# [SOLVED] Motorola Surfboard Parental Controls



## Caldrumr

I have a Motorola SBG6580 Surfboard cable modem/gateway. I have been trying to set up the parental controls, but it does not seem to be working properly. 
I created two user groups, one for kids and one or adults. I then created to Time of Day profiles, one for school and one for weekends.
If I do not enter MAC addresses into the trusted list, all Internet access is blocked at all times, even my own. This is true regardless of the Time of Day profile I select for any users.
If I do enter the addresses into the trusted list, Internet access is always open, again regardless of the Time of Day profile I select. 
So, this makes the parental controls useless. How can I actually implement parental controls, if it is even possible?
All I want to do is block one computer on my network from accessing the Internet at certain times of day, depending on the day. Pretty simple with my old Linksys router, but a jumping-through-fiery-hoops fiasco on this one. :upset:
In addition, I was trying to enter the MAC addresses for five devices in the trusted list, but it limits me to three! Why in the world would I be limited to three devices?
This seems ridiculous, and it was not at all easy to set up. In fact, I would assume the average user would never be able to initiate parental controls using this device, unless I am missing something obvious. 
Thanks for any advice you can give.

If not, is there a good freeware parental control program I can use? All I want to do is limit Internet access hours on one device, with specific settings for days and times.


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## Wand3r3r

*Re: Motorola Surfboard Parental Controls*

http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/products/sbg6580/downloads/SURFboard_SBG6580_UserGuide.pdf

doesn't appear to support the feature set you are looking for. Unclear from the manual what "add users" is all about. "users" aren't part of a router setup. Seems all or nothing if you use the default after school schedule. I would suspect the limit of 3 mac addresses is due to they are exceptions to the rule in place not that they are in the rule being applied.


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## Caldrumr

*Re: Motorola Surfboard Parental Controls*



Wand3r3r said:


> http://broadband.motorola.com/consumers/products/sbg6580/downloads/SURFboard_SBG6580_UserGuide.pdf
> 
> doesn't appear to support the feature set you are looking for. Unclear from the manual what "add users" is all about. "users" aren't part of a router setup. Seems all or nothing if you use the default after school schedule. I would suspect the limit of 3 mac addresses is due to they are exceptions to the rule in place not that they are in the rule being applied.


Indeed, they seem to have designed the parental controls with the most confusing, unwieldy programming possible.
I spoke with technical support, and they suggested that I bridge the router with my Linksys, and use the parental controls on the Linksys. So, I am assuming that means I am out of luck.


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## Wand3r3r

*Re: Motorola Surfboard Parental Controls*

Not out of luck at all. Of course that depends on the parental controls in your linksys.
Good suggestion to bridge the modem/router.


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## Caldrumr

*Re: Motorola Surfboard Parental Controls*



Wand3r3r said:


> Not out of luck at all. Of course that depends on the parental controls in your linksys.
> Good suggestion to bridge the modem/router.


The parental controls on the Linksys are straightforward and simple, like the Surfboard should be. Just not sure I want to go through that trouble to implement them.


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## RoswellDave

*Re: Motorola Surfboard Parental Controls*

Were you ever able to resolve this problem? I can't figure it out either. Thx


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## RoswellDave

*Re: Motorola Surfboard Parental Controls*

The solution is to set up Users, times, etc., and then to "apply" Parental Controls as the last step. Then manually reboot the modem. I noticed this difference at Parental Control overview at Motorola support. With the dearth of knowledge out there, it was a time consuming and problematic process. The family was disgruntled with being locked out/logging into the internet for several days until the solution was found.


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## junzhu1966

*Re: Motorola Surfboard Parental Controls*

After much struggling, I was able to make it work, here are the key points,
1. Check the modem's system time first, in my case the system time was off by one hour. You need to take the error into consideration when you specify time to block
2. You need to set up a user account for the kids. Specify the time-of-day rules that apply to the user account for the kids. If you want to apply multiple rules, you need to select the rules one at a time. For example, to select the second rule, you need to unchecked all the other rules first, then select the second rule and apply the change.
3. Enable "Parental Control" as last step, very important. If you make a change, You can always disable and then re Enable "Parental Control" .

I did not have to reboot the modem for the change to be effective, but You may have to reboot it.

Lastly, you should bookmark the login page because it does not always pop or display correctly.

Lots of bugs, but it works in the end. Hope my painful experiences make other parents's life easier!


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## Wand3r3r

Thanks for the update


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