Block site not working on Sky Router

[Protec]

I was going to block a site on my Sky router but it simply doesn't work. The URL can still be visited despite it being on the block list and set to "always". Any ideas?

[aicrd]

Does the device you are testing from have your ISP DNS settings set? Most of the inbuilt router blocks I've seen do it based on the DNS.

[Protec]

It's all default, I haven't changed any of those settings before.

[Roberto]

So is it failing to block this one site, or is it failing to block any sites and this just happens to be the only site you’ve tried to block so far.

[Protec]

I tried 2 different sites and neither were blocked on the 2 devices (desktop and phone) I tried which were both connected to router.

[synaesthesia]

Honestly, those routers are just awful and none of the family safety settings or even block site settings work properly if at all. For this reason I ended up installing the free sophos XG home on a spare box instead.

[Davit2005]

Is the URL a subdomain i.e. subdomain.domain.com?

 

I use a few PiHole servers at home, they seem to do a good job and can seem to do wildcards as well which a lot of firewall/routers have difficulty with. Just point the DNS of your clients to the PiHole (if you run a domain you will need to add the PiHole as a forwarder on your DNS server). They can provide DHCP services too which gives you more info on the clients.

Edited May 10, 2021 by Davit2005

[aicrd]

Honestly, those routers are just awful and none of the family safety settings or even block site settings work properly if at all. For this reason I ended up installing the free sophos XG home on a spare box instead.

 

Yeah. I use Untangle Home and it has block categories and everything. Can even block VPNs if you want to go down that route. It's also not DNS based filtering like most ISP filters so it's not as simple as changing the DNS server on the device to bypass it.

[synaesthesia]

Oooh forgot about untangle - might take another look at that as XG Home is entirely unsuitable for the majority - only usable for me as I run it at work!

[aicrd]

Oooh forgot about untangle - might take another look at that as XG Home is entirely unsuitable for the majority - only usable for me as I run it at work!

 

 

One thing to note is the web filtering isn't included in the free version. You need NG Firewall HomePro, which is $50 a year. It's also licenced per device, however on the home version you get unlimited devices.

 

They do have a 14 day free trial though for the pro features.

Edited May 10, 2021 by aicrd

[Protec]

Here is a screenshot. I used that URL for testing and it can still be accessed. I tried taking off the HTTPS part but still nothing. The firewall block IP works fine on these routers.

 

 

Router instructions:

 

[h=1]Block Sites[/h]You can set your Sky Hub to filter web pages.

There are two ways to filter websites using your Sky Hub. You can:

 

• Block access to certain domain names (in the example http://www.bbc.co.uk the domain name is bbc.co.uk), or
  
• Block sites that contains certain words in their URL (web address).
  

Once a block is set a user trying to access a blocked site will see a message saying that the site has been blocked by the Sky Hub Administrator.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2021 by Protec

[Guest Guest]

Here is a screenshot. I used that URL for testing and it can still be accessed. I tried taking off the HTTPS part but still nothing. The firewall block IP works fine on these routers.

 

 

Router instructions:

Try without https://

[Danp]

Try without https://

 

And without the www.

 

Try with just the domain name

[paulkerton]

Yeah just try

coolmathgames.com

 

You're block the domain with DNS, the https://www part is irrelevant.

[Protec]

Still not working. I think I'm just gonna have to accept that it doesn't work.

[cherd84]

Hi @Protec. I think you get Broadband Shield as part of your Sky Broadband package. Forgive me if you've already done this but have you logged into that as I think you can block individual sites on there when you log in to their web interface?

[Protec]

As far as I know broadband shield is just an option either on or off. I think it's only set in the "Sky ID" thing - not on the router. I haven't looked on there in years (since I got sky to turn it off) but I'll have a look. Thanks.