Having similar issues/confusion.

On the older firmware version(s) I just used scheduled access control for several devices and it worked well. I upgraded the firmware recently to get Qos, and also liked the improved parental control graphical scheduling. It took some fiddling and I finally have something that almost works. As others have pointed out, if I create a schedule for the times that I want the device blocked, then leave the whitelist blank or put a bad domain there, the devices will indeed have difficulty getting on the internet during that scheduled time. This is most of what I want, simply scheduling access by device by schedule.

The problem I am seeing with this workaround is that when a device is used during the time that it is allowed to be on the internet unrestricted (outside the restricted schedule), it may establish connections with various sites (streaming, gaming), then when the restricted time comes along, those connections do not get cut off. The existing access is not restricted. So if one of my children starts streaming a movie before 9pm, and then 9pm comes along and the schedule changes to the restricted one, the movie keeps playing. Same with X-box games. If they are just doing various web browsing, that starts to fail on schedule, but open connections are not touched. So I have to manually monitor and block the devices when they are expected to be off the internet. Too much work and I'm not always there.

In the old firmware when the access control schedule was expected to shut down internet access it worked like a charm.

Unfortunately, in my firware at least, the ability to put access control on a schedule is now gone. So I am forced to choose between features (Qos in new firmware, or scheduled access control in old firmware). I am also worried that the convoluted partial workaround of the blank/bogus whitelist, which doesn't fully work as needed anyway, might change behavior in a future firmware update.

What I want is flexible scheduling of internet access per device, with optional or no content filtering. If Tp-link just brought back the ability to put access control on a schedule, that would solve my problem. KI really don't want to go back to an older version of the firmware. So I'll just watch and keep updating firmware as it comes along, hoping for a better solution.

paulmdaly, totally agree with you. I have two 16 year olds and what was possible with old firmware is not possible with new firmware. It would be great if TP-Link gave us back some of the working access control from past firmwares.

Do the parental controls under basic settings work differently than under advanced controls?

When I tested, I only played around with advanced control. I was able to limit internet access within a set windows; access came to a holt and resumed within a couple minutes of my parameters. However, I can see how if a movie is already buffered, this will not restrict anything just as if a user downloaded content to their device.

If you want additional control, you could always experiment with OpenDNS for web content filtering.

I cannot get parental controls to work at all on the latest firmware. Is there a workaround for this?

The parental controls are not working for me either. Tried various different settings and devices.
I specifically ordered the Archer for parental/access control and IP-TV functionality (in addition to good wifi),
but with the latest firmware I can get neither to work.
On the firmware that came pre-installed IP-TV worked, except program-guide and movie-rent service. I upgraded
to latest firmware hoping to get the rest working, but now IP-TV is jitterish and ultimately freezes. And parental
control does not appear to work :at all:.
I want to block access for the kids devices to internet services - except for a handful of websites/URLs related to
school - at certain times of the day. And like someone mentioned in this thread, existing connections to games
etc have to be blocked at those times too.

Can someone confirm that this works with Build 150507? I don't like to downgrade, but will do if that build works.

Thank you,
Thales

This worked for me, hopefully this sorted out issue:

http://forum.tp-link.com/showthread.php?84329-Archer-C9-Parental-access-control-not-working

Thanks Dageth, I will try your suggestion :) That is with the latest firmware right?

Yes latest firmware version on hardware V1.

Great :) Thank you for your help. Will try again to get this working then :)

I got a ArcherC9 v5 (EU). Have tried firmware Archer C9(EU)_V5_180328  ( 1.2.1 Build 20180328 rel.2212(4555)) , and the newest update 1.2.4 Build 20190403 rel.63869(4555).

Hardware Version: v5.0

 

Still no luck getting the Parental controls working. Any suggestions?