(Q) I’m looking for assistance with students disabling their Chromebook’s Wi-Fi to bypass our filtering and monitoring. I’m trying to identify how they’re doing this and find a solution that prevents Wi-Fi toggling without restricting all settings access. Has anyone encountered this and found a successful resolution? Any insights would be greatly appreciated.
(A)There is not a way to restrict users from turning on/off Wi-Fi. But there are some other settings that may help:
- Devices > Networks > General Settings > Wi-Fi networks: Restrict only if a managed Wi-Fi network is in range
- This prevents them from switching to other SSIDs if the device detects a managed SSID in range—in other words, when they’re on campus, they’re locked into your Wi-Fi, but have free rein at home
- If your students are using hotspots from their personal phones to dodge your filter, this setting will almost certainly do the job
- If you have multiple SSIDs configured for an OU, they would be able to switch between those SSIDs but that’s it
- Devices > Networks > General Settings > Blocked Wi-Fi networks
- If you know students are connecting to another SSID nearby like McDonalds or Starbucks, you can block that SSID—also useful for if you want to prevent your students from hopping over to a Guest SSID
(End Result) This is not enough to stop the students from bypassing the filters and activity monitors that keep them focused. Can we please add this feature to the admin console so we can stop students from turning off their Wifi?