Router Filtering Tips
Many routers come with parental control filters. Some routers charge you a subscription for this service. Others do not.
Some advantages of router based filtering include:
You can have different filtering enabled between a primary Wi-Fi network, and a guest network. E.g. if you wanted children to have stricter limits (no social media?) you could apply that restriction just to the guest network, and ensure kids devices use the guest network only.
Router filtering can enforce ‘safe mode’ in search engines including Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and YouTube. This prevents adult images in search results, and make this setting stick (you can’t turn it off via a browser on this Wi-Fi network)
Routers may allow you to whitelist (always allow) or blacklist (always block) specific web domains. This gives you more control (and per network) than blanket level DNS filtering
Recommended Router:
While several router brands have parental controls, PureFam has a great experience with Synology routers. A few things we like about them:
Parental filtering is included for free (per Wi-Fi network) - Sinology calls it: Safe Access
You can multiple routers to form a mesh network
There is a great mobile app to manage the routers
The best router available (as far as technology, speed, coverage) is the Sinology RT6600AX (available on Amazon)
There are also less expensive options available if you need to spend less. Contact us to learn about the differences, or to ask us to order and set one up for you!
A note on rented routers:
Many families have a router that is provided by your internet provider (ISP). Most likely you pay a monthly fee, as a part of your internet plan to rent the router from them. Often this costs about $15 a month. PureFam recommends you replace your rented router (and modem) with a purchased option. This will pay for itself in 1-2 years, and save you money in the long term. But it also will give you more control to set filters and change other security and network settings (including the DNS server for additional filtering). Contact us if you need help and advice on how to make this change.