Blocking P2P traffic

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jtbthatsme

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#314264 2-Apr-2010 21:12

Xnet is who I am with although on the Torrent plan so get the offpeak free 75gig. Talk to him (or get your sister to) and maybe agree to change the plan she is on to the Torrent plan if he agrees to do his downloading offpeak (this may require enabling a scheduler in utorrent or the like). Obviously it would cost a little more for peak but you might actually be offsetting that dependant on your data cost per month he was using. Sometimes you gotta give a little to get a nice balance going on.

Setup View bill and actively manage your own data. When it's going down to fast or nearing it's cap just disconnect him or really limit the time he can access it.

Of course there is also the option of turning his connection off (disabling it in the router) when your sister goes to bed each night this takes care of all his nightly downloads.

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wazzageek

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#314266 2-Apr-2010 21:15

... I may end up just allowing access for an hour a day for homework ...

I *like* that idea ... no effort required on your part!

raytaylor

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#314311 2-Apr-2010 23:35

Another option is telecom's big time plan

Personally i like that opendns idea

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wazzageek

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#314343 3-Apr-2010 08:21

c71931f: Turn off the wireless & get him a cheap t-stick& get him to pay for the data on the tstick?

Or have a look on this site

One suggestion is

"One way to do this in an indirect way is by using OpenDNS.

Set the DNS server in your router settings to the OpenDNS servers (208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220)

Create an account on the OpenDNS web site (that's free), and follow the instructions on their web site how to configure it

Then in your account settings choose a custom filtering level and select to block "P2P/File sharing". If you want you can block other categories, I'd definitely block "Phishing", and depending on your needs you can add specific sites as exceptions or to be blocked.

It is an indirect way of achiving your goal and probably not what you were originally looking for, but it will work and has a number of additional advantages (e.g. blocking some other web sites you probably want to block)."

The problem I have with this is that the answer on how to circumvent this is on google after a very brief search.

Unless you have complete control over the computer, it's possible to bypass.

sbiddle

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#314345 3-Apr-2010 10:05

If you're going to use OpenDNS you also need to be aware of the significant implications that will result.

First off in this part of the world the opendns DNS servers are somwhere in the vicinity of ~160ms away compared to probably ~10ms for your own ISP's DNS servers.

This means slower DNS lookups and a slower browsing experience in general. This is bad. The goal is to have fast DNS lookups, not slow ones.

Many sites also use geographic data to best serve files to you - if you start downloading content from high capacity servers such as Akamai using these DNS servers you also run the risk of actually slowing down your connection as the data may originate from a slower route than what is available if your position is accurately known.

AllenG

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#314346 3-Apr-2010 10:06

c71931f: Or have a look on this site

Her Router is WAG54gp2, I don't think there is a version of the Tomato Firmware for this model

c71931f: One way to do this in an indirect way is by using OpenDNS.

Thanks for this c71931f

I'll have a look at OpenDNS. Does this announce it's presence to the PC user? If he doesn't know what i've done in the router, he won't be able to find a workaround?

Thanks to all for your comments.

Regards, Allen.

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wazzageek

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#314354 3-Apr-2010 11:30

AllenG:
I'll have a look at OpenDNS. Does this announce it's presence to the PC user? If he doesn't know what i've done in the router, he won't be able to find a workaround?

Thanks to all for your comments.

Regards, Allen.

I understand that blocked sites will display a "blocked site" page. (assuming he's using a web browser) It seems you can create a custom image as well.

I would actually recommend using the idea of the wireless bridge on the PC idea coupled with a firewall rather than using opendns.

Cheerio!

richms

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#314426 3-Apr-2010 16:56

Find a tstick or vodem and tell him that he is on his own for topping it up.

Richard rich.ms

AllenG

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#314468 3-Apr-2010 19:28

wazzageek: I understand that blocked sites will display a "blocked site" page. (assuming he's using a web browser) It seems you can create a custom image as well.

I have just setup an openDNS account for my network, and entered "opendns" as a blocked keyword in the router and I now get the generic "Internet explorer cannot display this webpage" message instead of the openDNS messages. It looks like its just a case of him changing the DNS entries on his PC to bypass openDNS, but it he doesn't know that I'm using it we should be good.

I would actually recommend using the idea of the wireless bridge on the PC idea coupled with a firewall rather than using opendns.

If someone can suggest a free windows app to do this and some guidance I would try this....

Regards

wazzageek

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#314476 3-Apr-2010 20:08

AllenG:
wazzageek: I understand that blocked sites will display a "blocked site" page. (assuming he's using a web browser) It seems you can create a custom image as well.

I have just setup an openDNS account for my network, and entered "opendns" as a blocked keyword in the router and I now get the generic "Internet explorer cannot display this webpage" message instead of the openDNS messages. It looks like its just a case of him changing the DNS entries on his PC to bypass openDNS, but it he doesn't know that I'm using it we should be good.

I would actually recommend using the idea of the wireless bridge on the PC idea coupled with a firewall rather than using opendns.

If someone can suggest a free windows app to do this and some guidance I would try this....

Regards

Does the router have any firewall abilities? You could block port 53 (tcp and udp) to prevent "other" dns servers from being used.

Please note the issue bought up earlier about using OpenDNS - you may need to look at reverting back if you find too many issues.

AllenG

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#314486 3-Apr-2010 20:45

wazzageek: Does the router have any firewall abilities? You could block port 53 (tcp and udp) to prevent "other" dns servers from being used.

Tried it, it blocks the openDNS DNS servers as well.

wazzageek

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#314487 3-Apr-2010 20:49

AllenG:
wazzageek: Does the router have any firewall abilities? You could block port 53 (tcp and udp) to prevent "other" dns servers from being used.

Tried it, it blocks the openDNS DNS servers as well.

Can you add a rule in to not block openDNS servers?

I was initially thinking that the router would provide DNS services, and the router would use openDNS as "forwarders". Then, use a block to block any LAN traffic to DNS servers other than the router's dns server.

This may also counter the latency of openDNS being at the other end of the long cable. (But not the geographical screw ups)

AllenG

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#314491 3-Apr-2010 21:20

wazzageek: Can you add a rule in to not block openDNS servers?

No. I can block ports or port ranges, but not with exceptions.

I'll try openDNS with "opendns" as a blocked keyword. and see how it goes.

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