Rebranding OpenDNS with Netgear - Not The Most Successful Partnership
Not planned
I recently installed and configured a Netgear R6300 router for a client and found the concept of rebranding OpenDNS as "Netgear Parental Controls" to be misleading and potentially damaging to the OpenDNS brand and image. For starters, the software tool that comes with the R6300 which must be used to initially configure "Parental Controls" (remember, this is really OpenDNS, but relabeled) is really flaky. I never got it to work. It crashes when trying to login ever time. I understand why Netgear tried this route... let's make our own tool to let our customers setup OpenDNS so that it's non-technical and can be setup by anyone. The idea sounds good, but the implementation and design (at least in this attempt) was poor. Configuring OpenDNS on an off the shelf consumer router is really not that hard. There are great tutorials on the OpenDNS website. What Netgear actually succeeded in doing was making the process to configure OpenDNS extremely confusing and more difficult than configuring OpenDNS manually by setting the DNS addresses.
If OpenDNS is going to partner with router manufactures, make it a true partnership, not a rebranding attempt. If I'm a Netgear user and I have all sorts of problems setting up OpenDNS using Netgears supplied software, my perception of OpenDNS as a service or company is going to be damaged. I'm sure that's not what OpenDNS was hoping to happen as a result of letting Netgear promote their service. You might want to actually poll users who have used some of the newer Netgear routers to see what they actually think.
A better approach would be to incorporate the OpenDNS updater tool into the router firmware. That would be a real partnership. Let Netgear do what they do best and let OpenDNS do what they do best. Netgear should openly mention that OpenDNS is a separate service and provide instructions on how to configure it manually... not using some poorly made tool provided by Netgear.
Just a thought. I have been using and promoting OpenDNS since 2006 and it would be great to see native OpenDNS support in all routers (especially Linksys) but be careful how you do it.
Thanks
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So I too have a netgear r6300 and have an opendns account. Everything was going along great until last week when I discovered that both weren't working to block the site and categories I wanted. I have since been told that Live Parental Controls and OpenDNS will conflict with one another. I was hoping that they would offer me double protection, but now I am thoroughly confused. I am just a novice at this stuff...just a mom trying to block sites that should ever see the light of day.. Am I missing something here?
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Yes, you're missing something.
- OpenDNS with a Netgear router with LPC enabled is one OpenDNS service, dashboard https://netgear.opendns.com/
- OpenDNS Home Basic with Parental Controls is another OpenDNS service, dashboard https://dashboard.opendns.com/
You seem to have mixed both of them, which is not easily to handle, especially not for "a mom trying to block sites that should ever see the light of day..". Best is to use either the one or the other.
"I was hoping that they would offer me double protection"
You would not drive a Ford beside a Mercedes, at the same time, to move faster, would you? ;-)
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As a mom with limited knowledge of how this stuff all works, I am going to try to use any and all out there to protect my kids. Netgear does not say that you only need their product, they make it look as if OpenDNS is the controlling party and that this is used in conjunction w/the router. So to change your metaphor, would you turn down having 2 health insurances if you are equally covered?
Thanks
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Btw, I just went back to both sites and there are differences between them that make you want to have both as a protection...
Netgear gives you a time block ability which is great and OpenDNS gives you the stat log that netgear doesn't along with the ability to write a private message when someone tries to access a blocked page. The don't as far as I can tell give you the time block ability... So what is one supposed to think when netgear has opendns branding on it and will send you to the front page for an account...heck you go for double coverage!
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"there are differences between them that make you want to have both as a protection..."
But you can have one only. It's your choice. If you mix it, you may run into troubles as you did. Or you need to be a geek to handle it. But you still do not produce a "double coverage" with this...
And yes, OpenDNS/Netgear/LPC comes with scheduling and bypass accounts and different settings per account and such, but with no stats. Scheduling and bypass accounts comes merely as a router function. Therefore you need a special router to support all of this.
OpenDNS Home Basic does not come with scheduling and bypass and settings per user and such (because router independent), but with stats.
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Our partnership with Netgear is for Live Parental Controls powered by OpenDNS (or LPC as we call it). There are some differences in the service offering between LPC and OpenDNS service. First DNS requests from LPC are identified by the device they originate from plus thinks like Bypass Accounts. With LPC there is no need for a network, making dynamic IP issues a thing of the past. This also allows for time based filtering as the device knows which policy should be attached to packets at which times.
There is a mix of software for LPC, some produced by OpenDNS, some produced by Netgear and we try to work together to make sure that everything works perfectly for each and every user. Occasionally there are issues that need to be resolved and we try to resolve them quickly. If you have any specific issues with the Netgear Live Parental Control system(s), please open a support ticket and let us know! We want to make sure everything is running smoothly.
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