Firewall Switch after Sky Router

[ottoboxer]

Hi can anyone tell me if its possible to install a firewall after sky router. I have the dlink and want to control lan users on my internet account (two teenagers) beyond the sky router. Want to control QOS, slow them down a bit and try to stop inappropriate sites and P2P if possible. I was looking at NETGEAR ProSafe Firewall 8 Port Router Switch FVS318 and Cisco RVS4000 Security Router. Would any of these work or can anyone recommend something else.
Regards Kevin

[Scubbie]

That is a managed switch designed for the business market. You may well find that all the ports are virtually closed and that you will need to open up things.

Why is this a problem? You'll need to open up ports for MSN chat, Skype, Anytime+ and anything else that is common in the domestic area, but what businesses may not require.

If you are unhappy with the parental controls on the Sky router, why not consider a Cable router? You could disable the WiFi on the Sky router and channel everything through the Cable router, allowing it to totally manage your LAN.

Essentially you set the IP address of the Cable router on the Sky router in the DMZ zone and the Sky router effectively becomes a Modem as it no longer checks any Internet activity. The cable router would then pass any Internet traffic through the Sky router, having already checked through its parental controls and firewall, etc..

There are a host of cable routers that you can choose from. By taking this option you can also consider getting a 1Gbit LAN arranged, better WiFi coverage & speed and place it somewhere more suitable as a WiFi access point.

Once you have narrowed down the list of routers, take a look at their respective on-line manuals and any forums dedicated to them. You can find a lot of good information this way to help narrow down your choice.

An alternative would be to purchase a high-end router such as the Netgear DGND3700 or Billion 7800N. Whilst technically it is against Sky's T&Cs to use your own router, many people on Sky broadband do use their own. Last May it was confirmed on the Official Sky forum that Sky does not currently punish people for using their own routers.

I'm currently using the Netgear DGND3700. There are some issues with the firmware, but these are being finally addressed. It has both an ADSL port and an Ethernet WAN port, so should Sky prevent me from using it, I can connect it as described above for a cable router.

N.B. There are instructions in the 'Asking for Help' section for connecting a cable router to the Sky router.

[ottoboxer]

Thanks Scubbie I like the look of the Billion 7800N which seems to have the kind of firewall Im after aswell as QOS. I have an old Draytek 2800 which I tried setting up as per guide and I thought is was working but then I couldent enter the 2800 menu to set up firewall for my LAN users? I did type 192.168.1.250 but maybe its getting a bit flaky. Thanks again Kevin

[Scubbie]

The guide I wrote in this the thread 'How to connect two Routers together' is designed for and router to piggyback on to Sky router (although any router can be the main one). This would mean that the Sky router would be responsible for controlling access to the Internet and you would be governed by it's parental controls.

Hopefully Exdee, or someone else who is familiar with the Billion 7800N will jump to comment on the parental controls on that router. You could then set this up as your main router if it meets your requirements.

If you want to connect a Cable router and use that as the primary router for your LAN, then the guide that Tom wrote would be more useful:

http://www.skyuser.co.uk/forum/askin...nk-dir613.html

Whilst it describes the specifics for the D-Link DIR613, the principles work just as well with any other Cable router.

Cable routers are often a few pounds cheaper because they don't have the built in modem.

There are ADSL2+ & Cable routers available that supports WiFi n & Gbit LAN if you want to look at the extreme end. You do need a WiFi adaptor that supports the higher connection speeds though if you take this route.

[Sky eService Team]

Hi ottoboxer, we do offer some parental control software which granted won't do everything you need but may help with some of it.

[ottoboxer]

Thanks again Scubbie for the info. I feel its a bit unfair with the Sky take it or leave it router. Im no expert but have always tried to use best router for my family and to protect my broadband acount. Draytek has always done it for me in the past but the Sky router does not give me full control. If anything I am frightened by my connectionion speed which is good and what my siblings may be up to - P2P downloads etc etc. On re checking my router its a sagemon st2304 doh!

How can one be responsible for an account if you cannot control access to that account. Sky service team have kindly posted a link for Macafee - .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..............................help

[Scubbie]

I saw their post. I'm sorry but they really do like to tow the company line too much at times. Any child can easily disable the parental controls in McAfee.

The option of using the cable router would be the best choice IMHO. just make sure that you use a different password than normal and that you never tell anyone else.

If you backup the router settings, take a look at the file contents, as most are plain text. if this is the case, store the file somewhere where they cannot get physical access. Remember that password issue! They may guess your Windows login password if you are not careful.

As for torrents, I would suggest a different approach. One where you endorse torrents, but use a specific computer only to download them. This is what I do and it works a dream.

What it also allows me to do is to set bandwidth constraints on it so that anything else I do is not hindered and if I wish to temporarily stop it, then I can just unplug its Ethernet cable.

It also means that you can view what they are downloading if you are at all worried about the content.

With my connection I allow my torrent PC to upload at a max of 65kB/s during the day (9am-midnight). During the night I increase the upload speed to 110kB/s. Faster than this slows my connection down. The speeds are all managed by the Scheduler.

I don't cap the download speed. You may wish to use a lower upload speed if problems occur with on-line gaming.

Having one PC doing the torrents also means that you haven't got 3 or more competing for the same limited bandwidth.

When the download is complete, I copy the files off and delete the torrent on the torrent PC when the seeding ratio is sufficient.