Add tiered family pricing option for more adding 50+ domains to white/black-list
So I am using openDNS to protect my kids from getting to places that they should not be on the internet. It works great once I have white-listed all the domains that we use regularly (Skype, Discord, Slack, etc etc etc).
The problem I am having is the 50 domain cap. With all of the I-Pad Apps that the kiddos use there are a ton of domains that need white-listing. I am a premium sub and would be willing to pay more for a higher teir that allows more domains.
I looked into the enterprise class "Umbrella" product but given it is per seat/ user and 10 users is the minimum the $380 price tag is a bit prohibitive. Can you tier the OpenDNS geared towards comsumers based on # of domains white/black- listed?
Suggest:
Up to 50 for the $19/ year
51-200 for $29/ year
201-350 for $39/ year etc.
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As you can see opening up slack alone uses up 7 domain slots (is slack considered chat or instant messaging?). I have chat blocked because I don't want my kids using other chat services but want to white list services that I approve (and I use). Steam uses 6 domain slots. Right there is 13 domains just for 2 services.
I would prefer to simply go with a very aggressive filtering then white- list slots as needed until I got it fully customized to fit my families custom internet usage. With a 50 domain limit I just can't use it that way.
(just needed to add www.ubisoft.com to the list also given it was blocked)
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You can remove the following entries from your whitelist, because these are most likely not being blocked by your settings:
- akamaihd.net
- elasticbeanstalk.com
- google.com (subdomains may be blocked though)
- live.com
- microsoft.com (subdomains may be blocked though)
- sidekickopen30.com
- slack-core.com
- slack-files.com
- slack-imgs.com
- slack-msgs.com
- slack-redir.com
- steamcontent.com
- steamstatic.com
- steamusercontent.com
- test.carbonite.com (This domain even does not exist and would be covered by carbonite.com already anyway.)
Going further, whitelist only domains which are actually blocked by your settings. You find your blocked domains at https://dashboard.opendns.com/stats/all/blockeddomains
Alternatively, consider to uncheck one or more of Chat, Games or File Storage, as you whitelist major domains from such categories anyway. It may be easier to block specific domains from these categories and leave the categories unchecked.
You better block the categories Parked Domains and Web Spam.
"is slack considered chat or instant messaging?"
You check this yourself while entering https://domain.opendns.com/example.com e.g.
https://domain.opendns.com/slack.com"just needed to add www.ubisoft.com to the list also given it was blocked"
You know now how to check it.
You normally don't enter subdomains (e.g. www) for whitelisting or blacklisting, because this covers only this, whereas e.g. ubisoft.com covers this and all its subdomains."With a 50 domain limit I just can't use it that way."
Believe me, you can!
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This 50 domain whitelist limit is just too problematic for our family. So looking into an alternative solution. It really is just too few for a family of 5 who are tech savy and heavy internet users.
SafeDNS looks promising. Any thoughts on why I should stay with OpenDNS vs SafeDNS?
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Do they have more than 50 entries for whitelist and blacklist? (Cisco/OpenDNS/Umbrella has unlimited entries. And if you contact OpenDNS support to ask for more entries, you may get more.)
And before I would move to another DNS service provider, I also would perform this benchmark test to compare the DNS services in question: https://www.grc.com/dns/benchmark.htm
Not that you face unexpected surprises... -
tron-delta.org Saturday at 02:29Thanks for the information. I'd really like to stay with OpenDNS though. Can't you not extend the OpenDNS VIP Home package so it supports 500 or 5000 blacklisted domains? Would you please forward that feature request internally at OpenDNS? Thanks in advance!
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Reg Ham Today at 01:14Hello,
I would suggest that you enter a request for this feature in our Idea Bank - https://support.opendns.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/201090987-OpenDNS-Community-Idea-BankDo you require further assistance or can this request be closed?
Your reply is appreciated,
Reg Ham
Customer Support Engineer (APAC)
OpenDNS, Inc.Well so much for that...
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Are you serious? That request has been made multiple times in the past. And from what I see it passing things along between help requests/ticket system and feature request system. This thing is not getting implemented anytime soon, as I read by a power user writing tons in this forum.
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Yes, of course I'm serious. Why would I waste my time posting here if I wasn't serious?
When it comes to user requests like this the only thing management tracks is numbers of votes for things in the Idea Bank. It doesn't matter to them how many times it's discussed in various threads if it's not voted on in the Idea Bank. It doesn't even matter how many times you submit a ticket asking for this if there aren't votes in the Idea Bank. This is the metric that they choose to use. But you're right, this isn't going to be implemented soon, if ever, in part because it has presumably gotten very few votes.
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