OpenDNS

I have curious kids. Their iPods, tablets and laptops give them access to anything on the internet - unfiltered.  Sure I can load parental controls on the laptops but that doesn't help the iPods or tablets.  I know they are going to grow up, just don't want them to see everything the world has to offer just yet.  So after looking into it a little bit I found out about content filtering through DNS.  DNS is basically a phonebook for computers - you put a computer name in and get it's IP (phone) number.  IP very much like a phone number and how computers know who to talk to.  DNS just lets us humans work with words instead.

The trick with content filtering with DNS is where the DNS provider categorizes each website into topics like politics, phishing, alcohol or porn.  Then you get to select which categories you want to let through. So when you say to filter out all porn sites, it will not give out those IPs (phone number) to any device on your network be it a iPod, laptop, phone or tablet!

Now, no technology is foolproof and this is no exception.  It can be bypassed in one of these three ways:

1. If you already know the IP address you can type it in directly.
2. There is a way to reconfigure a laptop to use specific DNS servers.
3. They can go to someone else's house that does not have these sites blocked.

Also, this does not block site like YouTube where you can find almost anything.  But it does take care of the dedicated sites.  There are several providers out there - most are free - but I chose OpenDNS because it was the largest and easiest and free! 

The first step is to go to OpenDNS and setup an account.  They also have instructions on how to configure your router (better than mine).  

Next you have to go to your router's configuration page and enter OpenDNS's IP addresses into your DNS server fields. This is where you put it in DD-WRT:

Be sure to click save/apply, and some routers may require rebooting.  All devices on your network will get the new DNS server IP addresses then next time they restart.  

Now, there's one more step.  The same way laptops and tablets get a new IP address every time they connect to your network, your network might get a new IP address when connecting to your ISP.  The problem is that your LAN's IP address is how OpenDNS knows what your preferences are. So, in order for OpenDNS to know what your preferences, you must keep your IP address updated in their system. Painful? No!

Go to OpenDNS' site and down load the Updater.  It's a simple little application that runs on one of your laptops and periodically checks in with OpenDNS to tell them your network's IP address. I suggest installing it on a laptop you use frequently.  Or, if you have DD-WRT on your router go here and follow their instructions on how to configure your router to do it - very elegant!

DD-WRT on ASUS RT-AC66U

I've had the ASUS router for a little over a year now and love it.  It has been one of the best routers in terms of range, speed, quality of connection (no drops) and ease of management (the firmware).  However, I wanted to dig into it a little more and try a few things out (cause I'm a geek).  But the firmware could did not have any advanced features.  So I started looking into DD-WRT and much to my surprise the RT-AC66U was supported by DD-WRT. Awesome!

Turns out there were many options for me.  After some digging I found out that ASUS' firmware was based on Tomato, a sister/cousin of DD-WRT.  ASUS had put a lot of effort into making it very friendly and pretty, but underneath was Tomato.  The other thing that I found out was that ASUS had made it VERY easy to switch back to stock firmware.

I found Merlin's Asuswrt-Merlin which is based on ASUS' code.  He's even contributed back to ASUS with bug fixes and new features.  I tried Merlin's version and I like it: very close to the beautiful ASUS UI, zero learning curve.  But in the end not enough features I was interested it.

In the end I chose DD-WRT because it had all of the features I would need PLUS SOME! Plenty of gurus and fanboys, and lot's of instructions already out there. I like to geek out but don't have time to reinvent the wheel.  Specifically, I chose Kong's releases since he seemed to be leading the charge with my model router.

The main blog I used to walk be through the installation was Victor's Blog.  I ended up switching back to stock firmware for a couple days because DD-WRT would not route WAN traffic.  Turns out step #8 was critical, you had to CLEAR NVRAM again.  The next time I tried it - and used the correct command - everything worked perfectly!

In the next few days, I'll post my configuration changes to work the way I need.

Step One

My plan was simple: look at each service, see what we could do without, what could be replaced and what could be reduced. I chose the our landline first, then internet and save the cable service for the last since it was the most complex.  

The first step was to talk it over with my my wife and tell her what I wanted to do. She agreed that we should do something.  She said to go ahead and drop the landline entirely! Sweet! I knew there were many alternatives for the phone.  I looked briefly at services like Skype and while they worked great they weren't any cheaper.  

My requirements were these:

• I wanted very low annual costs, or completely free
• It must have Emergency 911 support (not all IP phones do)
• I must be able to transfer my current phone number (we've been giving our number to local businesses for 12 years)

After talking to some co-workers I found MagicJack+ and NetTalk Duo.  Both have low initial investment costs and very low annual costs. Both cost $70 or less for the device and that includes the first year of service, and $20-$30 per year after that!  The current version of these products do not need a computer, they plug directly into your home network and any standard phone into it.  Both offer Enhanced 911 service

I chose the MagicJack+ since Dean at work recommended it so highly.  Setup was easy and within five minutes it was setup and I had a dial tone.  After playing with it for a couple weeks I transferred our house phone number to MagicJack.  The website said it would take a couple weeks but it ended up taking only four days over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Cost with Cox: $540

First year cost: $70

First year savings: $470

Second year savings: $520

Cutting the Cord

Welcome to my first blog post. A lot of people have been asking me how I cut the cable cord, how it works and what I bought. So over the next few days I'll detail all that I did in as much detail as I can (probably too much).  First some background...

It started one day when I was trying to get my Cox Cable bills setup through electronic bill pay through my bank.  My Cox Telephone has always been separate from the cable and internet bill.  So as I was doing this, I added both Cox Cable bills together and the number surprised me (it shouldn't have but it did).  I was paying Cox Communications $235 per month!  That's $2,820 per year, $33,840 since I've been in the house (over 12 years)!!   This assumes I don't make any long distance calls, use any OnDemand or Pay-Per-View services.  Other ways to look at it:

• At $2,820/year, that's a free new car every ten years - a nice one!
• At $2,820/year, that's equivalent to over $4,000 of my gross annual salary
• Paying off my mortgage in 15 years instead of 30
• A nice vacation or two each year
• Put that amount of money into a college fund and one of our kids would go to college for free (at least a year or two)

Here is the breakdown of what I was paying for each month:

• Phone $45
• Internet $64
• Cable $137
• Cox Bundle discount $11 (golly gee thanks!)

What the hell was I thinking?!?!  The cable television is what irked me the most.  I only watched one or two shows regularly and the rest of the time I only watched movies I had already seen just before bed as a way to relax.  My wife watched Food Network, TBS and a few other shows while she did other things.  My kids watched the most of course - Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Disney - over and over and over. All total we only watch 5-6 channels even though we were paying for over 200.  As an added bonus I knew subsidizing ESPN, The Golf Network and many others for everyone else!

As I looked into it I discovered that according to Tivo:

"88% of the TV shows everyone records is available for free"

As a geek, I am used to (sadly often do) research topics into mind-numbing detail.  Plus, I knew there were some easy alternatives to all that I was paying for.  In my next post I'll layout the plan that I came up with.