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Archer 3200 parental controls

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Archer 3200 parental controls

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Archer 3200 parental controls
Archer 3200 parental controls
2017-09-13 20:59:58
Model : Archer C3200

Hardware Version :

Firmware Version : 0.9.1 0.1 v004b.0 Build 170707 Rel.58427n

ISP : Blue Ridge Cable

Seems like this is an ongoing problem and I am not the only one. I've been working on this every night when I get home for a few hours for the better part of the last week to no avail. It's driving me so nuts that I put remote access software on the computer at home to try to figure it out from work as well. I've been testing parental controls this morning after I thought I understood everything better with the help of my cameras and wemo/wink smart lights but.... nothing is working now.

I have a new family with a 13 and 4 year old and we want them to sleep when it's sleep time and not be on the phone or Netlfix, etc. Last weekend I was sick and woke up at 3AM to find the 13 year old talking via Skype on her phone with a boy. So.... my quest to limit wireless via parental controls. My fiancee said "oh, I'll just take the phones etc at bedtime" but what about when she falls asleep on the couch or just forgets?

I've read extensively and tried so many variations that my head hurts.

This morning I narrowed in on one wemo device that I was able to see in one of my cameras.

It was between 7:45 and 8:30AM local time (the time on the router was synced, I checked)

- I highlighted in green 7AM - 5PM and set the radio button to whitelist and the parental control worked and the device was disabled
- I highlighted in green 12AM-7AM as well as 5PM-12AM and set the radio button to whitelist and the parental control did not work and the device was enabled
- I highlighted in green 7AM - 5PM and set the radio button to blacklist and the parental control did not work and the device was enabled
- I highlighted in green 12AM-7AM as well as 5PM-12AM and set the radio button to blacklist and the parental control did not work and the device was enabled

I felt that I had succeeded so I decided to test a wink light and I set the same parental control to my wink hub. At first it looked like it worked. I tried the light 5 times and it didn't work. However, five minutes later with no changes to the router, the light worked! It's almost as if the "smart" light was smart enough to figure out and bypass the parental control! A short while later I went back and tried the wemo light and that one had started working as well.

Separately last night I completely cleared out all of my wireless devices via a new password. I wasn't sure of some of the devices so I figured it would give me a chance to log the MAC as I added them and know exactly what was what instead of guessing when I get to parental controls. I stopped when I added my personal cell phone and I only had about 4 devices connected to the wireless. I set a parental control on my Samsung S7 and it worked. It was within the hours selected and the phone wasn't connecting via wireless. I did the same for other devices in parental controls as I added them. After adding everything, I figured it'd be good measure to reboot the router so I did.... and everything was working within the hours that it shouldn't be working including my S7.

I'm wondering if there are any work arounds or solutions that I haven't stumbled upon? I even upgraded the firmware this morning hoping that would help but all that did was reset my router names and passwords so now some of my "dumber" smart devices around the house have dropped the connection and aren't automatically reconnecting. I sent TP Link support an e-mail but am not holding my breath
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#1
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7 Reply
Re:Archer 3200 parental controls
2017-09-14 15:55:38
The stime setting of parental control really make people cofused. It's called "Internet access time", however, it real meaning is during the highlighted green time period, the filtering rule takes effect......
For axample, if you add PC1 into the device list, highlight in green 7AM - 5PM everyday, select whitelist but keep keywords as blank, PC1 will not be able to access internet during 7AM - 5PM; while, if yu set up a keyword like google, duiring the time period, PC1, can only access to google; in time other than 7AM - 5PM，PC1 is free to access to internet.
If setup a blacklist with keywork as google, it will block google during that time, if blacklist keyword is blank, it will block nothing.

It take me a few time to understand these. And parental control is controlling the web internet access only, as for the smart bulbs/smart lights, I don't think it can control.
Another thing is, as it only control the web internet access, if there is an app, like facebook app, on the phone, it is likely to bypass the parental control rules.

If there is no wireless devices need internet access 24/7, you can try to setup a Wireless Schedule, just turn off wifi completely during the bedtime.
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#2
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Re:Archer 3200 parental controls
2017-09-14 23:55:49
Yeah, I understand the kind of inverse nature of the way they've set it up that the green is NON internet time but the confusion is why I figured let me try it both ways.

I was able to spend some more time playing with it last night and it really is wonky and finnicky. Sometimes with the parental control on and "working" the phone doesn't seem to work but then, sometimes and without changing anything on the router, the phone will seem to spring back to life. And it is not crossing an hourly time threshold or something like that.... just decides to start working.

