[news] VexBox - This is just cruel..

[abillybob]

...& brilliant at the same time. Throttle your kids internet connections until they have done their chores.

 

VexBox throttles teens' Internet speeds. Evil, brilliant or both? - CNET

[LosOjos]

I have a MAC blocking rule on my router which gets turned on if my daughter is slacking on her chores - she's yet to discover MAC spoofing!

[hardtailstar]

I have a MAC blocking rule on my router which gets turned on if my daughter is slacking on her chores - she's yet to discover MAC spoofing!

 

I do this when my brother is back from university!

[X-13]

...& brilliant at the same time. Throttle your kids internet connections until they have done their chores.

 

VexBox throttles teens' Internet speeds. Evil, brilliant or both? - CNET

 

I couldn't even make it past the sub-heading.

 

A Kickstarter project designed to encourage teens to do their chores works by slowing their Internet connection down to a painful crawl.

 

Just pull the plug out.

 

Or are people that damn lazy?

[Arreks]

Just pull the plug out.

 

Or are people that damn lazy?

 

I'm kinda inclined to agree - maybe it's because I'm younger and don't have children, but if I did I wouldn't revert to 'cheap tricks' to teach my kids a lesson.. I'd just tell them to do their damn chores or I'm throwing their PC out the window!

[X-13]

I'm kinda inclined to agree - maybe it's because I'm younger and don't have children, but if I did I wouldn't revert to 'cheap tricks' to teach my kids a lesson.. I'd just tell them to do their damn chores or I'm throwing their PC out the window!

 

Take the power cable [and the battery if it's a laptop], take the controllers for the console, turn the internet off...

 

So many more options before you get into traffic management and shenanigans...

[DalekSec]

Being the younger brother ( but more knowledge of electrics ) I often fooled my brother by tripping the mains switch and saying its a power cut... he never did find out it was me

[Andrew_C]

I can see it working; sort of.

 

You agree standards of work, amount of time on-line, and pre-set it. That way, you take out some of the "personal" confrontation. "You agreed to these settings, I'm not doing anything to be horrid."

[sippo]

Or even better, just take their devices off them...

 

What is wrong with old school punishments?

[LosOjos]

Take the power cable [and the battery if it's a laptop], take the controllers for the console, turn the internet off...

 

So many more options before you get into traffic management and shenanigans...

 

As a parent, it's not that simple. My daughter's homework often needs to be done on a PC and some of it is actually done online, so total removal of the PC/internet won't work. There's also the issue when doing written homework she'll have YouTube videos on, which she continually gets distracted by and doesn't get her homework done.

 

In my house, we work on a "three strike" system; if she gets her work done, then the internet stays and she can watch all the YouTube she wants. If she gets caught slacking twice, Internet is either disabled entirely (via aforementioned MAC filter) or limited to only her homework sites if she needs access (Window Live family filters).

 

Final straw is total lack of access to a PC or any of the consoles for a set time period; it rarely gets to this point.

 

And as for "just pulling the plug" - hell no! I'm not losing Netflix/online play just because my daughter's slacking!

[mac_shinobi]

As a parent, it's not that simple. My daughter's homework often needs to be done on a PC and some of it is actually done online, so total removal of the PC/internet won't work. There's also the issue when doing written homework she'll have YouTube videos on, which she continually gets distracted by and doesn't get her homework done.

 

In my house, we work on a "three strike" system; if she gets her work done, then the internet stays and she can watch all the YouTube she wants. If she gets caught slacking twice, Internet is either disabled entirely (via aforementioned MAC filter) or limited to only her homework sites if she needs access (Window Live family filters).

 

Final straw is total lack of access to a PC or any of the consoles for a set time period; it rarely gets to this point.

 

And as for "just pulling the plug" - hell no! I'm not losing Netflix/online play just because my daughter's slacking!

 

There are better ways of restricting internet access then paying even more money for something like that, surely that box must have a network cable from the router going into it, so if the box is what is slowing speeds down etc then just use the network cable that is going into that box. Failing that if it is wirelessly connecting that black box to the router then get a wireless card to connect to the wireless network ?

 

If you need to restrict or stop access altogether then surely there are at least a few other ways of achieving the same or similar thing ?

[LosOjos]

There are better ways of restricting internet access then paying even more money for something like that, surely that box must have a network cable from the router going into it, so if the box is what is slowing speeds down etc then just use the network cable that is going into that box. Failing that if it is wirelessly connecting that black box to the router then get a wireless card to connect to the wireless network ?

 

If you need to restrict or stop access altogether then surely there are at least a few other ways of achieving the same or similar thing ?

 

Yeah I agree, personally I wouldn't buy that box because I have control over my own network, but you have to bear in mind not everyone knows how to manage even a basic network, so to those people this gives them some control.

 

Of course it doesn't get you around the mobile data problem (keep hoping networks will provide a simple on/off switch for parents but don't see it happening unless they can charge for it) and unless it configures itself as a gateway, as you say the kids can just choose a wireless connection straight to the router instead and bypass it.

 

You can achieve a much more powerful solution with a Rapsberry Pi, the trouble is as every router is different, you'd need someone to write step by step instructions for every type of router going to make this an option for most parents - though you could probably get away with just writing instructions for the most common routers handed out by ISPs to a large degree as if the household is using anything else then presumably they'd understand enough about networking to figure it out.

[AMLinington]

In our house I plan to set up a separate SSID for the kids. I may even go so far as to set up a filtered subnet (although double NAT-ing is nasty so I may just use netmasking). Once their chores/homework/responsibilities are taken care of they will get that days WiFi password. To encourage collaborative working and preventing complaints about unfair work distribution (assuming I have more than one child) the WiFi password will only be distributed when all children have done their chores. That way they're encouraged to help each other out to benefit themselves.