotting to phone, etc... the traffic is definitely flowing through the DumaOS controlled router, it's just that particular device's internet access, for whatever reason (bug?) isn't being blocked via MAC address, as per previously posted configured settings. I now can't even logon to the router to check / change the settings (seems a lot of users previously complaining about the very same issue, without a proper resolution being found). A router reboot (after a 10min delay) used to work, at least for initial logon straight after the router came back online and all services active (I'd then hit the same logon issue after half an hour or so). Now a router reboot doesn't even work, which is very frustrating to say the least! I've tried using the IOS DumaOS app, various web browsers on different devices, but get the same result! These are the error messages I would previously get: Since rebooting the router today, I'm now receiving these errors: IOS app Windows Edge Can you please advise how to resolve this logon issue, as without having access to the router config, I can't even start to troubleshoot why the device block isn't working properly!
Administrators Netduma Fraser Posted 16 hours ago Administrators Posted 16 hours ago Disable the Internet Optimiser, reboot and then enable it, reboot then check if you can get access please. If there is an update available that should also get you on the latest.
TinyBubu Posted 7 hours ago Author Posted 7 hours ago Hi Fraser, Thanks for the prompt reply. Is there no other workaround / fix (beside telling customers to reinstall)? What exactly is going on (seems I'm not the only Telstra customer having the same logon issue)? Can't I provide logs so the dev team can actually investigate and identify the root cause (then fix it once and for all)? I've checked previous threads and the advice has been "this is a known issue, which will be fixed in the next release", yet those posts were last year (or even earlier) yet the exact same issue seems to persist with the Telstra smart modem implementation of DumaOS. Really not a good look for Telstra (given their tech support don't appear to be upskilled in DumaOS, so can only offer limited (if any) support.
Administrators Netduma Fraser Posted 1 hour ago Administrators Posted 1 hour ago Those issues would have been resolved by now for the most part by updates, don't forget it is a support forum, you're only going to see issues here, not the people who aren't having issues. Did that resolve the issue for you? Without accessing to get the logs from DumaOS not really. If you are behind on an update that fixes it then that would sort it.
TinyBubu Posted 36 minutes ago Author Posted 36 minutes ago Yes, appreciate users come here to resolve issues, but the logon issue seems to be an ongoing concern for a lot of users (at least on the Telstra Smart modem). What is the latest build, to determine if that's potentially the issue? Modem shows latest firmware is 21.4.0500-MR3.1-RA (or does DumaOS have its own uncorrelated module built / revision number)?
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