Any router that can block websites?

Forums › LAN (ethernet/Wifi/routers/Bluetooth) › Any router that can block websites?

Tiger1970

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#72904 4-Dec-2010 20:57

Hey guys is there any router that can allow you to block websites by the type of website it is for example video streaming or adult websites?

Also is there any router that can block websites and when the website has been blocked the computer that is trying to access it gets a message saying it has been blocked and who it has been blocked by so basically a router that has a customizable blocking function

sbiddle

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#412875 4-Dec-2010 21:13

There is no way to block adult sites because there is no defintion of an "adult" site or any way to tell them apart from any of the millions of other websites on the internet.

You also can't block a video site unless you're going to perform URL blocking of the domain names. You can block the actual video from being streamed however, by using a router that supports l7 packet filtering that can be set to block flash content for example. It's not a foolproof method however.

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hairy1

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#412876 4-Dec-2010 21:23

You could use opendns.org. You can open a free account with them and use their DNS servers. You login to their website and simply tick boxes for the type of content you want filtered and put their DNS server IP addresses into your router. It works pretty well and will work with any router.

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freitasm

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#412877 4-Dec-2010 21:23

Not a router, but you could use a service such as OpenDNS - you configure your router to use OpenDNS, and update your IP address in their services. This way every DNS request will be filtered and if it falls into one of the blocked categories you define then it's denied.

It will impact in services that use local cache or CDNs, such as YouTube, Facebook and others though.

freitasm

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#412878 4-Dec-2010 21:23

hairy1

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#412879 4-Dec-2010 21:24

@freitasm - Great minds think alike! I was first! ;-)

My views (except when I am looking out their windows) are not those of my employer.

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#412882 4-Dec-2010 21:30

Yep...

There are also other services - two that come to mind besides OpenDNS is DynDNS and one by Symantec Norton (Google is your friend).

They all work the same way though.

nzbnw

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#412890 4-Dec-2010 22:15

My 2wire router can.

For example if I choose to block streaming media, you can't go to youtube etc. There are a whole host of categories, however you can't create your own. There are 3 levels, 1, 2 and no restriction. Customer sites can be banned or allowed from Level 1 and 2.

It give the following message (which you can override with a password);

Content blocked by your local network administrator.

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coffeebaron

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#413258 6-Dec-2010 06:31

A Draytek Vigor 2710n can do this. Has a range of categories, and sends a request off to an Internet server to get check all requests. This happens very quickly, so no noticeable hit on performance. It does not act like opendns or proxy, so all your data still comes in via you own ISP DNS etc, so does not affect CDNs etc.

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