problems with timed access on airport extreme

hello.

i have an airport extreme running with an airport express as a repeater. i have a macbook pro, and 2 pc laptops in the house. i am trying to limit one of the pc's access to the internet via the timed access feature on the airport extreme. i set the MAC address, updated the router. problem is, the "blocked" pc still has free access to the internet at all hours. i didnt do anything to the airport express (repeater), and there was no timed access tab available for it either. am i doing something wrong? i thought apple products were supposed to be intuitive, but so far, the airport is proving tons more complicated than my old belkin router. any help would be appreciated. thanks!

Welcome to the Forum. Why not set up Parental Controls on the PC for timed access, deal to it that way.

thanks for the suggestion, collin. that PC is running XP which doesnt have parental controls, as far as i know.

The problem is you need to lock down the PC on both the Extreme and the Express. I had the same problem - until I added the mac address to all my base stations. It used to be I didn't have to do that but my time capsule died and when I bought a new one I found the same thing, if I didn't put the mac address into all the express devices then you could still get on.

Note that mac address is the Media Access Control address not Apple Mac.

hmm, thanks, ivan. i tried that route before i posted, and didn't find any way to limit access on the express. i opened the express in airport utility, and clicked around ... couldnt find any tab or anything. i'll give it another look. could you point me the appropriate place to make that change on the express?

What version express do you have? I believe they only added timed access to the latest 802.11n express. If it is an older version you might not have that choice.
First Look: AirPort Express 802.11n Wi-Fi base station | Networking | Macworld
fta
The Express also gains the time-based network-access feature available to the 802.11n AirPort Extreme Base Station since its debut last year. This feature lets you limit the days and times at which each computer on your network can access the network. For example, you can limit a computer’s access to the network to workday hours.

Anyway this is from memory but I believe if you go to your airport utility select the express -> select manual setup -> select internet -> the last tab on the right should be timed access. It should be in the same spot as your airport extreme settings. If it isn't there then maybe your airport express is too old. I know mine is 802.11n with firmware version 7.4.2 and it has the timed setting.

ill have to give it a look later today after i get back home, but i bought the express less than 6 months ago, so i am assuming it is the latest one. maybe the firmware needs updating or something.

So when I open airport utility on Windows - I don't see access control for the Airport Express. When I open Airport Utility on the Mac - there is an access control tab under the airport tab. I know I installed the latest Airport utility on Windows because I needed to for the new time capsule I got. Anyway - on the mac when I configured it - everything worked as expected.

Access Control Issue

If I understand the question correctly... you want to limit a user’s network/internet usage to certain hours/days? I may be wrong but I believe the “Timed Access Control” only applies to establishing new connections. Current connections with time restrictions are not dropped (it would make too much sense). Instead users aren’t allowed to re-connect until the next allowed time frame rolls around. In short if a user establishes a connection and doesn’t drop it voluntarily, the “Timed Access” is worthless and does nothing. You have to take further measures like find a timer to fire off a script that restarts the router/airport/extreme just after the users “Timed Access” hours expire, thus kicking them off. Then you’re also bouncing the network… not ideal either… Anyone else have a better solution? Please offer as I too would like to limit user hours/days without bouncing the router.

Why not use Parental controls included with the Mac or Windows? That allows you to control login and even control how many hours - one can use the computer.

Kid Proofing a Mac With Parental Controls
Windows 7 Features: Parental Controls