topic Re: Block TV access through router in Tech Help - Software/Hardware etc

Block TV access through router

bumbershoot — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 08:13:26 GMT

A friend who stays with me keeps draining my allowance by watching tv!. Is it possible to block access to specific sites through the router?.
My usage breakdown shows 1% as phone usage. Is facetime classed as phone?.

Re: Block TV access through router

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 08:40:34 GMT

The answer is yes, but how it is done will depend on which router you have.
However, instead of simply blocking the things they are using, which your friend might consider 'unfriendly',
you might want to consider looking at whether your router can limit the network speed to their devices.
If you can reduce their network speed to a value that is below the rate required to stream TV, then their viewing experience will be terrible with constant buffering, and they will soon get bored trying. If they ask you what is going on, you can say that your internet is sometimes slow, or some other similar excuse, without being seen to have imposed an outright ban on their activities or appearing to be overly petty.
The thing about outright blocking, is it seems quite easy to do, but they will soon move on to a different website and you will constantly be trying to shut them down. By rate limiting, you are limiting all high bandwidth internet usage, and should save your monthly allowance.
Of course, you might come unstuck if your friend catches you simultaneously using the internet doing something at unrestricted speeds.

Re: Block TV access through router

bumbershoot — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 09:25:12 GMT

Rate capping their device sounds perfect. My router is a thomson TG585v7. They use a laptop and an ipad. Hopefully this is not to technical!.

Re: Block TV access through router

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 10:08:23 GMT

Unfortunately I am not familiar with the configuration details of the Thomson TG585v7.
Perhaps someone else with a TG585v7 can advise on how to configure rate limiting to specific devices, OR how to configure upstream QoS to bandwidth limit specific devices.

Quote from: bumbershoot
Hopefully this is not to technical!.

Unfortunately doing anything useful involving Thomson/Technicolor routers seems to end up using command line Telnet commands, which is likely to get quite technical for the inexperienced, although if someone can write a series of commands for you, then it should be a matter of accurately copying them line by line into a command prompt on your computer.

Re: Block TV access through router

Gus — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 10:57:34 GMT

Remove any bandwidth cap increase via the portal and let your Friend run out your monthly cap and wait for it to mention it can't watch TV anymore. Then give them the bill for the bandwidth he/she used.
Sounds more like a cuckoo you have as a unpaying guest

Re: Block TV access through router

Townman — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 13:24:18 GMT

See here - http://npr.me.uk/ipqos.html - for npr's tutorial on this subject.

Re: Block TV access through router

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 13:28:10 GMT

I did find that, but it looked to me like that merely changed device priorities on the LAN rather than controlling either device connection speed, or limiting the upstream bandwidth for the lower priority devices.
However, that tutorial is a good indication of the potential complexity of what would be required, if the relevant commands can be found.

Re: Block TV access through router

Townman — Sat, 20 Dec 2014 13:40:36 GMT

Agreed:
I do not fully "get" how QoS (upstream) can have a marked impact on DS priorities, which is what this user really needs. At best all it will do is delay ACK responses.
Where QoS comes into its own is limiting a high use US service, such as P2P uploads.
If the line is comparatively slow, then one could make the third party's viewing futile by running another TV "session" on a different device at the same time - when they give up, stop the "other" stream.
My line runs circa 5Mbps - when I want to watch iPlayer, I block all other users as without that, if they are streaming too, iPlayer is unwatchable. This can be "reversed" engineered (so to speak) to make the 3rd party's experience undesirable.
You could just tell them - "not on my broadband please" - mind you if they are kids, they will know better! I had to switch to unlimited because the step son (28+) would not moderate his use of my broadband!

Re: Block TV access through router

RobPN — Sun, 21 Dec 2014 13:59:53 GMT

Quote from: bumbershoot
A friend who stays with me keeps draining my allowance by watching tv!. ...

Have you considered switching to an 'Unlimted' account?
Depending on what product you're on now and how much usage you pay for, you might even save money!
If you're out of contract it might even be worth contacting the 'Customer Options Team' (or whatever they're called these days) to see what deals might be available to you - especially if you say you're considering moving to another ISP.

Re: Block TV access through router

bumbershoot — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 14:22:08 GMT

Unlimited account is the solution but I'm not willing to pay extra for someone else to watch eastenders!. Is there something like parental control where I can block specific sites through the router?.

Re: Block TV access through router

jelv — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 14:35:05 GMT

Which account are you currently on, how much are you currently paying and is your exchange Market 1 or Market 2/3 (you can check that here).

Re: Block TV access through router

Townman — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 14:56:38 GMT

Hi,
If you are using the TG582n router supplied by PlusNet and it is on firmware 10.2.2.B then take a look here - http://192.168.1.254/device_tod.lp?be=0&l0=4&l1=1 - this page enables you to restrict access time to devices. Note you will need to also ensure that those devices always have the same IP address.
Parental control options can be found here - http://192.168.1.254/cgi/b/sfltr/ov/?be=0&l0=3&l1=5 - however they restrict access for everyone.

Re: Block TV access through router

jelv — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:07:31 GMT

Quote from: bumbershoot
My router is a thomson TG585v7.

Re: Block TV access through router

Townman — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:08:54 GMT

Doh! Cheers!

Re: Block TV access through router

Anonymous — Mon, 22 Dec 2014 15:37:19 GMT

Perhaps someone knows of an alternative router with bandwidth limiting capability that 'bumbershoot' might consider using ?

Another possibility is to get hold of a router loaded with "DD-WRT" (less than £20 on eBay) which has a QoS bandwidth limiter built in to the firmware, connect it as if it were a Wireless Access Point, and only allow the "friend" to connect to the internet via that.
See this video for a demo of the DD-WRT QoS limiter - "Using DD-WRT for Bandwidth Control"

Probably beyond the scope of this thread, but this is how my router would do it - "Limit Download & Upload bandwidth per IP"