what do you think about 13yr old having a wireless router just for PS3 in their bedroom?

[AMAZINWOMAN]

I have always said no, as I am concerned that he will get up in the middle of the night to play games, (which he did when we had a trail period), he will go to bed late, and if it is in his room I can't monitor what he is up to.

He now has a job, and he says he will pay for it. He says I can take the control pad away from him at his bedtime, and he promises that he won't get up in the night to play.

What do other Mums do? Is the wireless router just for PS3? Can he browse the inernet using his PS3?

the internet is in the living room so I can keep an eye on the sites he visits.

I don't understand why he wants a wireless router in his bedroom? If he wants to play ps3 games online (and that is why he wants router) then why don't you just get wireless for the whole house and have it in the living room? That way you ca also control what sites he is/isn't allowed to visit, in fact I think you can even set routers to allow/disallow internet connections to certain devices at different times of the day, so you could actually have control of the router and could set it to disallow his internet connection after bed time.

i had no idea you could do that with a wireless router!

Isn't there a lot of security issues though with a wireless? They are so easy to hack into, a computer technician teacher was telling me a few months ago. Apparently you can buy software, sit outside someone's house, and know exactly what they are typing!

If you have decent security on your PC (which you should make sure you have if you access the internet whether it's wireless or not) then having a wireless router shouldn't cause any great security issues.

Other things you mentioned..

Can he access the internet via the PS3? Yes, absolutely. When our PC blew up earlier this year I did all my MNing banking via the PS3 or our Wii.

I don't see why having a router would make him play more at night, unless he's playing a lot of online games?

The router itself won't let you restrict access (except by turning it off!) You can (according to DH) set controls within the PS3 itself regarding timed periods for access, type of access etc.

yes the router will let you restrict access. When you install the router, and the devices within it, ie ps3, other computers in the house etc, you can set access ports to open/close so as to allow/disallow each device on to the wireless network at specified times, device not allowed on to the network will mean it is not able to access the internet.

Wireless doesn't have to be insecure, as long as you have the correct security/incription so that only the devices you specify can access your particular network.

When dh brought his work laptop home which had a wireless card it picked up that there were about 7 wireless networks in our immediate vacinity, but only one was showing as an open network, ie he could have attached his laptop to it if he had so require (he didn't).

you can also restrict certain sites through the router because it acts as a firewall, so you can specify what sites are/aren't allowed to be visited.

We have Wireless, and both kids have laptops in bedroom. DS is 12 but we really trust him.

As he is the one that networked our house, set up the home server, installs the anti virus etc etc, seems odd to restrict him! He always tells us about sites he visits, requests permission to sign up for anything, and had the sense to create his own "sign-up" accounts to prevent spam etc into his personal mail box.