Router Question

[Dusty Bin]

My Mac is connected wirelessly to my broadband via a Belkin router. No problem.

What I would like to do is restrict access from other wireless users of my broadband connection, eg. laptops at certain times of the day on particular days of the week.

I thought I had the method from the router's help pages (below):-


Client IP filters
The Router can be configured to restrict access to the Internet, e-mail or other network services at specific days and times. Restriction can be set for a single computer, a range of computers, or multiple computers. To restrict Internet access to a single computer for example, enter the IP address of the computer you wish to restrict access to in the IP fields. Next enter 80 and 80 in the Port fields. Select TCP. Select Block. You can also select Always to block access all of the time. Select the day to start on top, the time to start on top, the day to end on the bottom and the time to stop on the bottom. Click "Apply Changes". The computer at the IP address you specified will now be blocked from Internet access at the times you specified. Note: be sure you have selected the correct time zone under Utilities> System Settings> Time Zone.



I tried this but at the times specified on the days entered laptops can still access my broadband connection.

Why...and what do I need to do to fix this please?

 

[Steven in VA]

this may appear obvious, but

you might consider an Airport Express, Airport Extreme, or Time Capsule. They are unbelievably easy to set up, have great range, and (in my experience in my house, all 3 of my kids' houses, and a couple of siblings' houses) are very dependable. Security on them could not possibly be any easier to establish.

Sorry. I just re-read your post. I don't know a way to make access on any Apple wireless router available only at certain times, except by changing the password every time you want access restricted. Seems an inconvenient way.

It is possible to establish a separate "guest access"(scroll down a bit, read about it here: [http://www.apple.com/airportextreme/features/wi-fi.html) on your Apple wireless router which can have a password or not, depending on your preference. Could that help in your situation?

 

[monokakata]

I don't think this method will work unless the computers you want to block have static IP addresses.

If your router is set to hand out addresses as the laptops come and go, then the laptops will almost certainly have different IP addresses each time.

For example, if you set up blocking for 192.168.0.8, that block will only work when the laptop is indeed at 192.168.0.8. If the router's handed the laptop a new IP address of (say) 192.168.0.3, then it won't work.

See if there's something that lets you block a MAC address -- that is, the fixed address of the ethernet port. That might do it, at least until the laptop users figure out how to spoof a MAC address.

You could also explore having your own connection be static (for example, 192.168.0.3), and then telling the router's DHCP server to hand out IP addresses in a certain range (for example, 192.168.0.4 through 192.168.0.20), and then restrict that range. That's a coarse-grained solution but if you want to block all the laptops, I think it would work.

 

[mobilehaathi]

The router will assign an IP address each time a device connects. Are you sure these rules apply to all the appropriate IP addresses at the time when the device shouldn't be able to access the web? Probably the best thing to do is always assign yourself the same IP, then put restrictions on all others.

 

[BrianBaughn]

Blocking by IP doesn't do much good unless the router can assign static IPs associated with the device ethernet addresses...check to see if that's possible on the router. Not sure what Belkin calls it. On a D-Link it's called "DHCP Reservations".

 

[camardelle]

Can't you just assign a password via the airport utility, or will that only work on airport extreme/express setups?