The purposes of turning the wireless off (for me) is to prevent things like whatsapp, skype, facebook so the fact that it doesn't appear to block or sporadically blocks them doesn't help me at all. I'll be sleeping thinking the access is shut down while one of the kids is talking away with some stranger 3/4 of the way around the world :mad:

In any case, I downloaded the app on my phone and will just manually block control to the half a dozen devices each night. PITA but at least I have peace of mind that the internet is closed for the evening. There is, again, the human factor if I/we forget but it appears a million times better than TP link's "parental controls" Hard to believe that with some of the technologies out there that they can't get this right. When I bought the router I was only after the tri-band and it was recommended by a friend and I didn't have a family. Now, 2 years down the road I'm disappointed that money was wasted on a non-working feature

Oh and while I'm complaining.... the app works for me but I saw reviews that it might or might not work. I like that I was able to name the 2 dozen "unknown" devices. The parental control on the app is even MORE confusing than the web interface (if that's even possible!) But when I logged into the app from a different phone, the names didn't cross over. Logged back in on my phone and they were there. When I checked on the computer.... not there :(
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#3
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Re:Archer 3200 parental controls
2017-11-18 04:47:02
I've spent considerably more time on this in the past week or so. I'm still testing and comparing and testing and comparing.... across like 10 different devices that I want "off" at night ranging from a smart tv to a tablet to a cell phone. It appears the TP link allows you to block access to the internet and the internet only. I've almost 100% consistently tested that my parental time-set controls work BUT that they don't block the important things like whatsapp or facebook messenger. The things that the 13 year old has already been caught sending and receiving inappropriate pictures using! I've found ways to block whatsapp or facebook using open dns BUT that's relying on their preset list. What if the 13 year old finds some other messaging app out there that is obscure and not in Open DNS's database yet? I want a way to reliably turn off any and all wireless activity on these ~10 devices each and every night. So far my conclusion is that I need to manually go in and enforce access control in order to do that. Works 100% of the time. Problem is *I* don't work 100% of the time in remembering to do it!
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#4
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Re:Archer 3200 parental controls
2017-11-18 21:13:28
I just see a new HomeCare Parental Controls on tplink, http://www.tp-link.com/en/faq-1771.html.
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#5
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Same problem here
2017-11-18 22:53:51
The hardware of this router is fantastic, but the firmware has this BUG about the Parent Control, like you guys I wast hours working on the setup, All the times the result was the same of you.

I was waiting that a new version of the firmware like (Archer C3200(US)_V1_170707) fix the issue, but it doesn´t... I´ll still waiting the TP-LINK fix this.

It´s about issues like this that some of us use DD-WRT firmware, unfortunately so far it not available for this hardware.
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#6
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Re:Archer 3200 parental controls
2017-11-20 23:41:34

Enson Loo wrote

I just see a new HomeCare Parental Controls on tplink, http://www.tp-link.com/en/faq-1771.html.


Interesting..... wonder if homecare is available for the C3200. I'll have to look into this when I get home tonight
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#7
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Re:Archer 3200 parental controls
2019-08-18 13:12:51 - last edited 2019-08-19 02:24:29

Hi to everyone I was at a loss as to why I couldnt stop my kids from accessing the internet through their many devices using the Parental Controls in my Archer VR2600. After coming here and reading post after post of all failed attempts I figured Id try their online support and after a bit of back n forth we did actually solve the issue (well atleast on my router). So Im going to try to explain it as simply as possible the steps you need to do...

First off add your device to the list as per TP Links suggestions in Parental Controls form like below
 

To restrict a new client device
  1. Click Add.
  2. Click View Existing Devices to choose a currently connected device from the Access Devices List;
    or enter the Device Name and MAC Address manually to add a device that is not connected.
  3. Click the Effective Time icon to specify a time period during which the restriction applies. This we will speak about below very important!!!!
  4. Enter a brief description into the Description field.
  5. Select Enable.
  6. Click OK to save this entry.

 

Now comes the good stuff you need to understand as the way its written by them is at best confusing.

 

Check your time by going to 

 

Advanced / System Tools / Time Settings

dont worry too much that the time is out (mine is changing everytime I go in and out of the page) if you like set the right time to your zone if its not already done. 

 

Whats more important is to use the NTP settings

im in Australia so I used an ip 137.92.140.80 in the 1st option and then chose ntp.adelaide.edu.au in the 2nd option (its not necessary to use both options though I found).

 

NB: To find NTPaddresses Google your country's NTP addresses, You could also look at your ISP webpage as they probably will have it for you too.

 

then hit Save (if you arent in Daylight savings time then click the radio button so it disables it and hit Save) 

 

Back to Basic Tab then to Parental Controls,  so far so good

 

Now to address the whole confusion from TP Link in how to restrict the internet per device.

 

Choose one of the devices you entered in the Parental Controls earlier by clicking in the line the icon (Edit) which is next to the rubbish bin 

 

Select the Effective Time icon

 

Now select the whole sheet so its all GREEN  (select the top left square while holding down the mouse and drag to the bottom Right corner)

 

The device is now totally blocked from the internet

 

Now you allow the device times to access the internet by making SQUARES WHITE

 

Then hit OK

 

Hit OK again then go below to select the WhiteList radio button 

 

then Hit  Save one last time

 

Thats it, you should now have only the hours you want the device to be on the internet. Good Luck lemme know if it works for you too...

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#8
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