Initial setup questions / comments

[skydogtookmycash]

First time user here. I’m happy with the decision so far. Have some questions / comments.

I was in a hurry during initial setup. Hookup was quick and painless, no problems with WiFi extender or Ethernet switch box, and re-used SSID to reduce time.
Assigning host names was interesting, as I had forgotten how many devices we have hanging off the network.

The desktop PC that I most want to make safe is on the other side of a OOMA VOIP phone adaptor (router > Ethernet cable > phone adaptor with thru-port > cable > PC ). Guess I should have predicted, but I can’t “see” the PC when assigning host names, can only see the phone adaptor. So I went ahead and put phone adaptor on protected (default) profile, and so far the VOIP quality still seems okay. Am I correct in assuming that unless I change the setup configuration, I won’t be able to put the phone adaptor and PC on separate profiles?

I have a WiFi extender that runs through the house wiring. The extender itself and everything connected to the extender all appear as wired connections (which makes sense). This is probably obvious, but I assume the best approach here is to put the extender on an unprotected profile, and then each device that is connected through the extender can go to whatever profile makes sense for that device. It seems to be working so far.

In the parental control app, under DNS Servers, is there someplace on the blog that explains how the “Custom Setting” options works?

Again in the parental control app, under DNS Servers, what exactly is meant when selecting “System Default” ?

The switch box is transparent when looking at connected devices. That’s expected, right? (I’m sooo not an expert in this stuff)

Does dnsomatic.com allow you to pick essentially whatever customer DNS service that might be of interest?

I don’t have a reason to look beyond the free OpenDNS options, but just curious…..using dnsomatic.com, could OpenDNS Home VIP (which costs $) be used?

In the forum I see some replies where new features are being planned or at least considered. If it doesn’t already exist, I think it might be useful to us users to have a list of the features you plan to add. Maybe not a timeframe exactly, because I imagine that’s hard to commit to, but a list according to priority. For example I’m interested in logging capability per device. I read in the forum that today the OpenDNS Home option provides logging, but not per device.

I suppose it’s personal preference, but I chose to make the Default profile the main protected profile, and added a new profile for unprotected devices.

[support]

1. PC behind OOMA box: if the PC gets an IP address assigned by the router, it should be listed in connected devices. Othwise the PC is indistinguishable from the OOMA box.

2. Devices connected through WiFi extender: each device can be individualy assigned to different profiles, independent of the extender itself.

3. Custom DNS settings in parental control: if you use any filtering DNS service other than OpenDNS or Norton, you need to select this and enter the IP addresses manually.

4. System default DNS selection in parental control: use the DNS settings in the Internet Settings page, i.e., the IP addresses listed in the Status page.

5. Yes, the switch box is transparent.

6. That’s right, dnsomatic.com does not limit your choices of DNS service. But if you haven’t set it up and your Internet connection is DHCP, you can’t select OpenDNS Home in parental control.

7. Logging capability is the next feature to be delivered.

8. We have people set up the default either way. I guess it depends on what’s your idea for rule vs exception.

[support]

Just found out that the OOMA does NAT on the Home port, so your PC will have an IP address assigned by the OOMA, making it invisible from the router. To put it in another way, from the router’s point of view, the OOMA and the PC is one device.

[skydogtookmycash]

Thanks a lot for the answers, clears things up for me (for now).

[Author]

Posts