How to Bypass Xfinity Wi-Fi Pause Effortlessly

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Xfinity has a neat usage control feature that lets you pause the internet connection during certain times of the day.

But there are times when you need to bypass the pause.

Case in point, I lost access to my Xfinity account for some odd reason.

I had put a pause on my connection during one of my digital detox weekends.

I paused it way before I lost the account, and with no way to turn off the pause, I had to find a way to bypass it.

Until Xfinity support got me my account back anyway.

I looked up online to find out how to bypass the pause and compiled everything I found.

This guide is a result of that research and will help you bypass a paused Xfinity internet connection.

To bypass a paused Xfinity WiFi connection, use a MAC address changer to change the MAC address of the device the internet is paused for.

What is Xfinity Wi-Fi Pause?

Xfinity lets the account holder deny access to certain devices by putting them in a profile and pausing them.

You need to tell the router to block devices with certain names, which you can enter from the Xfinity account page.

Pausing an internet connection would mean that the devices in the list won’t be able to access the internet until you unpause it.

This is incredibly useful if you don’t want your devices to use up your data cap overnight or be used as a parental control feature.

It is also useful to turn off your home automation systems when you don’t need to.

Using the scheduling feature, you can set times of day where the devices in your home automation system don’t need to access the internet.

Manually Unpause the Wi-Fi

Unlike me, if you do have access to your Xfinity account and use the xFi app, try unpausing the profile your device is under.

To unpause a device:

1. Open the xFi app on your phone.
2. Open the Devices tab.
3. Select the device that you want to unpause from the list.
4. Select Unpause Device

To unpause a profile:

1. In the xFi app, open the People tab.
2. Under the profile, you want to pause, press Unpause All.

You can also log in to the Xfinity Gateway Admin tool at http://10.0.01 and unpause the connection from there.

But once you pause or unpause with the xFi app, you can no longer set up device blocks, scheduled or otherwise and cannot port-forward with the admin tool.

To unpause with the admin tool:

1. Login to 10.0.0.1 with the admin username and password.
2. Go to Parental Control > Managed Devices.
3. Select Disable.
4. All the devices on the blocked list can now access the internet.

Change Your Device Name

Your device is read a bit differently by the router.

Like IP addresses, each device on the network has a special name or an address called the MAC address.

It is unique for every device on the network, and the router uses it to identify the device.

You can tell Xfinity routers to block devices with a certain name or a certain IP.

You can bypass a name block by changing the MAC address, which is your device’s name the router identifies the device with.

For example, if the router is set to pause a device named Dave’s iPhone and Dave changes its name to simply iPhone, he can bypass the block.

But you cannot bypass the pause if your IP address itself is the one being blocked.

Find Your MAC Address

Before bypassing a pause that uses your MAC address, the first thing you should do is find out your MAC address.

To find your Mac address on Windows PCs

1. Press the Windows Key and R key together.
2. Type “cmd” without quotes in the box that appears.
3. In the black window, type “ipconfig /all” without quotes.
4. Press Enter.
5. Scroll down to your network adapter and look for the value called “Physical Address”. That is your MAC address.

On Mac OS X:

1. Select System Preferences.
2. Choose Network.
3. Select the network you are connected to on the left-hand side pane.
4. Click Advanced in the lower corner.
5. At the bottom. Look for an entry titled “Wi-Fi Address”. That is your MAC address.

Mask Your MAC Address

To successfully get around a MAC address block, you will need to spoof or mask your MAC address.

You can do this by installing a MAC address changer that changes the MAC address for you.

Changing it manually requires some work, so using the tool is a lot easier.

But in the case of MacOS computers, you’d need to change it without a tool manually.

Install a MAC Address Changer

A MAC address changer that I’d like to recommend is the Technitium MAC Address Changer.

It’s completely free to use and might seem daunting to use judging by its user interface, but it is pretty easy.

Android users can still change their MAC address, but it is a larger and more time-consuming process that involves many risks and will void your device warranty.

Unfortunately, Apple does not allow you to change the MAC address of your iPhone without jailbreaking it, which is illegal.

Install the Technitium application on your PC and follow these steps:

1. Select the paused Wi-Fi device from the list.
2. Click on Random Mac Address, and wait for 3 minutes.

The Mac address of your Windows PC has successfully been changed.

To change the MAC address on your MacOS computer:

1. After finding the MAC address, note it down.
2. Click the Option key and select the Wi-Fi symbol.
3. Note down the interface name
4. Open the Terminal by searching for it in Finder
5. Type the command below into the Terminal and press enter
   1. OpenSSL rand -hex 6 | sed ‘s/(..)/1:/g; s/.$//’
6. Note down the hexadecimal number you get after pressing enter. This will be your new MAC address.
7. Disconnect from Wi-Fi
8. Close the Terminal and open it again
9. Type the following command in the window and press enter. Enter your login password when prompted.

sudo ifconfig <interface name> ether <Your new MAC address here>

Your MAC address has now been changed.

Connect to the Wi-Fi again and see if you can access the internet again.

How to Bypass Parental Controls on Ethernet

Bypassing a network pause on an ethernet connection is done a bit differently.

To bypass parental controls over Ethernet on Windows PCs:

1. Open your Network and Internet Settings.
2. Right-click on your ethernet network.
3. Select Properties.
4. Tick the check box that says Client for Microsoft Networks.
5. Click Configure and go to Advanced.
6. Select Network Address and make sure the value box is ticked.
7. Delete the existing value.
8. Type a random set of 8 digits in the value field.
9. Press OK.

Since the MAC address has been changed, try connecting to the internet again.

Why Pause In The First Place?

Sometimes it’s worth looking back at why you paused the connection in the first place.

If you paused access to some devices to reduce the load on the network, it might be time to invest in a third-party Wi-Fi router compatible with Xfinity.

They are capable of higher and more reliable internet speeds than the stock router Xfinity gave you, and their admin tools feature more control options than xFi.

You May Also Enjoy Reading

• How To Turn Off Xfinity Wi-Fi At Night [2021]
• Forgot Xfinity Router Admin Password: How to Reset [2021]
• Xfinity Wi-Fi Not Showing Up: How To Fix [2021]
• How To Hook Up Xfinity Cable Box And Internet [2021]

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get my Xfinity Wi-Fi password?

To see your Wi-Fi password, log in to xfinity.com/myxfi and log in to your account. On the overview page, find your Wi-Fi. Click the right arrow to see the network. Then click show password to see your password.

How can I see who is using my Xfinity account?

In the Devices section of the xFi app, you can see the devices connected to the Wi-Fi network. You can remove the devices you don’t recognize right from this menu.

What is the default password for Xfinity Wi-Fi?

Open the My Account app and select the Internet icon. Next, tap the Wireless Gateway you want to see the password for. Then click “Show Wi-Fi Settings” to see your password.

How do I reset Xfinity modem?

Type 10.0.0.1 into a browser address bar and log in to the admin tool. Then navigate to Troubleshooting > Reset/Restore Gateway. Then click Reset to start the reset process.