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ADSL Modem/Router for Parental Controls

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InspectHerGadget

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I have an Asus AC87U on which I demonstrated parental controls to a customer. He was pleased and I agreed to install an Asus DSL-N55U thinking the parental controls would be similar. They're not.

I think that the AC87 can filter what comes in whereas the AC55 just allows an access schedule ie. a plan to allow a child access to the internet at certain times on certain days.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to which Asus router would be best? I like the Asus controls as they're so very simple to configure and this is important if technophobe customers are to use them.

I understand Netgear go one step further and use a website which allows you to configure the router to apply filters?

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit:

I bought the Netgear DGND3700 but will figure out tomorrow how it works...

I gather it does work by registering the modem with an account with Netgear and then it points th e router to this for internet access which then filters what is allowed.

This seems clunky in comparison to the web filtering on the Asus AC87 which is all done on the router.
 
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For anyone looking to contribute, you can take a look the Parental Controls section here (it's an AC3200 emulator, but I'm assuming the functionality is identical).

Basically, Asus is integrating a TrendMicro web filter into a web front-end with basic category selection - nothing too fancy, although quite convenient for the layperson. Unfortunately, most of the firmware in combo modem/routers is often several levels more basic than their router-only brethren, and I'm not aware of any modem/router unit that offer this.

Since you've more or less found the solution in a router, I'd sell the client a separate DSL modem if he/she doesn't already have one , and then sell them an AC87U (or a lower-priced Asus model as long as it has the same parental control functionality).
 
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For anyone looking to contribute, you can take a look the Parental Controls section here (it's an AC3200 emulator, but I'm assuming the functionality is identical).

Basically, Asus is integrating a TrendMicro web filter into a web front-end with basic category selection - nothing too fancy, although quite convenient for the layperson. Unfortunately, most of the firmware in combo modem/routers is often several levels more basic than their router-only brethren, and I'm not aware of any modem/router unit that offer this.

Since you've more or less found the solution in a router, I'd sell the client a separate DSL modem if he/she doesn't already have one , and then sell them an AC87U (or a lower-priced Asus model as long as it has the same parental control functionality).

I did the job today, setting up a Netgear DGND3700v2 on his home network.

It was a bit of a job and I ran all the setup software on his MacBook which made it a bit harder for me.

It all works very well but it is somewhat more complex than the AC87 as you have to set up a OpenDNS account. The customer then wanted remote access so I enabled that and showed him how to use it. The NetgearGenie on the Mac is different to the one on Windows and doesn't support remote login (which requires a Netgear Genie account to be setup) but does fortunately allow direct access to the modem via an IP address on the remote managment tab.

I then found that the NetgearGenie app on the iphone will only allow remote access if you have the Netgear R7000 router. He was happy enough though but it can be confusing.

I think for an average customer who just wants say me to set it up and maintain it then fine but the customer in this case was an engineer who is capable of taking control of this and making it work. His main concern was filtering out porn as he has teenage boys and they no doubt can't help themselves if they can find it.

The problem with using the AC87 is it leaves the modem/router unprotected and teenage boys would quickly get around any restrictions. The Dad also doesn't live in the same house so it makes it more difficult to monitor what is going on but it is now locked down very well.

I did learn a lot from doing it. The advantage of the Netgear Live Parental Controls is that they are highly configurable and it can be accessed remotely. You can't however set up the filtering at device level. It is for the whole network except if you set up a bypass account for any computers you want, not to be filtered.

The AC87U, to me, looks much simpler to administer and use but so far the advanced protection and parental controls exist only on their high end routers. The Netgear routers on the other hand have this available on their whole product range including modem/routers.
 
I setup the rt-n66u with Merlin's firmware and used parental controls. Setting up an openDNS free account is easy as is using the auto updater to keep isp assigned IP address in sync with OpenDNS.
I found the implementation to be effective given the lack of ability to block vpns and https and some programs. The granularity offered by OpenDNS is great.

It would be nice to have the filtering option scheduled as OpenDNS does block some sites unnecessarily in my view eg mathsfun. So a change of filter level is required and that has to be done manually.

Other than that it's pretty effective
 
I'm very much against "Parental Controls" as it throws away responsibility of the parent to teach their kids the proper and responsible use of the internet.

Parental Controls - it's a smaller version of the "Great Firewall of China", and we've seen how successful (not) that is. People, and Kids especially, will always find a way around it, and then you're back to ground zero and dealing with a child that has deliberately gone around intentions.

And that is not a good place to be as a parent

As a parent, one needs to have that "talk" - not the one about the "birds and the bees", but about the "bits and the bytes", and encourage them to take responsibility for their own actions.

I put my son on the internet when he was in middle school - we had a couple of incidents of inappropriate content - raging hormones will do that, but for the most part, he was fine. But it was also about being engaged, showing him that access, while not restricted, was logged, and he was held accountable.

I suggest to "consultants", and I use that term loosely, don't go down that path... if you suggest/offer a solution, consider that the kids will find a way around it, and then you will have a very unhappy customer...

sfx
 
I'm very much against "Parental Controls" as it throws away responsibility of the parent to teach their kids the proper and responsible use of the internet.

Parental Controls - it's a smaller version of the "Great Firewall of China", and we've seen how successful (not) that is. People, and Kids especially, will always find a way around it, and then you're back to ground zero and dealing with a child that has deliberately gone around intentions.

And that is not a good place to be as a parent

As a parent, one needs to have that "talk" - not the one about the "birds and the bees", but about the "bits and the bytes", and encourage them to take responsibility for their own actions.

sfx

I think it depends on the child. You may be lucky and have relatively compliant children.

Some of the porn is viewed accidentally too, not just by teenage children but younger also. A low level filter to catch obvious porn material is a great idea and the low level filter stops fishing sites also.

I think there are multiple and sound reasons for filtering internet and doing it at router level whether directly such as on the Asus AC87 or indirectly using OpenDNS such as I set up for this customer, will improve their internet safety.

He can even remotely log in to the router to check it. He locked down the passwords and all that too.

Nothing is 100% and once away from home children can access their friend's computer. You always hope children do the right thing but some children will listen and some won't. Male brains also don't mature properly until into their 20s which explains a lot of violence, and traffic fatalities we have. Their testosterone is misdirected. Personally I think we should have a World Testicle Bank and take them off at puberty and give them back at 25 years of age.

Edit:

I should add that this customer is a Mechanical Engineer and very logical in nature. He told me when we were first discussing this that he did have 'the talk' about the dangers of interent and all that it entails including pornography. He then being a logical person followed it up. He didn't give details how he checked but he did and found them accessing some very objectionable porn sites. His opinion is that it is hard to bypass their natural curiosity/lust and I agree. I have 2.7 grandchildren and that will be 3 in June, all boys. You can bet I will be locking this stuff up tighter than an inner city pawn shop.
 
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