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Forum Discussion
Blocking websites - no whitelist capability without Armor???
I've just purchased and installed an RBE371. Current firmware. After a couple of days, I disabled Armor because it was blocking a LOT of websites incorrectly.
Now I find that my router is still blocking some websites, and I cannot find any way to unblock these. I presume I could reactivate Armor and unblock them, but that is not an acceptable solution.
I have looked in both the Orbi app and in the router web login. No joy in either place.
BTW, I have confirmed that the problem is with the Orbi product by connecting my PC and phone to another Internet connection (hotspot on my phone, with my phone's WiFi turned off). There are ZERO problems when I bypass the Netgear product(s).
I have also ruled out DNS problems by trying various public DNS servers. (e.g., OpenDNS and others.)
Can anyone tell me how to whitelist websites without Armor turned on? Does such a feature exist?
Thanks for any help you can offer.
(BTW, I'm a telecom engineer. I understand how this stuff works, so I have not gone into exhaustive technical detail. It's not needed. Let's keep it simple - I just need to whitelist blocked sites.)
4 Replies
Looks like the same people wrote this forum software! :D
Can anyone tell me how to whitelist websites without Armor turned on? Does such a feature exist?
No. There is no method to whitelist web sites. Apart from Armor and Smart Parental Controls, Netgear Orbi routers have only one feature that may block access to web sites: on the web interface, Advanced Tab, it is called Block Sites. This feature might have been useful a decade ago, but my experience is that it is essentially worthless (and one of the reasons Smart Parental Controls were created).
When investigating goofy situations such as this, it is usually a good practice to
- Ensure that the router is running the current firmware (in this case v12.1.2.7). This is one of the first things people ask about.
- Perform a Factory Reset and reconfiguration to ensure that anything Armor may have set up is GONE.
No. There is no method to whitelist web sites.
That's a great answer! Short, clear, and to the point. Thank you!
When investigating goofy situations such as this, it is usually a good practice to Ensure that the router is running the current firmware (in this case v12.1.2.7). This is one of the first things people ask about.
That's why it's one of the first things I covered. ;-)
Perform a Factory Reset and reconfiguration to ensure that anything Armor may have set up is GONE.
That's worth a shot for most people, I guess. The worst that can happen is that it will reactivate the free Armor trial, and I'll be back where I started. Thank you!
But for me, there are too many limitations in the software. I had hopes for Netgear, but..... It's actually not as good (feature wise) as the TP-Link I just sent to the trash. I sure hope the reliablity is a LOT better!
Time to set it up as an AP and roll my own router. I have a spare machine that should do the trick.
Thanks for the quick response!
The worst that can happen is that it will reactivate the free Armor trial, and I'll be back where I started
Do not activate the "free trial". Just say "no". I have NEVER enabled Armor on any Netgear Orbi system. The words "free trial" implied, "and then PAY MONEY", so I just ignore Armor and Smart Parental Controls (SPC).
As a consequence, I have no idea what enabling Armor may have done to the Windows PC.
If it is brand new, why not send it back and get something else?
