Link-sys router not blocking net access-

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03-28-2020, 1:41 AM
Kev Williams

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Link-sys router not blocking net access-

Attachment 428972 ;)

So I'm finding out my rather expensive Linksys EA8500 Smart wi-fi router, is NOT blocking websites I have blocked, and is NOT blocking internet access to computers I have blocked. Nada. ALL my XP's and my '98 are blocked, but all of 'em have no problem accessing the 'net. My TV's are blocked but haven't checked them yet, but I'm betting they're not. No firmware updates available, everything seems fine in the settings, but I'm not a net protocol (or any other) genius ...

I've always been happy with connectivity, connects to everything in the house- speaking of everything, with just the 2 of us here, at the moment there's 18 devices connected, 6 are hardwired, 12 are wireless, one is 5 gig, the rest are 2.4 gig; computers, ipads, TV's, sec. cams, playstation, weather station, etc... When the BIL shows up in the morning he adds another 6 devices, and every grandkid's cell phone when they show up... Am I just overloading the thing? The router I had before this, forget the brand, was always giving me 'high traffic!' alerts, never get that with this one. However, while it connects good, it seems to run a glacial speed, 72mps on my garage shop computer here.

Anyway, the not-blocking thing, can't have that. Also, I'm using Ooma for my landline, which is set up in front of the router to prioritize phone calls. And IT'S been acting up at times.

Not sure what to do here? I can troubleshoot by disconnecting stuff, I can replace the thing, but with what? This one was a bit shy of $300, but I'm not against buying a better router, I realize I'm asking a lot of it. Could I run 2 routers, and split up the bandwidth?
03-28-2020, 10:00 AM
Jim Becker

So....what method are you using to block access? The most effective way to do that is via MAC address filtering since a device's MAC address (physical address) doesn't generally change. It's embedded.
03-28-2020, 10:21 PM
Kev Williams

"Parental Controls", which lets you block internet access never, always, or specific times you enter into a table-

You mentioned MAC blocking, so I checked into my IP addresses, and I found a couple of duplicate addresses for different offline devices. Digging further, I found most of my computers didn't have static IP's; I thought they all did!

That seems to have been my problem; I just got done reserving all the computer's IP's, and Voila! What should be blocked is, what shouldn't be, isn't!

Thanks! :)
03-29-2020, 9:14 AM
Jim Becker

The default for all consumer type routers is dynamic addressing. (with rare and expensive exceptions, the public-facing IP address on nearly all consumer focused ISP connections is also dynamic) Just keep in mind that while using static addresses will get what you want working, a savvy user can manually change the IP address of a device to get around that. MAC filtering is a bit more secure. Perfect? Nope, because there are ways to manipulate MAC addresses in some OS to spoof, but that's a bit more involved than simply changing an IP address.
03-29-2020, 9:45 AM
Curt Harms

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Becker

The default for all consumer type routers is dynamic addressing. (with rare and expensive exceptions, the public-facing IP address on nearly all consumer focused ISP connections is also dynamic) Just keep in mind that while using static addresses will get what you want working, a savvy user can manually change the IP address of a device to get around that. MAC filtering is a bit more secure. Perfect? Nope, because there are ways to manipulate MAC addresses in some OS to spoof, but that's a bit more involved than simply changing an IP address.

Interesting, I thought MAC spoofing was pretty easy though I've never done it. How easy would it be to change the I.P; address on a device remotely? I'm sure it depends on the device but on typical consumer gadgets?