Its OK, but for someone like me with an above-average network (utilizing a LAN-based DNS server, VPN tunnel, honeypot, etc, lol), it was not very comparable. While this would work OK for a normal home network, especially with kid and such (give the provided monitor / censor tools), it is not versatile enough to configure for a more 'complex' environment. The biggest issue I had was that, while I like the Suspicious Upload monitor,, I wanted to selectively disable it for a few nodes, while still monitoring for suspicious uploads on other nodes. This is not possible. It is a global on/off for monitored nodes. While you can select which nodes to monitor, you can't select WHICH features to monitor independently.
My firewalla has been running for a few days now. Pretty stable, the app is nice. Here are the things I like about the box
1. really easy to install, I don't even have to login to my router.
2. it does a lot of things, I have only tried ad block and it works. VPN later.
3. the alarms on uploads are crazy, it tells me which device is sending stuff out. the box also automatically block bad site accesses. Seen one of those already.
4. open port reporting is nice.
5. I don't even know I have 30 devices in the house.
6. it is nice to see what each device is doing behind my back.
They have the best support. My questions were pretty technical, the support really know their product and listen...
The bad
1. video watching alarm is a bit chatty, I had to turn it off.
2. ad block can't block youtube ads
The red box is very small, and I was able to power it via my USB3 port on the router. With all the features it has, worth more than 5 stars. I'd give 6 if they fix the two problems.
I have a good router, but wanted another layer of protection. I tried a Cu**, and really liked it, but had system stability problems with it so I had to return it.
This system is different in the since that it does offer some parental controls, but it seems to work more as a internet monitor than a filter. Ad filtering and childproofing is not quite as easy/effective as I was hoping for compared to the Cu**, but again, my system has not crashed with the Firewalla. Being able to track the surfing habits of my kids and blocking anything that is not appropriate easy is a very good feature.
Also, it monitors unusual uploading behavior of all my connected devices. My kids use iPads for school work only (no photos to back up or cloud anything) and for some reason the iPads have sent 20mb of data to an Ap*** owned server. My Alexa has sent 1.5mb to an Ama*** server during a time we all were asleep....
Edit:9-30-18
I do a monthly personal cloud backup to external hard drive backup and holy cow have my data transfer speeds took a major hit. Normally I would get 50-60mbs per second of transfer from my router USB hard drive to my desktops, but today I was getting only 20-25mbs, peaking briefly at 28mbs. Taking one star away for doubling my transfer times....
Firewall works blocks porn sites was primary, but it also blocked sites like googleadservices, radio buttons on some sites, some mods needed when you get a report about site visited and want to block it, but does not block that site ... this device is very promising but needs some updates
I have been using this device in my home since I got the device about 3 weeks ago. Installation is very easy, Just followed the installation instructions, I got the device and companion app up and running in less than 10 minutes.
What I like most about this device is its ability to bring me visibility into network activities in my home network, and provides me means to block unwanted traffic. The device can work as a VPN server, which is a nice feature enabling me to access documents I stored on the private server in my home network, when I am not home.
One thing I noticed is that while the device is booting up, users of home network might experience a very short period of network outage, I think this is expected as the device is trying to set up itself as gateway of the home network.
Feature Product
- COMPATIBILITY: This is * Firewalla RED * (NOT THE FIREWALLA BLUE), The IPS functionality is limited to 100 Mbits. This device may not be compatible with all routers. Please look at the "specification sheet" document in this listing, or compatibility guide in the manufacturing site for routers that works with Firewalla. May require login to router and do basic configuration.
- COMPLETE CYBERSECURITY PROTECTION - Firewalla's unique intrusion prevention system (IDS and IPS) protects all of your home wire and wireless internet of things devices from threats like viruses, malware, hackng, phishing, and unwanted data theft when you're using public WiFi. It's the simple and affordable solution for families, professionals and businesses. Let Firewalla's built-in OpenVPN server keeps your device usage as secure as it is in your home.
- PARENTAL CONTROL AND FAMILY PROTECT - The days of pulling the power cord from the dusty old router are behind you; with just a few taps on the smartphone, you can see what they're doing, cut off all access, or cut off only gaming or social networks. Turn on Family Protect to filter and block adult and malicious content, keep internet activities healthy and safe.
- EASY TO INSTALL - Get Firewalla up and running as easy as 1-2-3! No special skills or tech know-how required: just connect to your wifi router and a power source, launch the app on your mobile device, and scan the barcode to get started. With this, you have the power to monitor and manage your device from anywhere in the world. App is available for both iPhone and Android. Please see manufacturing web site for router compatibility
- DEEP INSIGHT - Firewalla uses deep insight and cloud-based behavior analytics engines to actively detect and automatically block problems as they arise. From this continuous monitoring, you'll have full visibility of activities across all your iot devices and the ability to identify full network flows, bandwidth analysis, and internet troubleshooting. Keeping your internet secure, and hack free.
Description
Firewalla RED is an all-in-one, simple, and intelligent shield that connects to your router and protects your devices from cyber attacks. It's an advanced solution to safeguard your personal data, monitor and control your kids' internet usage, block ads, and continue protecting your information from threats when you're using your device on the road. There is no monthly fee!
Simple to Use
- Plug and play installation, multiple ways to connect.
- App supporting iOS and Android Devices.
- Cyber-security as simple as tapping on a few buttons.
