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Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

MicahelD
Tutor

Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

Hello,

 

I'm having problems with blocking sites in my Orbi. I enter part of a domain in the list, but I have 2 issues.

 

Nothing seams to be getting blocked when using Chrome, but it will block a site in Edge when I type a domain name that contains one of the blocked keywords.

 

Edge blocks sites if I enter the website into the address bar, but if I Google that same site and go to it via the Google link it isn't blocked.

 

I would have thought this was pretty straight forward and the router simply would't allow sites with any of the prohibited keywords from passing through. Any ideas?

Model: RBS40|Orbi AC2200 Tri-band WiFi Add-on Satellite
Message 1 of 15
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

Can you provide some (not embarassing) examples?

I do not use the feature, but did experiment with it briefly and it seemed to work for me. I would love to spend a few minutes duplicating your results.

Message 2 of 15
MicahelD
Tutor

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

I'm trying to block adult content, so most are embarassing. I had to look for one and here it made me discover something else. 

 

I used msn.com. I added the keyword msn to the blocked list. Chrome still isn't blocking anything. Edge will get blocked if I enter msn.com

but if I Google msn and access via the link it is not blocked. What I discovered is I can enter www.msn.com and it won't be blocked. And oddly enough sometimes msn.com/ will also go through.

 

Very stange behavior

Model: RBS40|Orbi AC2200 Tri-band WiFi Add-on Satellite
Message 3 of 15
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

Well, that is the damndest thing.  I am able to replicate your results, "with a twist".

 

I set up a block on the keyword "msn" (not msn.com, not www.msn.com, just "msn")

In all of my browsers (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Opera) if I enter "http://msn.com" or "http://www.msn.com", it gets blocked. Yes, even Chrome.

However, also in all of my browsers, if I enter https:, the web site opens.  Aha.

 

My guess, and this is only a guess is that Chrome either (a) assumes all web sites are https unless told otherwise, or (b) when it does the DSN lookup it finds that https exists.

 

What is pretty clear (to me) is that Orbi's Site Blocking feature is not all that robust.  DNS queries are never blocked.  And, it looks like connections to port 443 (https) are not blocked.

 

My guess is that this is not likely to get fixed any time soon, supposing that we even had a way to report it.  If this need is critical, it may be time to look into Disney Circle or something like pi-hole.  I run pi-hole and find it "interesting".  I have never allowed Disney Circle to be activated.  It might be worth spending some time on the Disney Circle community forum to see if what people discuss on the forum supports activating it, or maybe there is alternative method that is recommended.

Message 4 of 15
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

p.s.  I have asked a moderator how to report this issue.

Message 5 of 15
Blanca_O
NETGEAR Moderator

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

Hi @CrimpOn

 

Thanks for alerting me to this post. Let me check this with the team and will report back with an update as soon as possible. 

 

Regards,
Blanca
Community Team

 

Message 6 of 15
Dschlosser15
Initiate

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

I have the same issue. Trying to block facebook with a keyword doesn't work. This is pretty basic filtering that should work

Model: RBS50Y|High Performance AC3000 Outdoor WiFi Mesh Extender and Add-on Satellite
Message 7 of 15
cubelodyte
Aspirant

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

@Blanca_O 

I'm having the same issue attempting to block   chaturbate.com.

 

I can successfully block "chaterbate" (which is also used by this site) but not any   version of "chaturbate" (including "www.chaturbate", "chaturbate.com", "*chaturbate*").

Model: R7000P|Nighthawk AC2300 Smart WiFi Dual Band Gigabit Router
Message 8 of 15
mnocks
Guide

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

Did you ever get a response or fix on this?

 

I seem to have the same issue. 

 

I could be wrong, but in my case it appears to be Domain Fronting and using the cloud content providers to return the content and avoid the block.  Orbi should be blocking on the outbound request but that doesn't appear to be happening.

 

https://community.netgear.com/t5/Orbi/Domain-Fronting-Inability-to-Block-Sites/m-p/1879766

 

 

Message 9 of 15
CrimpOn
Guru

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

Can you please try my experiment?

Set up the block.

Use a browser besides Chrome and navigate to: http://chaterbate.com.  Then, navigate to httpS://chaterbate.com.

Are either blocked?

Message 10 of 15
wilimerc
Initiate

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

I've been trying this today in an attempt to block sites hosting new malware threats to home routers. Two sites are hosted on bitbucket dot org, which I never use, and a russian site: hosted-by-vdsina dot ru. My attempts to block these or other test domains are useless from the Orbi router's Security page.

Model: RBR50|Orbi AC3000 Tri-band WiFi Router
Message 11 of 15
MicahelD
Tutor

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

I never did get the keyword blocking through the router settings. I ended up using the safe search DNS server and by editing the hosts file. The hosts file is machine specific rather than blocking the whole network.

 

Message 12 of 15
mnocks
Guide

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

I ended up going a similar route to Michael this weekend. 

 

I used OpenDNS and configured appropriately in the Orbi settings; easy to use, free, it provides the reporting depth I need and the ability to block/allow sites as needed.

Message 13 of 15
wilimerc
Initiate

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list


@mnocks wrote:

 

I used OpenDNS and configured appropriately in the Orbi settings; easy to use, free, it provides the reporting depth I need and the ability to block/allow sites as needed.



I'll try that. Netgear should make the feature work as advertized or remove it from the options. 

 

- Upon review of what Michael had used, I remembered that I was attracted to keyword/domain blocking feature because it would block sites from all machines in my network without having to go to each device's host file and add the blocked domains. Besides, it's one thing to edit the host file in MacOS, and quite another in iOS. And I may remember incorrectly, but I believe each software update rewrites the host file. 



 

Message 14 of 15
Moootz
Aspirant

Re: Orbi not blocking sites in Keyword/Domain list

I'm facing the same issues when I'm trying to block ad websites.

Is there any news on how to get that blocking functionality to work?

Message 15 of 15
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