There are plenty of great internet filters available online however we’re going to give you the two best internet filters we’ve found to date.

Option #1 OpenDNS Family Shield - Free internet filter for Mac, PC & mobile devices - Difficulty level: Easy

Offering more than just internet filtering - OpenDNS is a completely free service - www.opendns.com

OpenDNS is a technology company that provides a simple solution to allow people to surf the web faster and more safely by using their Domain Name System. SIMPLY PUT, you make one easy change to your computer internet configuration and you’re using the free OpenDNS Domain Name System for faster and safer internet browsing.

For a step-by-step guide on applying family shield internet filtering to your home computer or router click here.

All up it should only take maximum 5 minutes to complete the configuration. If you would prefer a technician to take care this for you, feel free to give us a call on: 0280317759 and we’ll come to you.

Advanced OpenDNS filtering options are also available. For the ultimate filter setup that will protect against tampering from even the most tech savvy kids and adults, we recommend using a combination of applications.

We've found the best solution for filtering is a combination of a DD-WRT enabled router configured with options described in the following guide: http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/OpenDNS to feed your dynamic IP address to a free DNS-O-Matic account which then updates your free OpenDNS account with filtering enabled. Using the appropriate configuration mentioned in the DD-WRT wiki it is also possible to force all DNS connections to use the OpenDNS servers. This means users of your network cannot manually change DNS settings on their computer or mobile device to circumvent filtering.

If you require assistance with getting this working please feel free to contact us using our contact form and we'll be happy to help.

Option #2 K9 Web protection - Another free internet filter for Mac, PC & Mobile Devices - Difficulty level: Medium

K9 Web protection is free software that you can install on your Mac, PC, Android or iOS device that will enable you to selectively block any websites or categories of websites you like. The key difference toOpenDNS is that K9 allows internet filtering on the device itself - no matter which network you are connected to.

With K9 you can select from a predefined list of over 70 categories or add your own custom list of blocked or allowed websites, giving you complete control over what you or your family are exposed to online. With one master password that you administer, K9 is completely tamper-proof and can even force “safe search” on search engines like Google, ensuring nobody can bypass the restrictions in place. Reports can also be generated to show what sites have been blocked and when access was tempted. K9 also has a time selection feature, allowing you to block out websites for a selected period of time - Perfect for ensuring work and study get done without any distractions. Whether it’s protecting your children from adult content or risky interactions, yourself from scams and viruses, or your organisation from threats or adventurous users, K9 is an ideal and feature-rich web filter that’s completely free. For more information or to try it out for yourself, click here

Is your ADSL internet slow or unreliable? We’ll help you get it fixed.

Slow and unreliable internet is very common on the Northern Beaches but it doesn’t need to be that way. Over the years we’ve helped countless homeowners tackle this situation.

This article addresses a few of the most common causes to internet problems, starting with two that are very common on the Northern Beaches due to old infrastructure.

Just recently we helped a family who had already tried to engage with Telstra support several times to fix their intermittent internet issues. Needless to say, they weren't getting very far with Telstra overseas support and their technicians who only seem to care about crossing the job off the list rather than actually fixing something.

We've put this blog together to help demystify internet connectivity issues and give Northern Beaches home owners a rock solid process for getting their internet issues solved.

The Process

Test the internet connection two different computers (preferably cabled to the router), sometimes the culprit can be the computer itself.
Restart your internet equipment (Modem / Router / Switch)
Make sure you haven't gone over your internet quota. If your internet is working but going slowly, going over your quota is a likely cause. You can check your quota over the phone and online as long as you have all of your ISP account details.
If none of the above fixes the issue and internet is not working on multiple devices connected directly to your modem, router or switch, it's time to call your ISP. Ask for technical support, tell them you are having problems with your internet and ask them if there are any outages in your area and to test your line from their end. If they aren't able to fault the line, they will likely take you through steps to troubleshoot your internet equipment.
This is where it gets tedious and if you're able to understand the accent, more often than not they are able to help guide you through resolving your issue if it is indeed a fault with your equipment.

If you're at step 5, this is probably the point at which you've spent countless hours on the phone with support and are desperately in need of a Geek For Hire.

The most common causes (Step 5 and beyond) are:

#1. Faulty line between the home and he exchange

In many cases a faulty line that is a casualty of ageing infrastructure or erosion by water damage can be the culprit. The good news is that your internet service provider (Telstra, iiNet, internode, Optus etc) will almost always fix this for free within a few weeks of you reporting it. The bad news is that it can be pretty hard convincing them the problem isn’t your own modem/ router equipment. Geek For Hire have the technical knowhow and patience to properly diagnose those tricky to pinpoint issues like line faults. We can test your internet equipment and talk jargon with your internet service provider to find out exactly where the issue is. If it’s a line fault we can generally get your ISP to fix it free of charge if it’s not a fault within the home.

#2. Faulty ports at the telephone exchange

Many internet users on the Northern Beaches experience intermittent internet issues due to the degrading equipment at the exchange. If you’re experiencing internet issues and you’re sure it’s not your equipment of phone line, you may be one of the unlucky users to be on an old port connection at the exchange. If this is the case, you will want to request a port migration. We recently helped a customer who had a Telstra technician out several times to diagnose the issue and every time blamed the fault on the clients hardware. This unfortunately is not always the case and the technicians being time poor just want to mark the job off as done.

If you need help getting through to Telstra and making progress on your internet issues without waiting on hold for hours on the phone only to meet with a technician who isn’t interested in fixing your problem then give us a call.

#3. Faulty modem or router

Networking equipment like modems and routers often degrade and fault over time. The first thing to do in order to diagnose faulty internet is to reset or replace your modem / router in order to rule out an equipment fault.

To keep your modem / modem router combo healthy for years to come, make sure they are well ventilated & are plugged in to a surge protector as they are both very prone to overheating and small power spikes.

[insert image of poorly ventilated router]

#4. Wifi Interference

If you’re using WiFi to connect to the internet and you’re experiencing a slow or intermittent connection it may be that you have another wireless device interfering with your signal. Interference can be cause by other neighbouring networks or other devices in between or close to your WiFi modem router e.g. a radio phone or other media device. To rule out wireless interference you may first want to try connecting your computer via ethernet cable to and turning off your computer WiFi to see if the connection gets any better. If you notice an improvement when using a cabled connection, you may want to try changing the WiFi channel in the setting on your wireless access point and making sure there are no interfering devices near by.

The easy way to setup an Internet filter for your kids