[pcwrt]

@Paul, pcwrt supports static configuration on the WAN side. If you can connect your Macbook to the Internet via “manual” setup, most likely static IP address setup on pcwrt will work. Let us know when the router arrives.

[pcwrt]

@davea0511 I’m not sure that the MAC address will change just by unplugging and plugging back in. I think the MAC address is hard coded by the manufacturer. That’s why you can look up the manufacturer by MAC address. However, MAC address can be spoofed by software. For MAC address based filtering to work, the anonymous group should have the lowest privilege. You elevate privileges by adding specific MAC addresses to more privileged groups (or profiles in our vocabulary). So if someone spoofs a MAC address, more likely they’ll fall back to a less privileged group.

For HTTPS, we can whitelist/blacklist domains and subdomains, e.g., blogger.com can be blacklisted but myblog.blogger.com can be whitelisted. But we can not tell the path, i.e., distinguish between https://blogger.com/ and https://blogger.com/good-article.

[pcwrt]

@davea0511 Thanks for the great suggestions! First let me answer the questions.

How many different profiles can we have?

There’s no limit to the number of profiles you can have. Theoretically, it is limited by the amount of ROM/RAM available on the router. Our entry level model will have 8MB ROM and 64MB RAM.

Can we have user or device (mac or static IP) dependent whitelists and blacklists?

Yes.

If independent blacklist / whitelists, will it be user-based (enter a password to connect to the internet each time), or mac / static IP dependent?

Both. If you don’t configure a proxy at the browser, the user identity will be based on the MAC address. If you use the authenticating proxy at the browser, you have to enter user name and password to authenticate.

Can the static IP (if done that way) be administered from the router so that the client can’t clear that for themselves?

Static IP can be administered from the router. But if a user configure static IP on the client machine, the router cannot override that. However, user identity is based on the MAC address, not IP address.

Can we have a profile (specific whitelist / blacklist) dedicated to guests?

Yes. The default profile applies to all connected devices. To apply a different profile to a device/user, you have to specifically assign that device/user to the target profile.

How about QOS … can that also be assigned to a profile?

Currently there’s no QOS feature. We are still testing different QOS mechanisms in order to decide the best way to do it.

Lastly, can we make sure the whitelist / blacklist works so that whitelists can punch a hole through a blacklist?

Apparently, if you blacklist blogspot.com then whitelist it, the router will be confused. In our implementation, the more specific domain/URL wins. For example, if you blacklist .edu but whitelist utexas.edu (yay!), then you cannot visit any .edu site except utexas.edu. Remember that if a site runs HTTPS, then no information is available about the request path, we can only block or pass the whole domain.

We are targeting this router for families that need to manage their kid’s online experience. Based on our initial market research, annual subscription fee is a turn off for a lot of families. Compared to Skydog, which had to manage their own DNS and filtering categories, we can leverage services such as OpenDNS, which is already trusted by millions of users. Since we don’t have to actively manage DNS servers and website categorizations, we figure we can pass the savings to our customers and make the device affordable for more families. You are absolutely right, with an annual subscription fee we’ll have more financial resources to offer better customer service. If the need arises, we can consider offering the basic router free of subscription fee but premium services with a fee.

Thanks for the input. Please help us spread the word. Let’s work together to make the Internet a safer place for our children!

• This reply was modified 10 years ago by pcwrt.

[pcwrt]

Ted, welcome!

No. You can set time limits for your children only, while enjoy unlimited Internet access for yourself. Time slots (we call calendars) are assigned to profiles, which are themselves containers for devices and users. You and your children can belong to different profiles.

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