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Forum Discussion
Parental Controls
Are parental controls coming to the XR500 Gaming Router?
We know it's a popular request and it's certainly on the roadmap for DumaOS.
As said above, right now it's mainly a gaming product, but of course just because you're gaming doesn't mean you don't have kids!
I too recently purchased the XR500 and I am disappointed in its lack of parental controls. Unfortunately, I did not do enough research into the fact that not all Netgear routers work with the Circle (which is what Netgear recommends) unless I buy the Circle unit. I would be curious to know what solutions everyone has tried to fill the void? Right now I am monitoring my traffic through the Nitehawk application and created routines for shutdown through Alexa. However, I dont have anything monitoring the content through their devices (luckily they aren' old enough to know what to look for). Any other ideas out there?
- You could use a dynamic DNS service which the router does support which can block categories of websites you deem inappropriate. I realise that's not a complete solution but it is something you could start using right away.
I understand you attempt to appease the forum. I recommend that you do not consistantly say that your team is looking into Parental Controls as your team has been saying this since the router came out. Frankly to say you are looking into something repeatedly for over two years is just a lie.
We all know that this is a gaming router. The fact is that kids like to game. As a result, we buy the best router for gaming (and at a premium price) to allow the best gaming experience for our kids. Unfortunately, as I have said before, the DumaOS falls short as a well rounded gaming router.
My suggestion is just to admit that that is all it is and that your team will never offer parental controls. Remember, honesty is always the best policy. For now my FingBox takes care of the parental controls that this router and the DumaOS lack.
- Parental Controls is on our roadmap but unfortunately I can't speculate on when it may be introduced. We have a lot of ideas about to implement this and believe we can do some very clever things and this will take time. We do strive to bring the best out of every feature we introduce as we want that premium feel to go along with the great software that's available already.
randiniz wrote:
My suggestion is just to admit that that is all it is and that your team will never offer parental controls. Remember, honesty is always the best policy. For now my FingBox takes care of the parental controls that this router and the DumaOS lack.
We're actually not lying when we say that parental controls are in the pipeline, it's something our team is very interested in adding to the router, but we want to do it properly.
If you have any suggestions for Parental Control features that you'd like to see, I can put you in touch with the DumaOS developers. They'd be interested in hearing what customers want from their Parental Controls solutions. What do current solutions offer that you like? What do you wish they would do that they don't?
Anybody who's interested in giving their suggestions to the developers, let me know and i'll put you in contact.
- I certainly would like to be able to see web history. My 14 year old is taking a bit too long in the restroom with his cell phone.....
Maybe it's just a really addictive mobile game? Maybe not...
I'll PM you some details about talking to the DumaOS devs about what you'd like to see from a Parental Controls feature, if you'd like.
