Home Web Filtering

[plexer]

Interesting may have a look at that later at the £75 level.

 

Was considering the Sophos UTM home version as well but another small wifi device would be fine.

 

Ben

[woody]

Has anyone got any experience of Draytek Global ViewWeb Content Filtering ? It's a subscription service available to owners of their routers. The attraction for me is the user/device/group level policies.

 

I use a Draytek but the UI is not very friendly especially for non technical parents. I haven't subscribed to their filtering service but use the URL whitelisting etc. The Home Halo looks good though for something to recommend to family / friends who want an easy method of control.

[pybe]

I have found the free offering from opendns to be pretty good https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/parental-controls/opendns-home/

[Joanne]

+1 for OpenDNS. Easy to set up and it just works.

[jmak]

I have found the free offering from opendns to be pretty good https://www.opendns.com/home-internet-security/parental-controls/opendns-home/

 

I've looked at this before and it looks fine as far as it goes - I will probably set up whatever router I end up with to use it - but you can't change the DNS provider on BT homehubs and some other ISP supplied routers. It also doesn't meet my requirement to offer different levels of filtering for different users - it can't be that uncommon to want to set more stringent policies for youngsters than parents on a household.

 

Does anyone know if the home halo supports VDSL?

[plexer]

I've looked at this before and it looks fine as far as it goes - I will probably set up whatever router I end up with to use it - but you can't change the DNS provider on BT homehubs and some other ISP supplied routers. It also doesn't meet my requirement to offer different levels of filtering for different users - it can't be that uncommon to want to set more stringent policies for youngsters than parents on a household.

 

Does anyone know if the home halo supports VDSL?

 

The home halo is just a wireless access point with a built in switch it has nothing to do with VDSL you cannot use it on it's own with a VDSL connection it would need a vdsl modem or a router with built in vdsl modem to connect to.

 

Ben

[pybe]

IIRC opendns do a prosumer version of their enterprise umbrella offering for under 5 users for about $20 per user per year.

[jmak]

The home halo is just a wireless access point with a built in switch it has nothing to do with VDSL you cannot use it on it's own with a VDSL connection it would need a vdsl modem or a router with built in vdsl modem to connect to.

 

Ben

 

I read this from the link on kickstarter:

"HomeHalo istheintegrated smart router, cloud service and smartphone app system that’s designed to help parents manage internet use for all connected devices in the home and to apply rules for each user"

 

My misunderstanding, but I think a lot of consumers would expect a modem to be part of a home router, whether it's cable, ADSL or VDSL.

 

Edit: Much clearer having read the details on their website! And something I might be able to recommend to parents due to its simplicity. I look forward to the reviews when it's launched.

Edited November 14, 2014 by jmak

[IrritableTech]

I read this from the link on kickstarter:

"HomeHalo istheintegrated smart router, cloud service and smartphone app system that’s designed to help parents manage internet use for all connected devices in the home and to apply rules for each user"

 

My misunderstanding, but I think a lot of consumers would expect a modem to be part of a home router, whether it's cable, ADSL or VDSL.

 

Edit: Much clearer having read the details on their website! And something I might be able to recommend to parents due to its simplicity. I look forward to the reviews when it's launched.

 

I can see the product creating a adsl/vdsl equipped router in the future, but I suspect if the project is successful their ultimate goal is to talk the large ISPs into incorporating the technology in their standard router.

[Arthur]

Has anyone tried Securly for Parents?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jhFlX3aeh4

 

Securly are also working on an iOS app...

 

The app that alerts parents when kids are in trouble online « Kickstarter

[Obiwan]

I've looked at this before and it looks fine as far as it goes - I will probably set up whatever router I end up with to use it - but you can't change the DNS provider on BT homehubs and some other ISP supplied routers. It also doesn't meet my requirement to offer different levels of filtering for different users - it can't be that uncommon to want to set more stringent policies for youngsters than parents on a household.

 

Does anyone know if the home halo supports VDSL?

 

Some netgear routers have Live Parental Controls (LPC) built in. This uses the OpenDNS filtering castes but lets you have timed filters, bypass login etc. There are apps for most devices now so you don't need a desktop machine or server to run it.

Live Parental Controls | Apps | Discover | Home | NETGEAR

[Gatt]

+2 for Sophos UTM Home - been running it for a couple of years as a VM and not let me down yet.

Great for keeping the kids in check online - both with the web filtering and the time periods so they can only go on at certain times of the day (eg 4-8 pm on a school night)

Also does good spam filtering for Email

 

The firewall / IPS is great at keeping unwanted people out

 

Also, it has a decent Reverse proxy and NAT filtering too

 

All for nowt!

[MrKJLS]

You get Sophos Endpoint Protection for free, up to 10 users on the Sophos Home UTM as well.

[jmak]

You get Sophos Endpoint Protection for free, up to 10 users on the Sophos Home UTM as well.

 

Definitely seems the best option for me - just waiting until after Christmas before I splash out on decent HDDs for my hp microserver - which is where it stops being free. Wish I'd known about the endpoint protection before I'd paid this year's av subscription.

 

As well as not being plug n play - I'm after a solution I can recommend to parents as well as something for my own use.

[IrritableTech]

I really appreciate all the options put forward in the thread. It's given me some options I've not seen before - thank you.

 

My issue with running Untangled or Sophos UTM is running hardware. Both require boxes with dual nics and a reasonable amount of power. I don't really want the electricity bill or heat. The Home Halo is a small device running on a 5 volt power brick, using about the same power as a mobile phone charger. The other advantage I can see is the integration into a mobile app, ensuring both me and my wife can manage it quickly.

 

Thankfully the home halo is launching in the new year, despite not hitting it's kickstarter goal. So I'll be able to feedback in the new year on how well the product works in a real environment.

[nathan]

doesn't look like this product will be going ahead as it was unsuccessful in reaching it's kickstarter goals. Could the Raspberry Pi not be used for this sort of thing?

[halbaradkenafin]

doesn't look like this product will be going ahead as it was unsuccessful in reaching it's kickstarter goals. Could the Raspberry Pi not be used for this sort of thing?

 

Should be reasonably easy to set up squid proxy on a Pi and plug in a USB WiFi dongle to broadcast and act as a AP (there are plenty of guides out there on how to do that).

[IrritableTech]

doesn't look like this product will be going ahead as it was unsuccessful in reaching it's kickstarter goals. Could the Raspberry Pi not be used for this sort of thing?

 

The home halo is still set to launch in January. I've been contacted by them and still hope to be involved in the Beta trials.

 

Should be reasonably easy to set up squid proxy on a Pi and plug in a USB WiFi dongle to broadcast and act as a AP (there are plenty of guides out there on how to do that).

 

This idea appeals to me, but does anyone know of a nice a simple GUI for squid that would help me and my wife manage the thing quickly rather than get caught up in config files?