topic Re: Total lack of parental controls in Broadband

Total lack of parental controls

PWaggs — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 18:09:10 GMT

We just switched to Sky from BT and despite being assured by the sales person that Sky offered all the parental controls I needed, the are almost NO meaningful parental controls on the Sky router. On the BT app, I could pause wifi access to specific devices as well as set bed times and start times. It's alarming in todays world the Sky doesn't have such things available. The platitudes I received was that those controls would be available as soon as full fast fibre was installed in my area. That's no consolation because, my childern are teenager TODAY. If BT can offer this serve to my house last month, why on earth can't Sky offer it this month?

Anyone know if there any options available? Can we use a third party router? There are plenty of them on the market that are designed to keep kids safe, just wish Sky took internet safety seriously.

Re: Total lack of parental controls

daveNOS — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 18:23:06 GMT

@PWaggs The parental controls with Sky are only available via a "Sky WiFi Max" subscription which has an extra monthly cost, im surprised that customer service didn't mention this to you.

If you want to use a 3rd party router you are free to do so, im not 100% certain on which models work with Sky due to the authentiction Sky use, im sure someone who does know will pop in shortly and hopefully be able to point you in the right direction.

Re: Total lack of parental controls

TimmyBGood — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 19:00:33 GMT

@PWaggs wrote:

On the BT app, I could pause wifi access to specific devices as well as set bed times and start times. It's alarming in todays world the Sky doesn't have such things available. The platitudes I received was that those controls would be available as soon as full fast fibre was installed in my area.

https://www.sky.com/help/articles/sky-wifi-max-parental-controls

Note that subscription to the WiFi Max service is not dependent on having FTTP: the Max Hub is however the default hardware for Ultrafast broadband, which is where I suspect the confusion arises.

Re: Total lack of parental controls

PWaggs — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 11:25:32 GMT

There is no consfusion. I was assured by the customer service representative that the service I was purchasing (which is the best service available in my postcode) would have parental controls. Last month, the BT router and it's app provided a full set of tools to control access to our wifi. Switching providers, doesn't entail laying new cable. The Open Reach tech simply plugged in a new router and flipped a switch in the local exchange. The Sky's hardware simply does not offer an app to control access to our home wifi. We are faced with switching back to BT or purchasing a third party router that has parental controls. I's like to know what experience others have had with using 3rd party routers with their Sky service.

Re: Total lack of parental controls

TimmyBGood — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 12:18:40 GMT

@PWaggs wrote:

I was assured by the customer service representative that the service I was purchasing (which is the best service available in my postcode) would have parental controls.

That would be correct if the subscription included the WiFi Max add-on (and consequently the Max Hub would be shipped)

This is not exclusive to FTTP and will function quite happily on FTTC, but cannot currently be ordered at addresses which have more than one Sky Q television Mini box because there's an incompatibly between the Max WiFi and the now rather antique 'Q mesh' (from 2016)

By itself the Max Hub (which is the default hardware for FTTP but not FTTC) doesn't include parental controls, and the option to use separate software ('Broadband Buddy') was removed from the Sky Broadband Hub / Broadband Boost bundle several years ago.