Is it possible to enable/disable a laptop from my router

Hi,
I have a foster child who is using all our bandwidth allowance on chat, downloads etc. I am happy for him to use the internet (he is 17 and needs to have contact with his friends and live as any other teenage lad) but he doesn't understand that when we near our limit he has to leave off for a few days till it resets. I have a new router I have just set up and haven't added him to it yet as I was wondering if there was any way I could set it up so I could disconnect him for a while then re-connect (he often falls asleep with chat etc still running) so I could cut down the time he can be online. This would also be useful for my own sons phone which also seems to eat up the usage. We have 60GB allowance so I don't think I'm being unreasonable but I do need my own laptop for work and when we are about to go over at the end of the month I need to take priority.
The router is a Thomson TG585 v8.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you

 

From my quick perusal of the TG585 v8 manual, it doesn't look like you can do much in the way of limiting access; section 5.2 in the manual is Parental Control - this only seems able to block or allow individual websites - pretty weak

My router allows daily limits to be set in terms of specific times/hours allowed by MAC address, this is way better but probably still not 100% what you're looking for.

 

Thanks for the reply. The days of the week thing could work as I could change it to just allow a couple of hours when needed. Problem is I have only recently got this router and didn't really want to buy another. What is yours? It may work out cheaper than going over usage in time.

 

Mine's an Asus DSL-G31, it was about the cheapest locally available DSL modem/router when my last router died a couple of years ago. It may not be available in your area and it won't work on cable.

There will be other suitable routers out there, I'm sure - maybe someone else will chip in with a suggestion.

 

With your current router you could still enable/disable his laptop manually but it doesn't seem to be as simple as clicking a button on each status change, as it is on mine. I can't see it mentioned in the manual.

 

Actually, I just picked up an Asus Diamondback router from Newegg. It was a "deal of the day" last week. It allows you to control the time spent on your network by individual users.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320088

ASUS RT-N53 Black Diamond Dual Band Wireless N600 SOHO Router, DD-WRT Open Source support, Fast Ethernet, 5 Guest SSID, Parental Access Time control to Each User

 

Is the connection wireless or wired? I have a switch for wired networks that you have to press a button every 10 minutes to stay connected , so if you leave the PC (fall to sleep) it will cut the connection, can't remember the name of the device.

The other option is software on his PC that allows time usage.
http://www.nchsoftware.com/childmonitoring/index.html
"Set daily time limits on computer usage"

 

Thank you all for your helpful replies. It looks like I wont be able to do this unless I get a new router then. I could use the parental controls/time limit application, thank you for the link. I would prefer to give him a bit more freedom though as I am only concerned when we get near our limit which is late in the month but it would stop him leaving it on all night.The network is wireless. If I give each pc its own IP address would that help at all?

 

You may want to look at this software also.
K-9 parental software (free)

http://www1.k9webprotection.com/

 

is there not cmd commands good for this if set up right??? im not an expert, but did a LOT of playing around on the network when I was in high school using command prompt

 

Why don't you just setup an 'internet cafe'-like environment and give each member of your family a certain amount of data that they can download per day/week/month? Download 'handycafe', and see what it can do for you. Or you can setup active directory via windows 2008 server on one pc and have that pc be between the internet and every other pc in your home. Then you can create users via active directory and give them 'timed' access to your server which 'houses' the internet. You can also install 'bandwidth monitoring' software on each pc and set it to cut off when certain data limits have been reached.

 

Thank you JazzySOUL but setting up a cafe is a little complicated for me. I like the idea of the bandwidth monitoring though-will look at this a bit more.
Thank you all for your help-it means I will be able to sort it one way or another. I had no idea there was free software that you could set time limits with or that there was bandwidth monitoring software, which is why these forums are so brilliant. Thank you all for taking the time.

 

Glad to be of help :cool