Major Functions
- Cyber Security, protect all devices
- Parental Control, manage family's internet access
- Family Protect, auto filtering of adult and malicious sites
- Inbound and outbound firewall with intrusion prevention
- Ad-block
- VPN Server
- Social Hour
Professional Features
- Use the same Firewalla App to manage multiple Firewalla boxes at a time. Great for managing multiple networks and businesses.
- See every single IP connection from any device.
- Built-in Open VPN Server, great for public Wifi and traveling.
Additional Features
- Monitor broadband bandwidth usage
- Hourly, daily, monthly bandwidth usage summary.
- Content filtering and activity detection
- Internal and External vulnerability scans
- DDNS
- Device Management
- Remote Control
Firewalla specs
- Quad-Core 1.0 GHz CPU
- 100 Mb Packet Processing
- 512 MB DDR RAM
- 16GB SD Storage
- See manufacturer website for compatibility
Package Includes
- Firewalla
- Ethernet Cable
- USB Cable
- Power Adapter
Had to return mine because of the bandwidth limitation - this is not a gig but a fast Ethernet connection - 100mbps.
Would have been perfect 5 years ago, not today. I would absolutely keep it if it was a gig device.
I will wait for the blue model coming early next year, which is a gig.
Update 02/01/2019
Purchased blue directly from Firewalla and ju love it. Double the resources of the red and handled up to a gig connections - no network slowdowns.
This is a very capable little box. I love that I can see what all of my devices (Alexa, Kindles. Ipcams etc) are up to. I am also impressed with the parental controls! I recommend this for anyone who wants a closer look at their WiFi network activities. The setup and installation were very easy. I did need to reboot the device after activating to get it to monitor traffic.
Received this network firewall about a week ago and let me just say it is really well done. It's small size and simple setup (assuming you check your router against their incompatible list of routers on their website) make it rather approachable. I also like how the app you use with it has a well thought out interface that doesn't overwhelm you with information but let's you get deeper insight into your network by navigating the easy to use app. I do wish they would have better means of customizable content filters for groups of devices not all or individual devices. This thing is tiny but oh so powerful up to 100mbps. I have 83 devices currently and it seems to handle it fine. I contacted their support and received help after 5 on a Saturday which was impressive granted it was over email. They provided me with a solution to work around a newly discovered bug with firewalla. It was nothing major for home networks but essentially I had too big of a subnet mask for it to scan devices. The scariest thing about this is it spends all its time collecting alll this data that you may not even be aware is possible to obtain via the network. Monitoring and alarming features work exceptionally well except turning off some notifications such as abnormal activity doesn't turn off abnormal uploads. Having several cloud based cameras renders a lot of these types of alarms. Also I will add that having the map, Whois, and ips really help identify what's happenening with a device and potentially stop it. I noticed also it doesn't block certain activity on its own you have to tell it to allow or block activity. It is working great with my eeros 2nd gen. Can't wait for the firewalla Blue to get more performance out of our internet seeing as we are paying for 300mbps. I think it is definitely a cool new product/startup I also think given everything it gathers it may be concerning as to privacy implications in regards to protecting its database.
This is a very interesting device. The ip level inspection of all the traffic going through your router let’s you control anything. They have some inherent logic that will alert you to “abnormal upload” and show you the device and the sites ip. You can elect to allow or block. Essentially you’re building a whitelist for outbound traffic. All my Ip cams, 24 of them, immediately tried to phone home. An AP, from a very common manufacturer tried as well and to 2 different ip’s. I have legitimate traffic that goes to my vpn providers network and it picked that up and I allowed it. This isn’t the be-all, end-all security solution but it’s a great hit for a hundred bucks. I’ve seen forum posts from freaked out users who discovered every “smart home” device including their appliances try to upload to China, Chile, Moscow, etc. They are running some detection algorithms to look at traffic and they can update the firmware as they refine that and I view that as a plus. I’ve run tier 1 firewalls in major data centers and the annual maintenance to keep a box current exceeds the price of this thing by a factor of 10. You still need to maintain network virus and malware protection across your network but adding this most definetly hardens your back door. There a remote VPN feature that lets you route mobile connectivity back to your network but I haven’t had a need to try that. Reports are that it seems to work well. Some issues with google’s routers seem to be, well, issues. I’m buying a bunch of these for friends and family for Christmas. Highly recommend this for pretty much everyone.
Basic setup was quick and simple. The capabilities and information provided by this box are far beyond what’s provided in its sales documentation. Firewalla Tech Support is highly responsive and helpful. While I would like to see these boxes have a much faster throughput, this box provides affordable and professional quality home (and small business) network protection that most anyone can use and benefit from without having to be an IT professional. Be mindful that you will occasionally find things that need follow up as you gain user time with this device. For example, after using Firewalla’s default settings when we enabled the blocking of all video sites, we found that our Apple devices stopped auto-updating their apps and the Apple App Store became unreachable. With the help of a quick email assist from Firewalla Tech Supoort, we learned that Apple uses an itunes server for both their video AND app updates. Firewalla was blocking itunes since we had enabled the blocking of all video sites. Armed with that information, we then easily customized Firewalla’s default video block settings to allow access to the itunes server and we restored normal app updating for our Apple devices. Firewalla quickly showed us which devices were our network’s biggest data hogs. It also flagged several suspicious uploads going to certain web servers. Thanks to Firewalla, we put the data hogs on a diet and closed the door on the suspicious uploads. Our home network is now performing more efficiently and is certainly more secure. As soon as I can get my hands on the Firewalla Blue box, I’ll have my small business network outfitted in like manner as my home network. I’m eagerly looking forward to using Firewalla products for many years to come.
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